Wrap Around and Case Management – Ariel Su

At my school, we do have IEP meetings twice a year, once between October to December and another
between May and June. However, not everyone is present at those meetings. The only ones that are there are
usually the classroom teacher and the resource teacher. The students participate prior to the meeting by filling
out a sheet that goes over what their strengths and stretches are, their preferred way of learning, what their
interests are and what their goals / aspirations are. The families participate after the IEP meetings by reading
over the updated IEP and signing it off. If they have questions and concerns about the new IEP, they will set up
a time to meet with the resource and classroom teacher. For specific students, other professionals may also be
attached, for example a Speech and Language Pathologist. However, even then, they are not present at the
meetings. I do believe that more people should be play an active part of the IEP writing process and review.
There are definitely families that don’t bother reading the IEPs and just sign it off because they are required to.
As much as my team and I try to write it in easy to understand terms, there are certain strategies that needs to be
explained with a visual for parents to understand. My resource teacher this year did mention that she rarely gets
a note back from parents requesting for a meeting. Even then, it is often not about the IEP itself but more of an
update from the teacher regarding the student’s behaviour and progress in the classroom. Even during the IEP
review near the end of the school year, parents are not an active participant in the process and students aren’t
part of it either; it’s just the resource and classroom teacher.
On the other hand, I know of schools that make sure the family, resource team, classroom teacher,
administrator(s) and other affiliated professionals are all present. The difficult part about that is scheduling. It is
most likely going to be during non-instructional hours, which can be hard for some people to be part of. Despite
that, I do see the benefits of having all parties present during the IEP update and reviews.