What is an IEP?
The education system in Ontario is based on the belief that students are best served through an inclusionary model. This means that, rather than a placement in specialized programs, the first choice is to have students with special education needs placed in a typical classroom with various types of learning support. To fully support their learning, these students may require changes to their program through an Individual Education Plan, or IEP.
By definition, an Individual Education Plan, or IEP, is a legal, written plan created for students with exceptionalities or exceptional needs.
Watch the video below to refresh your knowledge on the IEP process and share it with students and their families to help them understand the steps involved in creating and implementing an IEP:
Click here to view the transcript for this video.
The Individual Education Plan (IEP) is a key tool for the support of students with LDS, in particular because it describes accommodations to meet their needs. These instructional, environmental, and assessment strategies are essential in allowing them to learn and to demonstrate their learning.
When developing the IEP, work from an understanding of a continuum of support, with accommodations only as the first consideration, then modification to the number and complexity of expectations at grade level and finally, if necessary, modifications to a lower grade level.
It should be remembered that the IEP is not an exhaustive assessment of the child’s strengths and needs, nor is it a list of all the strategies used for classroom teaching. It must target the most important skills that will be worked on at school.
The next section “Talking to Parents” will provide examples of practices that can easily be implemented to support family involvement in the process of creating and implementing the IEP.