Questions to Ask at an IEP Meeting for Speech
Questions for a parent at an IEP meeting where speech and language services are the main issue. They cover which area of communication is affected, how service minutes and group sizes are set, how mastery and dismissal are decided, and what happens to sessions that are missed.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Which area of communication are we actually talking about: speech sounds, language, fluency, voice, or social use of language?
Why ask it
These are separate problems with separate treatments, and 'speech therapy' covers all of them. A child who cannot produce certain sounds needs something quite different from one who cannot organise sentences or follow instructions. Getting the category named makes the rest of the meeting concrete, and it is the first thing to check against the evaluation report.
How much of what my child says can an unfamiliar adult understand?
Why ask it
Intelligibility to a stranger is the measure that predicts daily life, and it is usually estimated as a percentage in an evaluation. Familiar adults understand far more than strangers do, which is why parents and teachers often disagree about severity. If this figure is not in the report, ask for it.
Which specific sounds are being targeted, and are they ones children usually have by this age?
Why ask it
Some sounds are typically mastered late, so a five-year-old missing certain sounds may be developing normally while another sound at the same age is a genuine concern. Ask the therapist to explain where each target sits against typical development. This is also how you tell whether services are appropriate or whether you are treating something likely to resolve.
Was my child assessed in every language they speak, and by whom?
Why ask it
A child learning two languages can look delayed on an English-only assessment when the pattern is ordinary bilingual development. Ask whether the evaluation used the home language, whether an interpreter was involved, and whether the errors appear in both languages. Difficulties present in only one language usually point to language learning rather than a disorder.
How is this affecting my child at school, beyond how they sound?
Why ask it
Eligibility for school services generally depends on educational impact rather than on the difference itself, which is why some children are refused services their parents expected. Ask for the specific effects: not being understood by classmates, avoiding answering in class, difficulty following instructions, falling behind in reading. This is also the argument to make if you are being told your child does not qualify.
How many minutes per week, and is that individual or in a group?
Why ask it
Minutes are the enforceable part of the plan, and 'consultative' or 'as needed' is not something you can hold anyone to. Ask how many other children are in the group and what their needs are, because a group of five with mixed goals gives your child a small share of the session. Individual and group time are worth writing separately.
Will the therapist work in the classroom or take my child out, and what lesson is missed?
Why ask it
In-class support helps skills transfer but gives less focused practice; pull-out is the reverse and costs whatever is happening at that time. Ask which is planned and why, and whether the same subject is always the one interrupted. Many schools will rotate the timetable if a parent raises it.
Read me one of these goals and tell me what counts as having met it.
Why ask it
A usable goal names the sound or structure, the context, the accuracy level and how it will be checked, such as production in conversation rather than in single words. 'Will improve articulation' cannot be assessed at the annual review. Ask what the baseline is, since a goal without a starting point cannot show progress either.
How will you know the skill has carried over outside the therapy room?
Why ask it
Producing a sound correctly at a table with the therapist is the easy part, and generalisation to the classroom and the playground is where progress often stops. Ask what evidence of carryover is collected and by whom. If the only data comes from the therapy session, the goal may be met on paper while nothing changes in daily life.
What are the criteria for exiting speech services?
Why ask it
Ask this at the beginning rather than when dismissal is proposed, because it makes the whole plan clearer. You want to know what your child would have to demonstrate and over what period. It also prevents both outcomes parents complain about: a child kept in therapy for years out of habit, and one dismissed abruptly when a caseload gets heavy.
Who will deliver the sessions: a licensed speech-language pathologist, an assistant, or a contractor, and what is their caseload?
Why ask it
There is a real difference between a licensed pathologist and an assistant working under supervision, and between someone carrying forty children and someone carrying eighty. Ask how often the supervising pathologist sees your child directly if an assistant delivers the sessions. Caseload is the best indicator of whether the minutes will be delivered as written.
What happens to sessions missed because of absence, assemblies, testing or an unfilled vacancy?
Why ask it
Speech is among the services most often disrupted, and lost sessions frequently go unrecorded. Ask whether missed sessions are tracked, whether they are made up, and who decides. Getting a stated practice now gives you something specific to refer to if a term goes by with half the sessions delivered.
What will the classroom teacher do differently to support these goals?
Why ask it
Thirty minutes a week achieves little on its own, so the classroom practice matters more than the session. Ask for two or three concrete things: giving extra time to answer, repeating back rather than correcting, not asking your child to read aloud unprepared. Then ask how the teacher receives that information and who checks it is happening.
Is my child expected to read aloud or present to the class, and what are the alternatives?
Why ask it
For a child who is hard to understand or who stutters, being made to perform in front of classmates can do lasting damage to their willingness to speak at all. Ask what options exist: presenting to the teacher alone, recording at home, going first rather than waiting, or choosing to opt out. Have the arrangement written into the accommodations rather than left to each teacher.
If my child stutters, is the goal fluent speech or speaking without fear?
Why ask it
This distinction matters more than any other in this set. Programmes aimed only at eliminating stuttering can increase a child's anxiety about talking and their tendency to avoid it, while approaches that address attitudes and participation alongside speech tend to protect willingness to speak. Ask what the plan says about avoidance, teasing and how your child feels about talking, not only about counted disfluencies.
Has augmentative or alternative communication been considered, and if it was ruled out, why?
