- Federal law (IDEA) gives every child with a disability the right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE)
- FAPE is legally defined as an individualized education which is reasonably calculated to allow a child with a disability to receive educational benefit.
- IDEA requires that a child first be evaluated, then (if the child is eligible for special education) the IEP is developed, and finally, the placement decision is based on the IEP.
- An IEP should be both legally compliant and educationally useful.
- Every IEP team must have all required members.
- The IEP team has responsibilities related to evaluation and discipline of a child with a disability as well as responsibility for developing and revising the IEP.
- All of the components required by IDEA must be present in an IEP.
- The special services necessary to allow a child with a disability to access the general curriculum, not the general curriculum itself, must be on the IEP.
- Related services are those services needed in order to all the child with a disability to benefit from special education.
- Goals are not required for related services; they are required for special education.
- IEP teams must carefully consider the strengths of a child with a disability, parents' concerns for their child's education, and the child's need for assistive technology and behavioral intervention.
- The need to reduce paperwork associated with IEPs is real and important. Many IEPs are longer than necessary and many include goals which are not required such as related service goals and goals for accommodations and modification.
- Decisions of the IEP team are not to be made by voting. If the parents and district disagree, the district must put its proposal or refusal in writing to the parents who may then choose to seek a formal resolution to the dispute.
- Every IEP should be clear, simple and direct so it is easily used and understood by all who work with the child with a disability.
- Technology may be used to reduce clerical tasks such as using a laptop computer and software to record the IEP teams' decisions as the team creates the IEP.
- Computer software which contains already created catalogs of goals and objectives must be used with great caution to ensure that such use does not restrict the IEP team's ability to truly individualize the goals and objectives on a student's IEP.
- The use of technology to save time must never abridge a parent's right to be a full, equal participant in the IEP process.
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