Special Education for Beginners | Managing Paraprofessionals, Special Education Strategies, First Year Sped Teachers, Special Ed Overwhelm, Paperwork for Special Education Teachers

Student Led IEPs in Action: A Special Educator's Experience

• Episode 196

Share episode

The theme for January 2025 has been all about learning how to implement student-led IEPs. To wrap up this series of episodes, I'm joined by a teacher who works within my district and who has been implementing student-led IEPs for the last 2 years. Listen in as Bristol Bale and I discuss the real-life application of this transformative practice. 

Key Discussion Points:

  1. Why Student-Led IEPs?
    Bristol shares her initial motivations for shifting to student-led IEPs, highlighting the lack of student awareness about their own IEPs and the need for greater self-advocacy in middle school.
  2. Initial Challenges:
    Bristol discusses the early challenges she faced, including developing a new format that allowed students to take the lead in IEP meetings while ensuring the structure aligned with district standards.
  3. Preparation Steps:
    Learn about the comprehensive preparation process Bristol uses to equip her students to lead their IEP meetings, which includes regular Wednesday sessions focusing on different aspects of the IEP.
  4. Ensuring Inclusive Participation:
    Bristol explains her strategies for adapting the student-led IEP process to accommodate all students, regardless of their cognitive abilities, using tools like speech-to-text and visual aids.
  5. Impact on Students:
    Discover the positive changes Bristol has observed in her students, including increased self-awareness, better understanding of their accommodations, and enhanced self-advocacy.
  6. Success Story:
    A powerful testimony from Bristol about an eighth-grade student who used his knowledge of his IEP to advocate for necessary accommodations in his classroom.
  7. Advice for Educators:
    Bristol offers practical advice for other educators interested in implementing student-led IEPs, emphasizing the importance of using student-friendly language and allowing students to take ownership of their meetings.
  8. Parental Feedback:
    Insight into how parents have responded positively to the student-led approach, finding the meetings more understandable and informative.

If you’re looking for guidance on how to get started with student-led IEPs, my resource How to Implement Student-Led IEP Meetings for Any Grade Level provides detailed strategies to help students feel confident and capable in this role. 



Hey special educator…Do you feel like you're just barely keeping your head above water? Like you're stuck in the same old routines, wondering how to make a bigger impact in your classroom? Well, I’ve got something special just for you. I’m excited to offer a unique opportunity to take your teaching to the next level.  I’m ready to step outside my district to offer individualized coaching calls designed to offer person

Sign up to be notified each time a new episode airs and get access to all the discounts!

Don't forget to leave a review of the show!

Follow Jennifer
Instagram
TPT
Speaker 1:

Welcome back to Special Education for Beginners. So all January long we have focused on the topic of student-led IEPs, and today I wanted to include a real-life application piece to tie this month all together. So to do that, I've invited a guest who has been successfully implementing student-led IEPs in her classroom for two years now. Her name is Bristol and she is a teacher within my district, and Bristol is here to share her firsthand experiences, provide us with a practical look at how these meetings can truly change the educational landscape for our students with special needs. Our discussion will cover everything from the initial steps of introducing student-led IEPs to the ongoing practices that will make them effective. We talk about the tangible benefits that she sees in her students, such as increased self-esteem, better understanding of their own learning needs and enhanced communication skills. Plus, we explore how these IEP meetings have fostered stronger relationships among students, parents and educators alike. This real-life application will serve as a powerful testament to the transformative potential of student-led IEPs, and they offer you actionable strategies to consider. So let's get started and see how student-led IEPs and they offer you actionable strategies to consider. So let's get started and see how student-led IEPs are making a significant impact in an actual classroom.

Speaker 1:

Hey, special educator, are you overwhelmed by the absurd amount of paperwork on your to-do list? Do you wish you had the skills to build a rock-solid team with your staff? Do you find yourself scouring the internet for how to meet the needs of each student on your caseload? Well, hey, there. I'm Jennifer Hopperberg, an award-winning veteran special education teacher and current instructional coach, who has walked in your shoes through each of these challenges and, yes, I have the metaphorical blisters to prove it. I have cried your tears and felt your pain, and now I'm here to support you in the way I wish someone would have been there to support me.

