Questions to Ask During an IEP Meeting
Questions for parents and caregivers at an IEP meeting, covering the evaluation data, present levels, how goals are written, service minutes, progress reporting, placement, and what to do if you do not agree with the draft.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Can you walk me through the evaluation data, and what it says about how my child learns?
Why ask it
Scores on their own describe where a child sits against a norm. The useful part is the pattern behind them, for example strong comprehension with slow decoding, because that is what the goals and services should be built around.
What are my child's present levels in reading, writing and math, stated as numbers I can compare next year?
Why ask it
Present levels are the baseline everything later is measured against. Descriptions such as making steady progress cannot be compared against anything twelve months from now, so ask for figures and the measure used.
Is each goal written so we can tell whether it was met, with a starting point, a target and a date?
Why ask it
A goal without a baseline and a number is not measurable, which means at the next meeting nobody can say whether it worked. Will improve reading fluency is the version to push back on.
How many minutes per week of each service will my child receive, and is that written into the document?
Why ask it
Service is specified in minutes and frequency, not in intent. Wording such as consultation as needed or as appropriate can mean anything, including nothing, and it is difficult to challenge later.
Who delivers each service, and is any of it delivered in a group?
Why ask it
The same thirty minutes looks very different one on one and in a group of six. Ask about group size and the role of the provider, since some minutes are delivered by an assistant rather than the specialist named.
Which accommodations are in place, and how will teachers who are not in this meeting find out about them?
Why ask it
Accommodations fail at the point of communication more often than at the point of writing. Ask for the mechanism: who tells subject teachers and substitute teachers, and when.
What data will you collect on progress, how often, and how will it reach me?
Why ask it
The answer determines whether you find out about a stalled goal in October or at the annual review. Ask for the collection method and a reporting rhythm you can hold people to.
What happens if my child is not making progress toward a goal part-way through the year?
Why ask it
A plan is only useful if it changes when it is not working. Ask who notices, what the trigger is, and whether the team meets again rather than waiting for the next annual cycle.
How much of the day will my child spend with general education peers, and what drives that number?
Why ask it
The number should follow from what the child needs, not from where a program happens to have space. Ask what specifically cannot be provided in the general classroom.
Were the goals and services decided before placement, or after?
Why ask it
The order matters. When a placement is chosen first, services get shaped to fit what that setting already offers rather than to fit the child.
Which supports my child receives now would end if we agreed to this draft?
Why ask it
Drafts often quietly drop something that was working, particularly after a good year. Comparing the current document line by line against the new one is the only reliable way to catch it.
How is my child doing socially, and does this plan address that?
Why ask it
Social difficulty is frequently observed by staff and left out of the written plan because it is harder to measure. Ask specifically about unstructured time, where most of it happens.
If behavior is part of the picture, has a functional assessment been done, and is there a written plan?
Why ask it
Behavior plans built without an assessment of what the behavior achieves tend to be lists of consequences. Ask what the team believes the behavior is communicating.
What does the school do when my child becomes distressed, and are removal or restraint ever used?
Why ask it
This is worth asking calmly and directly before it arises. Ask about the practice on this specific site, who is trained, how you would be told, and what is recorded.
How will my child take state or district assessments, and which accommodations are approved for those?
Why ask it
Not every classroom accommodation is permitted in standardized testing, and the lists differ. Finding out in spring, days before a test, is the common and avoidable outcome.
Which supports carry over to specials, lunch, recess, field trips and the bus?
Why ask it
Plans are usually written around academic lessons. The parts of the day with the least structure and the fewest trained adults are where support tends to disappear.
What are the transition goals, and how do they connect to what my child says they want after school?
Why ask it
Transition planning is only useful when it starts from the young person's own stated interests. Generic goals about employment skills suggest nobody has asked them.
Is extended school year support being considered, and on what evidence?
Why ask it
This usually rests on evidence of skill loss over long breaks and how long recovery takes. Ask what data the team is looking at, and ask early, because the decision is often made late.
If I disagree with part of this plan, what are my options, and can I agree to some parts and not others?
Why ask it
Disagreement has formal routes, and they differ by district and country. Ask for the written explanation of the decision and the dispute process, and ask for it in the meeting rather than afterwards.
Can I have a copy of the draft and the notes, and how long do I have to review before signing?
Why ask it
You are not obliged to sign in the room. Reading the final wording at home, against the current plan, is where most errors and omissions are actually found.
Preparing for and getting through the meeting
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the meeting
- 1Ask in writing for the draft, any new evaluation reports and the proposed goals a few days ahead. Reading them for the first time in the room puts you at a disadvantage.
- 2Write down three to five priorities, in order. Meetings run long and the last items on an agenda get compressed.
- 3Collect your own evidence: homework that took three hours, a photograph of an unfinished worksheet, notes on sleep or refusal to go to school. Concrete examples move discussions that opinions do not.
- 4Ask who is attending and in what role. If a specific provider will not be there, ask whether their input is written down.
- 5Bring a second adult if you can, one to talk and one to take notes.
During the meeting
Ask where it says that
Verbal reassurance in an IEP meeting has no force once the meeting ends. When someone describes support your child will get, ask which section of the document it appears in and in what wording. If it is not written, it is not agreed.
Slow the pace when a decision arrives
Teams frequently arrive with a completed draft and read through it. It is reasonable to stop, ask for a minute, and ask what alternatives were considered and why they were set aside.
Keep the tone flat and the questions specific
You will meet these people again every year. Specific, documented questions get better outcomes than either accommodation or confrontation, and they create a written record that travels with the plan.
Write down who said what
Note names against commitments and dates. A short email afterwards summarizing what you understood was agreed, and asking for correction, is the simplest way to make the record real.
Practical points to keep in mind
- Wording such as as needed, as appropriate, or when available is not enforceable. Ask for minutes and frequency instead.
- You can request a meeting outside the annual cycle if something is not working, rather than waiting.
- Rules on evaluations, notice, consent and dispute resolution vary by district and country. Ask the team for the written procedural information that applies where you are.
- Local parent advocacy and disability organizations can often provide someone to attend with you. Ask the school what exists in your area, or seek it out independently.