My daughter is in middle school, where she receives skills support every day in an inclusion program. At the annual review, we were told she will now only receive skills support every other day because that is all the high school offers. Can the district automatically make this change?
Your daughter’s educational program and services are developed by the IEP Team (you are part of that Team) and written in the IEP.
The Model IEP Form
IDEA requires that your child’s IEP includes the frequency, duration, location, and projected dates for services.
34 C.F.R. Section 300.320(a)(7) in Wrightslaw: All About IEPs, page 43.
Read the US DOE Guidance on the required content of IEPs explained in the Model IEP Form.
Your child’s IEP drives her program, placement, and services – not what the school has available. The school is responsible for providing FAPE.
The Annual IEP Review
The annual review is for IEP team to review and revise the IEP based on:
- any lack of expected progress
- results of any reevaluation
- information provided by the parents
- anticipated needs
20 U.S.C. Section 1414(d)(4)(A) in Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, page 104.
Individualized IEPs
Your child’s IEP is based on her:
- present levels
- needs
- goals
- progress
The discussion by the IEP Team at the annual review should have been about your daughter’s unique needs and the program she requires to meet those needs – not about her schedule.
Is your child’s IEP individualized? Get the checklist!
More Resources
Wrightslaw: All About IEPs, Chapter 5
IEP Drives Services
Updating Present Levels
Roadmap to the IEP
IEP Facts: Review and Revision
I am seeking information on inclusion for a different reason. My child’s school has placed all SPED/IEP students in one classroom and in the lower level class of her grade. Is this tracking? Is this legal? Is it inclusion when they are excluding SPED/IEP students from the other two classes in her grade? How or who can confirm this based on IDEA or Title X (or whatever title deals with rights for children with disabilities).Thank you in advance for feedback.
Are there general education students in the class as well? If so then it is an inclusion class. In many schools there typically is only one inclusion class per grade level as they only have the staff for one class. If numbers are very high, I have once seen a second class formed once.
If you truly want to see how bad a school system is come into Adams County, Illinois. None of our school districts follow IDEA at all. In fact, they are making an example out of us because we are trying to enforce IDEA. In fact our state board of education should be enforcing IDEA which they do not. They always side with the school but also with the parents depending which ones they are talking to at the time. Now the Illinois State Board of Education is moving over 305 million dollars from Special ED to the General ED because they general ed is so in debt. The Illinois Board of Education explains that the local school districts are in charge of how much they want to spend on special ed. Guess what, now our special ed kids will get nothing. Illinois is circling the drain and going down.