A friend of mine e-mailed this to me and I thought I'd pass it along.
Questions & Answers about IEPs from the Wrightslaw site.
1. Must a child’s IEP address his or her involvement in the general curriculum, regardless of the nature and severity of the child’s disability and the setting in which the child is educated?
Answer: Yes
2. Must the measurable annual goals in a child’s IEP address all areas of the general curriculum, or only those areas in which the child’s involvement and progress are affected by the child’s disability?
Answer: Only affected areas
3. Must the public agency inform the parents of who will be at the IEP meeting?
Answer: Yes
4. Do parents have the right to a copy of their child’s IEP?
Answer: Yes
5. Must a public agency hold separate meetings to determine a child’s eligibility for special education and related services, develop the child’s IEP, and determine the child’s placement, or may the agency meet all of these requirements in a single meeting?
Answer: No, or "it depends"
6. May IEP meetings be audio or video tape recorded?
Answer: It depends
7. If a child with a disability attends several regular classes, must all of the child’s regular education teachers be members of the child’s IEP team?
Answer: No
8. Do parents and public agencies have the option of inviting any individual of their choice to be participants on their child’s IEP team?
Answer: No
9. Are attorney’s fees available for parents’ attorneys (relating to their attendance at an IEP meeting) if the parents are prevailing parties in actions or proceedings brought under Part B?
Answer: It depends
10. Must related services personnel attend IEP meetings?
Answer: No
11. Must the public agency ensure that all services specified in a child’s IEP are provided?
Answer: Yes
12. Is it permissible for an agency to have the IEP completed before the IEP meeting begins?
Answer: No
13. Must a public agency include transportation in a child’s IEP as a related service?
Answer: It depends
14. Must a public agency provide related services that are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, whether or not those services are included in the list of related services in Sec. 300.24?
Answer: Yes
15. Must the IEP specify the amount of services or may it simply list the services to be provided?
Answer: Must specify amount
16. If a child’s IEP includes behavioral strategies to address a particular behavior, can a child ever be suspended for engaging in that behavior?
Answer: Yes
17. If a child’s behavior in the regular classroom, even with appropriate interventions, would significantly impair the learning of others, can the group that makes the placement decision determine that placement in the regular classroom is inappropriate for that child?
Answer: It depends
18. May school personnel during a school year implement more than one short-term removal of a child with disabilities from his or her classroom or school for misconduct?
Answer: Yes
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Appendix A, of 34 C.F.R. Part 300 is a frequently asked questions Appendix to the Code of Federal Regulations. The questions were taken exactly from the Appendix and the answers to those Appendix A questions.
You can get Appendix A from the Wrightslaw site at:
http://www.wrightslaw.com/law/code_regs/IDEARegs_AppendixA.htm Appendix A is included in the book Wrightslaw: Special Education Law (pages 209-224). Our law book includes the complete copy of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, (IDEA), the complete special education regulations, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and regs, and all of the landmark U. S. Supreme Court special ed cases, including Pete's Florence County School District IV v. Shannon Carter case.
The full text of Appendix A is also located in our advocacy book, Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy - The Special Education Survival Guide beginning at page 249. This is a "tactics and strategy" books for parents, advocates and attorneys.
Each book retails for $29.95. They are available in many bookstores and online websites such as amazon.com and Barnes and Noble (bn.com) and, of course, on the
www.wrightslaw.com website.
To learn more about the law book, see reviews and the table of contents, please go to:
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http://www.wrightslaw.com/store/ For orders received before 3:00 pm, Eastern Time, shipping is same day.
If you are unsure about whether either book may meet your needs or be a gift for someone you know, you may want to look at the excellent reviews at www.amazon.com.
