Do I have to sign my child's IEP?

I have come across parents who think that if they do not sign their child's IEP, the school cannot implement the IEP. This is incorrect. There are three main times that a parent's signature is required for implementing the IEP:

• You must give informed consent when your child is evaluated for the first time.
• You must give informed consent when your child is reevaluated.
• You must give informed consent before the initial provision of special education and related services.

There are of course, exceptions to every rule. If you do not consent to the initial evaluation, the school can request due process or mediation. If you do not respond to the request, after reasonable measures have been taken to get your consent for reevaluation, the school can reevaluate without your consent.


Once a child has an IEP, the district is required by law to provide a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), with or without your consent. This means that if you simply walk out of a meeting, or refuse to sign the IEP, the new IEP goes into effect without your consent. Not signing does NOT invalidate the IEP.

So what can you do if you disagree with the IEP?

First off, lets start with what to do in the meeting, once you've realized that you do not agree with what the IEP states. There is an article at Wrightslaw called "How to Disagree with the IEP Team Without Starting World War III". I suggest you read the article in it's entirety. Especially helpful is the section where it discusses what to do if you disagree with the IEP:

Your Consent to Implement Inappropriate IEP

When the team asks you to sign consent to the IEP, pick up a ball point pen and put the IEP on a hard table top. Write this statement on the IEP: "I consent to this IEP being implemented but I object to it for the reasons stated during the meeting."

Sign your name.

Do not be surprised if someone gets upset and claims that you are not allowed to write on the IEP because it is a legal document. This is not true - you can write on your child's IEP (although the person who objects may not know this).

You are a member of the team and a participant in the IEP process. The law requires you to make your objections clear. The IEP is the best document to use when you need to make your objections clear.

If someone tries to stop you, continue to write. If someone tries to pull the IEP out of your hands, press down hard with your ballpoint pen and continue to write. If someone yanks the document away from you, continue to write as the IEP tears.

Stay calm. Take your copy of the IEP (whatever is left), stand, say "Thank you. I guess this meeting is over." Extend your hand to shake theirs. Pick up your tape recorder and leave.

The IEP team has a problem. You have advised them in writing that their proposed program is not appropriate for your child. You also consented to their implementing the program so they should implement it.

Your next step will be to immediately write a letter of Dissenting Opinion. State all the issues that you have with the proposed IEP and ask that your letter be attached to your child's IEP. Send this letter to your case manager, the director of special education, and to the superintendent of the district.

Often a child study team will try to work out your issues with you. This keeps them from having to take official and sometimes costly steps to resolving the issue. Be open to suggestions (perhaps trying the suggested implementation for a set period of time to see how it works).

If you feel strongly that the suggestions are not appropriate for your child, and the district won't budge, you can request mediation. In mediation, a third party will step in to try to solve the problems.

Alternately, you may request a due process hearing. In a due process hearing, the parent/s and district representative will go before an impartial hearing officer, who will decide how to resolve the problem.

Another option is to file a complaint with the state. This requires that a letter be sent to the state detailing the issues the parent has, and the part of IDEA that the parent believes are violated. The state agency has 60 calendar days in which to resolve the issue (unless there exceptional circumstances, in which case there can be an extension).

Find out when and how to file a complaint from the official NJ DOE pamphlet located here.

Who MUST attend an IEP meeting?

Simply put, all IEP team members are supposed to be at the meeting. If someone is not there, it is not an IEP meeting. If you show up, and there are people missing, you should ask for the meeting to be halted until all members either show up or the meeting is rescheduled when everyone can be there.

Changes to IDEA that happened in 2004 do allow members to be excused from the meeting if the area of expertise is not going to be discussed or modified if the parent and the school system have both agreed in writing that the member's attendance is not necessary.

The provision only applies to certain members of the team—the ones who are required IEP team members:

• the child’s regular education teacher (if the child is, or may be participating in the regular education environment);
• the child’s special education teacher, or where appropriate, the child’s special education provider;
• a representative of the public agency, who is qualified to provide, or supervise the provision of, specially designed instruction; and
• an individual who can interpret the instructional implications of evaluation results.

Please note that related service providers are not required to be at the IEP meeting.

For those required to be there, they can only be legally excused from the meeting if the parents consent to them being absent, and if they provide input into the development of the IEP prior to the meeting. This input must be in writing and is submitted to the parent and the IEP team [§300.321(e)(2)].

Additionally:

• Parents who want to confer with an excused team member may ask to do so before agreeing or consenting to excuse the member from attending the meeting. (71 Fed. Reg. at 46674)
• School systems may not routinely or unilaterally excuse IEP team members from meetings as parent agreement or consent is required in each instance.
• Schools systems need to to carefully consider whether it makes sense to offer to hold the IEP team meeting when a particular member isn't attending or whether it would be better to reschedule the meeting so that person could attend and participate in the discussion. (Id.)
• A school district that routinely excuses team members from attending IEP meetings would not be in compliance with the requirements of the Act, and, therefore, would be subject to the state’s monitoring and enforcement provisions. (Id.)
• It is up to each district to determine the individual in the district with the authority to make the agreement (or provide consent) with the parent to excuse a team member for the meeting. The designated individual must have the authority to bind the district to the agreement with the parent or provide consent on behalf of the district. (71 Fed. Reg. at 46676)

Address 71 Fed. Reg. at 46676

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What is an IEP Goal?

IEP goals are written to address an educationally based need that affects educational performance in an adverse way, and which needs improvement to enable learning of the general curriculum. Goals and measurable objectives are very important to determine if a child is making progress. They are the primary means for seeing if a child's needs are being appropriately met.

To determine if a child has achieved the goal, it must be objectively measurable.

Observations by teachers and classroom grades are not valid forms of measurement. These forms of measurement have been deemed inappropriate measures of progress by the courts. Teachers can "observe" successes, but they should do so by using data tracking sheets, supplying objective documentation.

There are many instructional areas that should be considered for goal development:

• Assistive Technology
• Daily Living Skills
• Behavioral Modifications
• Occupational Therapy
• Speech-Language Therapy
• Physical Therapy

Of course not every child will need goals in every area. And not every area being addressed will need goals. Goals should be developed for areas in which a child will be actively working on during the school year.


Related Articles:
The "Goal Bank" a 177 page PDF document from the Bend-la Pine school district in Redmond, Oregon, this document includes examples of goals for the following areas: English, Functional Academics, Independent Living, Math, Math Readiness, Motor Skills, Recreation and Leisure, Self-Management, Daily Living, Social/Emotional, Speech and Language, Study Skills and Vocational/Career Education. This is a real must read document.