Why ask it
The team is expected to consider assistive technology, which for communication ranges from a picture board to a speech-generating device. Ask what was considered and rejected, not only what was chosen. Providing a device does not reduce speech development, and for a child who is currently not understood it can lower frustration considerably.
What should I do at home, and what should I stop doing?
Why ask it
The second half is the useful part. Parents commonly correct constantly, ask a child to repeat words until they get them right, or finish sentences for them, all of which usually increase avoidance. Ask for one or two specific practices instead, and how many minutes a day is realistic. A therapist who says practice is unnecessary is worth questioning too.
Is my child being teased about how they speak, and how would you know?
Why ask it
Speech differences attract comment, and children rarely report it, particularly if reporting means speaking up. Ask what supervision exists at break and lunch and how a quiet child would be noticed. Ask your child separately, since the school's answer and theirs often differ.
How does this connect to reading instruction?
Why ask it
Difficulties with speech sounds and with language often show up later in reading and spelling, so the two areas are worth planning together rather than in separate meetings. Ask whether the therapist and the reading teacher talk to each other, and whether any literacy data is being monitored. If nobody is watching for it, the connection tends to be noticed a year late.
Which accommodations apply during oral assessments and state testing?
Why ask it
Accommodations written for lessons do not automatically transfer to formal assessments, and each testing programme has its own approved list. Ask what is permitted, what has been requested, and by what deadline. This is worth settling early in the year rather than the week before a test.
What progress data will I receive, and how often?
Why ask it
Ask for figures against each goal rather than a comment such as 'good progress', and for the same measure to be used each time so the reports are comparable. Quarterly written data is common and specific enough to act on. Two reporting periods with no movement is the point to call a meeting rather than wait for the annual review.
If we disagree with the eligibility decision or the amount of service, what are our options?
Why ask it
You can ask for the school's decision and reasoning in writing, which in the United States schools are generally required to provide when they refuse a request. You may also request an independent evaluation at public expense if you disagree with the school's assessment, or use mediation. Nothing requires you to agree in the room, and you may take the document home to read.
Preparing for a speech-focused IEP meeting
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the meeting
Ask for the evaluation report in advance
Request the speech and language evaluation, including the standardised scores and the therapist's notes, several days ahead and in writing. Reading test results for the first time while six people wait for you to respond is not a fair position. If any term in the report is unfamiliar, write it down and ask for it to be explained in plain language at the meeting.
Record your child speaking at home
Two or three minutes of ordinary conversation, not a performance, is useful evidence. It shows how your child speaks when relaxed, which often differs from the therapy room in both directions, and it gives the team something concrete when your description and their observation do not match.
Write down what other people say
Note specific instances where your child was not understood: by a shop assistant, a coach, a grandparent, another child. Named examples of communication breaking down are much harder to set aside than a general concern, and they speak directly to educational and social impact.
Ask your child what they find hard
Older children can often say exactly which situations they avoid and which words they substitute. Their account belongs in the meeting, and a support a child refuses to use is not a support.
Wording to look at closely
- 'As needed', 'consultative' and 'as available' are not commitments. Ask for minutes per week and whether they are individual or group.
- Goals should name the sound or structure, the accuracy level and the context. 'In conversation' is a much stronger target than 'in single words'.
- Check whether the goal includes generalisation outside the therapy room, and who collects that evidence.
- Check whether group size is written down. Minutes in a group of six are not equivalent to the same minutes one to one.
- For a child who stutters, check that the plan addresses participation and avoidance, not only counted disfluencies.
- Check that accommodations cover oral presentations and reading aloud, and that they apply in every class.
In the meeting
- 1Ask for the description of your child's current communication to be read out first, and correct it then if it does not match what you hear at home.
- 2Ask for numbers rather than adjectives: intelligibility percentage, minutes, group size, accuracy criteria, how often data is taken.
- 3Ask the therapist directly rather than through the case manager. They know the detail and are usually glad to be asked.
- 4When something is agreed verbally, ask for it to be written in before the meeting ends. Anything not in the document is not part of the plan.
- 5Bring someone to take notes, so you can listen. You are entitled to bring a person of your choosing.
- 6If you need time, say you will read it at home rather than agreeing under pressure.
Supporting speech at home without making it worse
- Respond to what your child said, not how they said it. Repeating their sentence back correctly is more useful than asking them to say it again.
- Avoid asking a child to repeat a word until it is right in front of other people, which teaches avoidance rather than the sound.
- Give time. Pausing before you answer, and not finishing sentences for them, is one of the most effective things a parent can do, particularly for a child who stutters.
- Ask the therapist for one specific activity of five or ten minutes rather than a general instruction to practise, and ask how you will know it is working.
- Tell relatives and coaches what helps, since well-meant correction from other adults can undo a term of work.
After the meeting
- Email a short summary of what you understood was agreed, including minutes and group size, and keep the reply.
- Check the final document against your notes. Service minutes are the most commonly mistyped section.
- Ask once a term whether all the scheduled sessions have taken place. If they have not, ask what will be made up.
- Read progress reports against the goals rather than filing them, and raise a flat report when it arrives.
- You can request a meeting at any point in the year. You do not have to wait for the annual review if something is not working.
- For advice specific to your state, your state parent training and information centre can explain local procedures and timelines at no cost.