ERIC Number: EJ1288081
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 9
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0040-0599
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
"It's My Meeting!": Involving High School Students with Significant Disabilities in the Individualized Education Program Process
Howard, Maureen; Reed, Alexandra S.; Francis, Grace L.
TEACHING Exceptional Children, v53 n4 p290-298 Mar-Apr 2021
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA; 2004) requires that special education teachers include transition in student individualized education plans (IEPs) in preparation for adulthood. The law also requires that, at a minimum, educators invite students with disabilities to attend their IEP meetings starting no later than age 16. Student involvement in the IEP process (i.e., contributing to the development of the IEP, planning and participating in the IEP meeting) is an essential component of effective transition planning (Kohler et al., 2016). Student involvement is also found to facilitate self-determination, communication skills, decision making, and goal development (Arndt et al., 2006; Papay & Bambara, 2014). However, students with significant disabilities are among those with the poorest transition and postschool outcomes (Butterworth & Migliore, 2015; Grigal et al., 2014). Despite student involvement policy requirements, known benefits, and general approaches to student involvement, such as person-centered planning designed to keep students at the center of the planning process (Test, 2012), students with significant disabilities are often left out of their own IEP process. This is due in large part because special education teachers feel unprepared to involve students with significant disabilities in the IEP process (Royer, 2016). This article provides strategies to meaningfully involve students with significant disabilities throughout the IEP process.
Descriptors: Individualized Education Programs, Students with Disabilities, Special Education, Transitional Programs, Student Participation, High School Students, Severe Disabilities, Participative Decision Making, Self Determination, Visual Aids, Scripts
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A