Speaker 1:

Listen in each week as my guests and I dish out practical wisdom to help you handle all the classroom curveballs that are thrown at you and learn how to laugh in spite of the chaos, to celebrate those small yet significant victories that only a special educator can understand. So are you ready? Wipe your tears and put on your superhero cape, because together we are going to learn how to survive and thrive in the ever crazy, completely overwhelming laugh. So you don't cry. Profession of being a special education teacher. Well, hello, bristol. Thank you for agreeing to be a guest on the podcast. Once again. Hello, I'm happy to be here. So all January long we have focused on the topic of student-led IEPs, and today I wanted to include a real-life application piece to kind of wrap this topic up. But before I ask you the questions, can you remind us of what your role is within special education?

Speaker 2:

I am a middle school special education teacher, so it's grade six through eight.

Speaker 1:

How long have you been doing that?

Speaker 2:

At the middle school level three years, and then I was elementary for two before that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so Bristol has been on the podcast before, and Bristol is a teacher in my district and I'm her instructional coach, but she's also a department head for the secondary level, and so she has a lot of experience, and that's why I wanted to have you on today, so that you could chat with what you've done to implement student-led IEPs. So we'll just get started. What inspired you to start this?

Speaker 2:

When I moved to SPED, when I moved to the middle school, I realized that the students had no idea like why they came to me or like anything about their IEPs, and it just it was eye-opening that they were in classes where sometimes there aren't paras and they didn't know what they needed to to be successful, and so I just started teaching them about it, and by putting the IEPs in their language it was also easier for them to understand it and their parents to understand it as well.

Speaker 1:

I know we had had conversations as I sent students from elementary up to the secondary level. You know we would have conversations about are they not told that they're on an IEP? And I felt like I did a good enough job of letting them know. But obviously there was a lack of communication between what an IEP is you know what it's used for and definitely those accommodations and modifications, because I think at the elementary level they're kind of already embedded into what we do every day and they don't necessarily have to advocate for themselves for them. But when they go to middle school it's pretty much a must they need to know what those accommodations and modifications are. So how long have you you said you've been teaching special ed for five years how long have you been using this approach and what were your initial challenges when you first started?

Speaker 2:

This is my second year using student-led IEPs, and one of the initial challenges was just the format. I wanted the format of the IEP to match, like our format of our IEP, so that I didn't have to do anything at all. Like the students go over the IEP, they run the meeting, it's their meeting, and so I had to come up with the format, which took a while, but they they tell all parts of the IEP I. I talk about data, that is the only thing I talk about.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's great. So can you walk us through the steps that you take so you have the format of it? What steps do you take to prepare your students to lead the meeting, because I'm assuming it doesn't just happen. There's things that you have to put into place to make it happen.

Speaker 2:

And Wednesdays are goal Wednesdays and so every Wednesday we do a part of the student led IEP like the strengths, the weaknesses or the about me stuff, that it doesn't matter when their IEP is throughout the year, it's going to be the same because it's them. And then I also teach them about their accommodations and we do a bunch of activities of putting accommodations in their own words and then they put those into the IEPs as well, into their presentations, and then they also put those in their binders, so they have them. And then, once their meeting comes closer, then we go over goals and I put like my math and ELA and transition goals, I tell them what it is and we talk about how to put it in their words. And they also make goals for home. They make a math goal, they make a ELA goal, they make social goals and they make future goals.

Speaker 1:

I was going to ask that if they had any input on what their goals were. So do you just like share their data with them of where they, where their present levels are right now and you help them make that goal?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I basically pick the goal but then show them and say, how would you say this? So if it was quoting accurately from the text, like what would in your words, what would that be to me? And they put it in their words.

Speaker 1:

So this question has come up as I've done this research on this topic that is this possible for anyone, at any cognitive level or any grade level? So what would you say? What would you do to ensure that all students, regardless of their abilities, can participate in student-led IEPs?

Speaker 2:

I know that I work with the higher of the cognitive, so they do pretty well, but they do use their accommodations as needed Text to speech. I might type for them For our higher needs. I've talked to the life skills about pictures like them pick from pictures on certain things and they might not be able to present it but they will have helped create it if they can pick pictures. We haven't started that yet but that's in the works.

