Should I give up the IEP?

Your middle school or high school student has had an IEP and now they are doing well. The school personnel have been saying that all the goals are met, your student is getting good grades, and they may have even used language like “Your student is doing so good they no longer need an IEP.” They present this with smiles and the tone that a victory has been achieved.

Wow – has your student grown out of their need for an IEP? You are relieved and it feels like a time to shed this artifact of the years of challenge you and your child have experienced – a time for celebration!!

But beware.

First it’s important to remember that this is an IEP – Individual Education Plan, not an IAP – Individual Academic Plan. Academics are not the whole story. Education is more than just grades and passing English and moving from one grade to the next. It includes all the things a student needs to know and be able to do to function in the school setting, more on this below (and at the age of 16 in California to be prepared for “further education, employment, and independent living”)

This distinction comes from Cheryl Theis, Senior Education Advocate at the California Parent training and Information Center (PTI), Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF). Ms. Theis has a special focus on the intersection of disability, social justice, and education and is passionate about this subject.

Then there is the whole subject of development. IMO a special ed student with an IEP can NOT "grow out" of their IEP in middle or high school (except maybe in extremely rare occasions). This may be a controversial stance and there are legitimate arguments as to why the exact opposite is true. But this is my opinion……

Here's why.

In middle school students are in a transition phase. Most middle schools are only two or three years and then its off to high school. This is a time for the special ed team to maybe to readjust the student’s goals to prepare them for the expectations they will face in the high school setting. This is a time to fade (not terminate) services to assess whether they have built skills and to see how they do with less support in this setting, bigger, more chaotic, more stimulating, and with more expectations of everything from social skills, to self-management, to academics than elementary school. It’s a time to increase the expectation in all areas by readjusting old goals, developing new goals, fade supports so there is less direct or less frequent support, and take data on how they do. And it’s a time to prepare for the difficult transition to high school, where the expectations, input, demands, autonomy, and all the rest will demand so much more out of them.

And what about the high school years? If they will be transitioning to high school in the next year or have just transitioned, then this is a transition year. This is NOT a time to be discussing any kind of IEP termination. Again, readjust goals or identify new goals, readjust expectations, fade services, and take data.

Then there is the subject of the upcoming transition to life after high school. In the second and third year of high school then IDEA 300.1(a) comes into play with the ITP, the Individual Transition Plan. In California this ITP must be in place BY age 16 (not in the IEP year that they turn 16), and other states have similar timelines.

Here’s the language of IDEA 300.1(a)

To ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living;

Notice that the last words here are "prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living". So now the district, through the IEP process, is not just responsible for the student doing well in English, passing math, and moving on to the next grade. They are now responsible for preparing them for “further education, employment, and independent living”. They are responsible for helping the student to build skills they will need and use AFTER high school.

This is all done through the ITP process – which districts overwhelmingly don’t explore adequately in the IEP process. Which is almost never robustly employed for the benefit of the student. And I can say that 90+% of parents and professionals alike that I’ve talked to or worked with have no idea what the ITP is or that it exists, never mind how to leverage it to support the student to the fullest extent. And this ITP is only available as part of the IEP and as legislated by IDEA.

Hmmmmm…………That’s suspicious that no one seems to know what the ITP is or how it’s used effectively. Especially when districts are overwhelmingly presenting the “good news” that their 9th,10th, and 11th grade special education students are doing great and no longer “need” an IEP. But are they doing great? Are they prepared for further education, employment, and independent living? My guess is that in the overwhelming majority of cases there are ancillary skills that are part of their education vis a vis preparation for life after high school that they could/should be working on developing. Things like processing and managing time, social interactions, group work, self-insight, self-advocacy, knowing their own strengths and weaknesses, being able to express information to others effectively, having employment readiness soft skills, college readiness soft skills, executive functioning/organization, general verbal expression, self-management, informal reciprocal communication, self-care, navigating the community, self-directive, etc....). If any of these skills are weak then an IEP should be kept in place to work on developing these skills.

Interesting this is almost never mentioned in that “your-student-doesn’t-need-an-IEP-any-longer” meetings.

In short, an IEP should be ever evolving as a student is growing and maturing and evolving and the expectations are evolving. This is especially true in the high school years. If old IEP goals are met, then goals should evolve to support higher level skills as the expectations for the student are of course increasing as they age. Or new goals should be developed to target new skills a student needs to know how to do (or will need after high school). Skills that are important but were not as high a priority as the initial goals can now be developed. And skills that will be needed for an upcoming change in circumstance.

So, should you give up the IEP? Maybe. But only AFTER all these issues are considered and you are certain that they have been adequately addressed.

(BTW - Also, look for my blog on transitioning from an IEP to a 504 plan.)