Creating your own IEP Binder

Kellie: Good afternoon, everyone, my name is Kellie. I’m the training coordinator for Kentucky SPIN or Kentucky special parent involvement network. I wanted to reach out to you for just a few minutes today and discuss an IEP binder. We’ll be starting before we know it and things may look a little different this year or a lot different this year, depending on the circumstance. [00:00:30] However, I feel like it’s extremely important that we as parents become extra diligent in our record keeping effort. So some things I just wanted to share with you today, is how to create an IEP binder, if you don’t have one already. So I’m going to be using a Microsoft OneNote. If you have Microsoft Office on your computer, or you have a Microsoft account, you can use a OneNote online. So I’m going to be using that to kind of demonstrate this for you. This can work just as easily with a paper binder or anything else, it’s totally your preference. And you’re going to want to do whatever you feel necessary to make this your own and comfortable for you. [00:01:23] So at the very beginning, you’re going to want to have a binder checklist and I have got some documents printed into this particular, you know, quote unquote binder, and we will be sharing all the links to all these documents, if you want to print them out and put them in your paper binder, or if you want to print them to your OneNote or save them and use them however, you will have all the links to do so. [00:01:53] In this first document I have is your IEP binder check list. And this IEP binder checklist suggest that you put all the newest items on top in each section. So you can see here, my binder has several different sections and then these are the pages. So I’ve got a new section and the first page in that section is my binder checklist. [00:02:20] So in my binder you’re going to find a school contact list, communication logs, letters and emails to and from the school, different evaluations, requests or referrals for evaluations, a consent to evaluate, school evaluations, private evaluations, if any if you’re requesting that, you’re going to find in the IEP section, your parental rights and safeguards. The IEP itself, prior written notice, the meeting notes, and then we will have a report cards and progress notes section and a place for sample work and test scores. And then a behavior section where we will house our school handbook, fiscal calendar, any behavior intervention plans or disciplinary notices. [00:03:14] And so the way this sheet is organized, you would just simply, you know, fill in a date each time you update that, each little page or section so that you know when the most recent communication was. So the next thing we have here is student info tab. So, some of you may recognize Clayton. That is our Stella’s son and this is his one page profile or vision statement. There will also be a link to the template to create one of these for your children, if you would like. [00:03:53] So, these are a great way to introduce your child at the IEP meeting. Because lots of times, people can just get busy and we really want to make this as personal as possible. So having a vision statement is a great way to introduce your child or for your child to introduce themselves at the IEP meeting. So you see, you’ve got Clayton here. His strengths are listed, he’s highly social and determined. He shows initiative and works hard. He’s very independent and musical and creative. He’s also very dependable and empathetic. Some areas that he needs help maybe reading, math, counting money, managing time, keeping track of his schedule, and he might need to be redirected. [00:04:45] So Clayton’s vision statement is I love my two jobs. I work at the Bread of Life Cafe. I am the Dunnville Christian Church Daycare. I also travel with my mom and do motivational speaking someday. I want it to live on my own and get married to my girlfriend. And then his accomplishments are, he’s worked at the Bread of Life Cafe for five years. He’s registered to vote. He’s been in the Band Staff Advisor for Casey County High School marching band for four years. He’s spoken at many events and participated on student panels for students with disabilities. He’s also a self advocate. [00:05:21] So what works best for Clayton is peer modeling and support. Age appropriate awards, such as breaks, money, music. Specific explanation and showing him how to do something. So what doesn’t work for Clayton is giving him too many tasks at one time and removing him from friends. So I think that things like this are very important for us as parents to communicate to the IEP team or for the students themselves to communicate. This is not something we do for our children, unless they’re too young, but this is something we do with our children. [00:06:02] Then we have just a short page for medical information. So this is also a great way to just kind of keep this information in this binder. You can give it to teachers or whoever you need to at any time. So you’ve got my diagnosis, if you have one, my medications, how the medications affect me, because lots of times people don’t realize that medications can be a contributing factor to a lot of things and how you can best support my health. [00:06:33] So then we can move on to the communication section of this binder. So in this binder, I have put in just a link so that this goes straight to the webpage, but I have added the IDEA, law regarding who has to be part of the IEP team. So if you ever are, you know, someone says, well, this person’s not going to be available today. You know, is that okay with you? You just want to make sure that everyone on this team is represented. And so that is the parents of the child with a disability, not less than one regular education teacher, not less than one special education teacher, a representative of the local education agency who was qualified to provide or supervise the provision of specially designed instruction, an individual who can interpret the instructional implications of evaluation results. And at the discretion of the parent or the agency, other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child. And whenever appropriate the child with the disability. And then so down at the bottom of the page, we have places for you to insert their name, their phone number and their email address so that you always have their contact information. [00:08:04] And then we have the communication log is the next page in this section. So this communication log allows you to put your child’s name here. The date that the communication took place, check how that communication took place, who initiated it. Who participated, received, or attended, what prompted the communication, what was discussed and what was decided. [00:08:29] So on each one of these pages, there are three different sections for three different communications. And then finally, I just have a blank section, but this is where you would put any letters that are sent home regarding your child or any email, or even any written documentation that you might need to hang on to. [00:08:57] So the next section of our binder I’m sorry, is evaluations. So, and these just blank forms that I got from the KDE website. So this here is your request, for an evaluation. Or it might be, you know, you may keep a referral for an evaluation here. And then the next thing is if, you know, if you need to request an independent evaluation, you want to make sure that you hang on to that request and keep in mind