Milestones Magazine Fall Issue

I.E.P. (which stands for stands for Individualized
Education Program) is likely the most used acronym for
parents of the school-aged special needs population,
as it is the gatekeeper to special education services in
the public-school system; nobody can enter without
one. It is the final step in the process of entering the
special education system. With parental consent,
children in possible need of special education services
are first screened, then fully evaluated. Finally, an IEP
is developed if/when it is determined the child is eligible
for special education.
For every student receiving special education services, the I.E.P.,
is rewritten annually, a full re-evaluation is done every three years,
and it is revised on an as-needed basis (usually at parent’s
request). This document provides the road map for all the
accommodations provided to the child to help him or her succeed
in all aspects of school life and transition successfully to the next
level of education (elementary to middle to high school). Transition
to adulthood services start at age 14. The IEP determines
whether a student officially graduates from high school at the end
of senior year or stays in the school system through “transition”,
which can continue up to the student’s 22nd birthday. It also
determines whether a student receives services during
the summer.
Federal law relative to special education always look for children to
be in the “least restrictive environment” possible, and it spells out,
at a minimum:
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