The article outlines guidelines for parents to understand their disabled children's individualized education programs. Implications and cautions needed for terminology, test scores, subtest interpretations, and classroom behaviors are examined. (CL)

Microcomputers can store and retrieve thousands of goals or objectives and can be an enormous help in developing individualized education programs (IEPs) for handicapped students. An IEP retrieval software system developed with a menu of 24 curricular areas has generated more than 400 IEPs. (CL)

The authors discuss the issue of increased record-keeping responsibilities which are the direct result of the individualized education process (IEP) as mandated by P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act), and they describe one method of alleviating the burden of this paperwork through the use of computers. (SW)

A teacher, warned not to put anything in the individualized education program that will cost the school district money, is urged to go to the supervisor, file a noncompliance charge with the state education agency, or alert a third party to take that action. (CL)

The individualized reading approach, which features independent activities and individual conferences with children, is described in terms of specific areas of need when used with disabled students including systematic progress checks and Individualized Education Program accountability. Advantages and disadvantages of the approach are noted. (CL)

Individualized Education Program meetings can improve the parent-professional partnership by careful consideration of such factors as meeting location, comfortable waiting areas, group process clarification, opportunities for parent input, telephone follow-up, and development of support groups. (CL)

The article offers activities and strategies that can be used prior to, during, and after the individualized education program conference to improve communication between the special educator and the parents of handicapped children. (CL)

The study of Individualized Education Programs developed for 203 limited English proficient Hispanic elementary students found that a student's bilingualism and level of English proficiency exerted little influence on selection of instructional goals. Native language or English-as-a-Second-Language instruction was infrequently incorporated into…

The article examines the parent-teacher partnership, stressing the importance of both parent and teacher input. Five suggestions for involving parents of handicapped students in the Individualized Education Program meeting are offered and include asking parents before the meeting to think of short- and long-term goals for the child. (DB)