Before the meeting: setting questions
Some questions work best days earlier, in writing: “May I receive the draft IEP and current progress data a few days before the meeting?” and “Who will be attending, and will someone be there who sees my child in the general education classroom?” Early answers change what you prepare.
During: the workhorse questions
- “Can you walk me through the progress data for this goal: the baseline, where we are now and how each point was measured?”
- “How many minutes of this service is my child receiving per week, and are any sessions being missed? If so, how are they made up?”
- “What does this look like on a hard day?” (Teams describe the average day. Your child lives the hard days.)
- “Which of the accommodations are hard to fit into the classroom schedule?” Asked without blame, this gets stunningly honest answers.
- “What should I look for at home that would tell me this is working?”
By role: who can actually answer what
One each, to start
- Special education teacher: goal data, service minutes, progress measurement, what to change next.
- General education teacher: daily reality, which accommodations get used, what happens before your child gets stuck, work samples.
- School psychologist: what testing showed, what’s changed since, how your child learns best per observations.
- Speech-language or other therapists: goals progress, minutes delivered, classroom carry-over.
- Administrator: timelines, resources, the single point of contact, what happens if agreed items slip.
Closing: the four questions that end meetings well
- “What are our specific next steps: who does what, by when?”
- “What data or materials will I receive, and when?”
- “When will we check on this again?”
- “Is there anything I should be asking that I haven’t?” Disarmingly effective. Teams often answer with the most useful sentence of the meeting.