that we always want to make a request in writing and as much communication as possible in writing. [00:09:39] So then we had consent to evaluate. You definitely want to keep a copy of that, especially if you’re new to special education or you’re waiting on that to be done because the time clock does start taking when you sign this form. So you definitely want to hang onto that so you have record of when you signed the consent to evaluate. [00:10:06] And then next thing would be the eligibility determination. So if you’re new to special education, then whenever you go and they have a meeting you can ask for copies of records and you can keep all these things in here as you need to. [00:10:26] So our next section is our actual IEP section. And you’re going to want to keep on top prior written notice. So every time they’re going to schedule a meeting, they’re going to send you a prior written notice and you want to make sure you hang on to that. And then you still have your IEP, your actual IEP of each year. [00:10:52] And then we have parent homework sheet. We always recommend that about a week before your IEP meeting, that you request your child’s present levels of academic achievement, and performance. And then you take those present levels and you do your own homework. And kind of decide how that needs to look and what kind of support they need. So this way you can make every area they need assistance is addressed in IEP [00:11:30] And then we have notes for the meeting,. How lots of times, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this. I would go to a meeting and I would think, okay, I’ve got this. I can do this. This is going to be a great meeting. And then it ended up not being the greatest I would leave and I would have forgotten things to say or questions to ask. And so this is just a way to kind of keep track, to make sure that you stay on task in that IEP team meeting. So you can see it says my concerns, the priority number, why that’s your concern, you know, what it’s based on. Was it covered in the meeting and what’s going to be the result or decisions of that. [00:12:17] And then I also wanted to make sure and include, because if any of you are not perfect, you know, teachers or have worked in some sort of special education profession. so you’ve been to an ARC meeting or an IEP meeting, you understand that they use a lot of acronyms and it can be very overwhelming. And so if you don’t know what those acronyms are, or you don’t know what some of the words that they say mean, we definitely wanted to include the glossary of terms as well as the special education acronyms. [00:12:58] And just as I said before, all of this, there will be links to everything, for you to download these yourself. [00:13:08] In our next section is our procedural safeguards, because that’s what we’ve got, that’s our leg to stand on. So it’s very, very important that you know and understand what your parental rights are. So, this is printed straight from the US Department of Education. It’s a long document. So, but I highly recommend that you have a copy of that and they know and understand what they mean. [00:13:36] Do not be afraid when someone hands you that and asks you, if they want you to read it, don’t be afraid to say yes or you can say, you know, why don’t we just go over a quick overview of them? And then I’ll also, the County I live in also has them posted on their website, they’re not any different at all, they’re exactly the same. It’s just printed in columns and you know, a different orientation, but it’s the exact same information, but I still get put that in there just because. [00:14:10] And then you have Kentucky regulations compared to IDEA. So this is a Kentucky SPIN document, where we kind of compare what IDEA says and what Kentucky says. So it’s a good idea to have that so you know. And then sometimes districts have their own regulations and they’ll post them on their website or send them home. And you can always ask your district for that. My district does not, so that’s blank here, but you can always ask for your districts’ special education regulations. [00:14:51] So I mixed section and report cards. So depending on, you know, how you prefer to set this up, you know, I just printed it out, [inaudible], this is on [inaudible] what I know, this is just one report card [inaudible]. So we definitely want your most recent report card. And then behind that, you’re going to want your progress report. The school should be sending progress reports home with them, at least as often as your child receives a report card to let you know how they’re, you know, coming along with their goals. And so how often those progress reports are sent home will be in your IEP. And it is definitely something that should be discussed in the meeting. [00:15:45] Another thing that you’re going to want to hang on to is samples of schoolwork. It’s very important that we have record of how our children, we have parents have records of how our children are doing in school. So again, this is not anyone in particular, this is just something I grabbed from the internet, but I recommend that breaking them down by month and every month, putting some sort of sample in, so that at the end of the year, you have something from every month of the year showing how their work has gone that way you will be able to see firsthand what kind of progress they’re making. [00:16:25] And then standardized test scores. So each year you may get, or every few years you might get something in the mail showing you how your child performed on standardized tests. I highly recommend you keep that in there. And finally we have a behavior section. So in this behavior section, first we have a school calendar because it’s very important that you know when they’re in school, when there’s going to be school, you might want to just fill in, put a little X on there and whenever your child is absent or whatever, but it’s very important that you always have a copy of your school calendar. [00:17:11] And then you’ll also want to have a copy of your school handbook. In your IEP binder is a great place to keep that. So, I definitely recommend, you know, either printing that or getting a hard copy and keeping that with you for you to reference if you need it. [00:17:27] And if your child has a behavior intervention plan, you definitely want to put this in here. I can’t stress how important it is for you to hang on to the behavior intervention plan in the IEP. So you can, whenever a situation arises, you want to see if it has been addressed in the IEP or behavior intervention plan. And then any disciplinary notices that you receive, you definitely want to hang onto those. [00:18:03] So that kind of sums it up. I know that was the kind of short, and hopefully sweet but again, I highly recommend having an IEP Binder, where it’s sort of solid organization, for your child’s special education record. And update them often, lots of times, parents need to address something and then they have to dig out their IEP or look for something or try to get something from the school. It’s going to be far better for you if you just hang on to it so you have it right away. [00:18:41] If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Kentucky SPIN, our contact information is located at the bottom of several of these worksheets. But you can always reach out to us at our phone numbers, that’s 502-937-6894. Or you can visit our website www.kyspin.com. [00:19:09] Thank you very much for viewing this video and I will speak to you soon.