What is Meaningful Participation?
How can you participate in your child's education planning meetings?
6/28/20263 min read
Meaningful Participation Starts Before the Meeting
Many parents leave a school meeting feeling like they attended the meeting but did not really participate in it.
The good news is that meaningful participation is not about knowing special education law or becoming an expert in assessments. It is about understanding the unique role only you can play on your child's education planning team.
Here are three ways you can prepare to be an active, informed member of the team.
Plan For Participation
Plan ahead to participate in the meeting:
write down your questions. You might email them ahead of time and ask them to review it.
Dress for a business meeting. We often underestimate how we will feel when we are underdressed for participation in a group.
Calm your emotions. Remember this is a business meeting for everyone else.
Don’t go alone if you don’t have to. Having a support person, timekeeper or note taker for yourself is always valuable.
Record your meetings. It is your right to record meetings, and you should. Place your recording device or computer on the table and let them know you are recording. The school team will record it to.
Determine if your child can have some participation in the meeting.
Plan Your Parent Input Before the Meeting
One of the most important sections of the IEP is the Parent Input and Concerns section. This is your opportunity to make sure the team understands your child from your perspective, not just what is observed at school. You are the expert on your child and this section is where you help direct and shape this legal document.
Having your ideas organized helps ensure your concerns become part of the discussion and are reflected in the IEP. The Parent Input and Concerns section is one of the few places in the IEP that is written from the parent's perspective, and it can become a valuable roadmap for the rest of the meeting.
In an upcoming post, I'll explain how to draft a meaningful parent statement for your child ,why this section is so important, how it can help guide the discussion.
Teachers are experts in education. You are the expert on your child. The best IEPs are built when both perspectives are included.
Understand the Data That Drives IEP Decisions
Good IEP decisions are based on data rather than opinions or emotions.
You do not need to become an assessment expert, but it is important to understand the information being used to make decisions about your child. Look for additional posts on how to understand what the data means.Ask questions such as:
What is my child's current level of performance?
How is progress being measured?
What does mastery look like?
How often is data being collected?
How will we know whether the intervention is working?
If something is not clear, ask for it to be explained in everyday language. You should leave the meeting understanding why decisions were made and how your child's progress will be measured. You can help the team see where better data collection needs to be done by asking them to explain it to you.
Connect School Performance with What You See at Home
Many parents leave this part out. Working with your child in small ways to verify that they can do what school says they can do. If school says they can write their name consistently, get out card to send to a family member and ask your child to write their name on it. If school says they can add up to 10 numbers, try having them add crackers during snacktime on the weekend.
Children often perform differently at home than they do at school. That information is valuable because it helps you understand whether skills are becoming part of your child's everyday life. Maybe your child needs a lot of prompting or redirection to a task or perhaps you find a better way to motivate them in a task.
As you review the IEP, ask yourself:
Can my child do this consistently at home?
Can they do it independently or only with help?
Is this skill showing up in everyday routines?
Are there strengths we see at home that school may not have observed?
Are there challenges at home that the school should know about?
Your observations help complete the picture. When parents and educators compare what they see in different settings, they can make better decisions about supports and services.
Final Thoughts
Meaningful participation is not about having all the answers. It is about learning how to play the critical role of being the expert on this child. You don’t have to be an expert on all children, just on yours.
Your participation happens when you understand
How to share information that only you can provide.
What data is used to make school decisions
How to verify that skills observed at school match what you observe at home.
When parents and educators work together as equal members of the IEP team, they create a stronger plan that better reflects the child's strengths, needs, and potential. Members of the school team may come and go but your constant support and knowledge of your child, their history and their home progress is invaluable in creating proper programming for them at school.