Questions to Ask in an IEP Meeting
Questions for a parent or guardian at an IEP meeting, covering what the evaluation measured, how goals and service minutes are written, how progress will be reported, and what to do if you do not agree with the plan.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Can I have the draft IEP and the evaluation reports a few days before we meet?
Why ask it
Asked by email a week ahead, this changes the meeting more than anything you can say in the room. Reading a draft cold while eight people wait is how parents end up agreeing to wording they later regret.
Who is here today, and what is each person's role?
Why ask it
Worth asking even if you know some of them. It tells you who can commit to a service, who is reporting data, and who is there because the rules require a district representative.
What did the evaluation measure, and what did it not measure?
Why ask it
Every assessment has a scope. If nobody looked at language processing, attention, or fine motor skills, the plan cannot address them, and the gap is easier to raise now than at the next review.
In numbers, where is my child compared with grade level in reading and in math?
Why ask it
Ask for grade equivalents, percentiles, or benchmark scores rather than descriptions like progressing. Numbers give you something to compare against at the next meeting.
What can my child do now that they couldn't a year ago?
Why ask it
A plain question that produces the most useful evidence about whether the current plan is working. Silence, or only behavioral examples, tells you the academic goals have not moved.
How was each goal chosen, and how will you know it has been met?
Why ask it
A goal without a measure cannot be reported on honestly. Look for a baseline, a target, and the method of measurement in the wording of every goal before you leave.
How many minutes a week of each service, and will they be in the classroom or pulled out?
Why ask it
Minutes and location are the two parts most often reduced quietly. Words like consult, as needed, or as available in place of a number are the ones to question while everyone is still in the room.
Who delivers each service, and are those positions currently filled?
Why ask it
A plan can promise speech therapy that no one has been hired to provide. Asking whether the post is filled is not confrontational, and the answer determines whether the minutes are real.
If a therapist is absent, are the missed minutes made up?
Why ask it
Over a year this accounts for a large share of the difference between the written plan and what a child receives. Ask how absences are logged and who tells you when sessions are missed.
Which accommodations apply in every class, and how will each teacher know?
Why ask it
Accommodations fail at the point of handover to a subject teacher who has not read the document. Ask what is actually sent to staff, and when.
How much of the day would my child spend away from their general class, and why is that needed?
Why ask it
Placement decisions are supposed to start from the least restrictive option that works. Asking for the reasoning behind each pull-out puts it on the record and sometimes changes it.
What happens if a goal isn't met by the next review?
Why ask it
The useful answer describes a change to instruction, not a change to the goal. If goals are routinely rewritten downwards, you want to know that pattern exists here.
How will you report progress to me, and how often?
Why ask it
Progress reporting is required, but the format varies from a data chart to a single sentence. Agree the frequency and the format now, and note the dates in your own calendar.
What behavior data do you have, and is there a behavior plan?
Why ask it
If behavior is affecting learning, ask what has been recorded and whether a functional assessment has been done. Descriptions of a child as difficult are not data and cannot be worked with.
How is discipline handled differently because my child has an IEP?
Why ask it
There are specific protections around removals and suspensions for students with disabilities. Ask how the school applies them here, and what happens to services during a removal.
What happens to this plan at the end of the year, and who carries it to the next teacher?
Why ask it
September is where plans quietly restart from zero. Ask who is responsible for the handover and whether the receiving teacher meets anyone before term begins.
Which parts of this document am I being asked to agree to today?
Why ask it
Signing can mean attendance, or consent to placement and services, depending on the district and the form. Ask what your signature means on this specific page before you use it.
If I disagree with part of this, what are my options and what are the deadlines?
Why ask it
You are asking them to explain the procedural safeguards they are required to give you. Note the timelines, since some options are lost after a set number of days.
Can we record in the notes the part we didn't agree on?
Why ask it
A documented disagreement is far more useful later than a remembered one. Ask for your objection in the meeting summary in your own words rather than paraphrased.
What do you need from me at home for this to work?
Why ask it
Closes the meeting on something practical and often reveals what the team is quietly worried about: reading minutes, sleep, attendance, medication timing. It also tells you what will be attributed to home if progress stalls.
Before, during, and after the meeting
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the meeting
Ask for the paperwork in writing
Send a short email asking for the draft IEP, the evaluation reports, and the agenda a few days ahead. A written request is also a record that you asked, which matters if the documents do not arrive.
Write one page of your own
Three things that are working, three that are not, and what you want decided today. Bring copies. It keeps the meeting on your priorities when the agenda runs long.
You can bring someone
A partner, a friend who takes notes, an advocate, or the outside therapist who knows your child. One person listening while you talk is the difference between remembering the meeting and reconstructing it.
During the meeting
- Ask for numbers whenever you hear an adjective: how many minutes, how many words per minute, how often, out of how many trials.
- Ask people to slow down or define terms. The acronyms are routine for them and not for you.
- If a service is described as consult or as needed, ask what that looks like in a normal week.
- Write down who said what, particularly any commitment made out loud that is not yet in the document.
- If you need time, say you would like to read the final version before signing rather than deciding in the room.
If you do not agree
Disagreement is a normal part of this process and there are formal routes for it. In the United States, your district must give you a written notice of procedural safeguards, and it sets out your options: asking for the disagreement to be recorded, requesting prior written notice of a decision, asking for an independent educational evaluation, mediation, a state complaint, or a due process hearing. Some of these have deadlines measured in days, and the details vary by state, so ask for the safeguards notice and read the timelines before you decide. You can agree to part of a plan and object to another part.
After the meeting
- 1Read the final document against your notes and flag anything that differs from what was said.
- 2Send a short email summarizing what you understood was agreed. It creates a shared record without accusing anyone of anything.
- 3Put the progress reporting dates in your calendar and follow up if a report does not arrive.
- 4Keep every version of the IEP and every report in one place, in date order.
- 5If minutes are being missed, note the dates as they happen rather than raising it a year later.