Speaker 1:

It's in the works. That's what my hope is is that you know, as other teachers learn about this. I mean, as an elementary teacher, I gave them input, you know. I asked them questions, I did surveys with them, but they were never leading the meeting. They were never really part of the meeting. They might attend it for just a little bit, but they were never leading the meeting. They were never really part of the meeting. They might attend it for just a little bit, but they were never an active part. So if I could go back and kind of do what you're doing now, I think that would be great. And so I want moving forward. I want as many teachers as possible to start doing this and implementing this. So what are some ways that you have seen improvements in your students' self-advocacy and their confidence since you've been implementing student-led IEPs?

Speaker 2:

Well, and one thing this makes IEPs so much fun. You know that IEPs are boring Going through all the paperwork. It's boring but like it's in there, they do it. It makes it fun. You get to learn about the kids and things that you might not have known, but the improvements I've seen. They just know their stuff. They know their IEPs. They understand what their goals are and so when I hand them a paper for progress monitoring, they understand why they're doing it and they know their accommodations In the classroom. They know if they're getting them, they know if they aren't. No-transcript.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so with us having the same kids at one point in time, can you share a particular success story where a student-led IEP has had a significant impact on a student's educational experience?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I have an eighth grader that you had and he is very unorganized and very not with it always out in la-la land, very not with it always out in la la land, but he knows his accommodation. So last year he was in a class and he noticed that he wasn't getting like the closed or completed notes, and so he made a pass to the bathroom and then came and snuck in and told me but said hey, don't don't email yet because I was supposed to be in the bathroom. I don't want to be in trouble. But, like he said, just so you know we're not getting closed notes, and so like I could have that conversation like, hey, what needs to be done here? And that's a kid that doesn't pay attention often.

Speaker 1:

So they knew what they were missing. They knew enough to. I mean, I think, with you structuring it in that way, they knew what they weren't getting and that was very good, that they advocated for themselves. And I think that's our whole goal is to make our students aware and make them realize that it's not a negative thing to have an IEP and it's there for their benefit and we need to do everything that we can to make sure that they know that. So what advice if somebody was just starting off with this brand new? What advice would you give to other educators looking to implement student-led IEPs?

Speaker 2:

Just make sure that everything is in language that the students will understand. Like the point is they run it. It's really hard for some teachers that I've taught this to like give up the control of the IEP because it's not me that's running it, it's them that's running it, it's their ownership, and so that is hard to give up that control, especially if you've done it for a while and you have a system but you just you got to let them have it. Let them tell you what they need. I've had several times where I have we've been going over accommodations. They're like why, why do they have that accommodation? Like that would help me? I'm like, okay, well then I'll put it in there if it would help you. Like, or why do I have this accommodation? I don't ever use that, that kind of stuff. And so let them tell you what they, what they want.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what. What about parents? How do they? How do they react whenever their student has gone through elementary and they've never been in a meeting and now, all of a sudden, they're leading their meeting? What kind of reaction have you had from them?

Speaker 2:

The parents love it. I've had two separate parents tell me that they understand it better by it being like in the kid-friendly language. They understand. I had one who she's like. I've sat in these since preschool and I had no idea what was going on until now and they just love it. They get to learn about their kids some things because, like strengths and weaknesses at home, they get to hear about some things they don't know about. They just get to learn about their kid. Instead of us just telling them about their kid, their kid gets to tell them about them in there and we're sharing information.

Speaker 1:

Very few visuals are used, but whenever you have it up on a screen and there's visuals and there's engagement, and anytime a kid is involved in anything, it's entertaining, it's fun and it brings back that individual piece to an IEP and I think that that is great, that you're doing those, and I'm so proud of you and I hope that you keep sharing this idea with as many teachers in our district as you can.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but I'm hoping more latch on to it because it's really fun. It makes IEPs fun.

Speaker 1:

All right. So, if remember, if you were looking for guidance on how to implement this step, my resource how to Implement Student-Led IEP Meetings for Any Grade Level provides detailed strategies to help students feel confident and capable in this role. Participation doesn't have to be perfect. Like Bristol was saying, you're going to have some kids that might do a little bit better than this, might lead their meeting a little bit better than others, but we just need to understand that we want them to be a part of it. So the goal is to build their confidence step by step. So celebrate their efforts, no matter how small or how big, and then reinforce that those contributions are being made. And I agree that the parent piece is important too. I think that you're right. They're going to, as these happen, they're going to love going to their IEP meetings a lot more Well. Thank you, bristol, for taking time to share your experience with student-led IEPs. I appreciate you, and thanks for coming on the show for your second time. Thank you for inviting me.