Guidelines for Making Decisions about IEP Services IEP Services 1 of 8 Introduction and Overview

This series of slide shows is based on: Guidelines for Making Decisions about IEP Services 2001 Michael F. Giangreco, Ph.D. University of Vermont, Center on Disability and Community Inclusion This document is available in a pdf (portable document format) on the internet Distributed by the Vermont Department of Education Family and Educational Support Team Montpelier, Vermont Development of this material was supported by a grant from the Vermont Department of Education, Montpelier, Vermont under the auspices of Vermont Act 117: An Act to Strengthen the Capacity of Vermont’s Education System to Meet the Needs of All Students, Section 7 (d) (5).

Purpose This series of slides shows is designed to offer guidance for making decisions about IEP services for students with disabilities who are eligible for special education. IEP services refer to special education services and related services (e.g., occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychological services).

The guidelines presented here are based on the IDEA and research-based practices. They are designed to help IEP teams make thoughtful, comprehensive decisions supporting the education of students with disabilities, and enable them to consider several important factors before, during, and after reaching those decisions. An overview is provided later in this slide show on Table 1.

Audience People who make special education and related services decisions for students with disabilities These include students with disabilities and their parents or guardians, special and general educators, related services providers, school administrators, and others

Importance Teams without a shared approach to decision-making may be working at cross- purposes. The result can be gaps or overlaps in services, contradictory recommendations from service providers, conflicts among team members, and educational plans that are fragmented and disjointed.

These problems can interfere with students receiving needed educational supports, compromise relationships between families and school personnel, and may waste valuable resources.

What’s Next? The guidelines that follows are divided into three main sections. Each section offers information, ideas, or questions that can be utilized before, during, and after making decisions about IEP services. Each section includes subcategories as presented in Table 1.

Here is a list of the remaining slide shows in this series 2 of 8: Background and Legal Context 3 of 8: Team Practices 4 of 8: Learn About the Student & Learn About the Context 5 of 8: Determine the Special Education Services 6 of 8: Some students with IEPs May Need Related Services 7 of 8: Decide “What” Before “How” 8 of 8: Implement the Special Education Services & Evaluate the Impact of the Services

Open the next slide show Open the next slide show labeled: IEP Services 2 of 8 Slide show 2 of 8 addresses, Background and Legal Context