IEPs are easy to understand.
Of course, knowing the code helps tremendously.
It was late at night, and I was trying to make heads or tails of my son, Dylan's IEP. I got out my trusty yellow highlighter and highlighted what I thought were the essential parts of his IEP.
After about an hour, I did a final look through his IEP, and almost every sentence in his IEP was highlighted in yellow. Hmm, this didn't seem like such a good strategy.
Then I had another idea. I could jot down questions on my yellow sticky notes and stick them on the different pages of the IEP. The problem with that idea was it was hard to figure out how to make sure the sticky notes with the questions were in the right place on the pages without becoming a mess of sticky notes.
Over the years of being an advocate, I've tried several different ways to find certain parts of the IEP quickly. I also wanted to write questions directly on the copy of the IEP, so I wouldn't forget to ask them.
I finally came up with the idea of highlighting all the student's strengths with Green (for "GO" with building on strengths), Red (for stop & think how needs can be met in general ed.), Blue (this was the other highlighter I could find in my house) was used to highlight parent input in the IEP.
When I had a comment or question about a part in the IEP, I tried to write very small and squeeze it in between typed lines of the IEP. It was kind of a successful strategy, and I was still looking for a way to refine how I reviewed IEPs.
Enter a new tool for me, PDF Expert! How awesome it was to use the tool's highlighters, and the bonus was, I could type my comments/questions in the right spot. It was neat and so much more readable than my handwritten notes on the IEP.
Click on the short video ABOVE to
see PDF Expert in action!
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Another one of my favorite tools gives us an Improved Way to Record IEP Meetings. Get the scoop, just BELOW.
