Do 18 year olds have to go to their I.E.P's?

Question

Do 18 year olds have to go to their I.E.P's?

Answer 1

Unless someone has guardianship of an 18-year-old, they are considered an adult, and as such they must be at the IEP meeting.  It's not that bad and it is that 18-year-old's life they are impacting with the decisions made at the IEP meeting!

Answer 2

I'm going to assume that:

a) We're talking about a public school in the United States.

b) By IEP you mean a meeting to create or revise an Individualized Educational Program for a person who has been found eligible for Special Education.

c) The 18-year-old is such a student.

d) The 18-year-old student has not been found mentally incompetent to act on their own behalf in educational decisions.

Parental rights do normally  transfer to the student on the 18th birthday under the Individuals with Disbilities Educational Improvement Act, and with parental rights come parental responsibilities. The parent or 18-year-old student is a required member of the IEP team and must be invited. The school is required to make a bona fide effort to get that student to the meeting, but can proceed without the student if they have made such an effort, and the student does not show up.

On the other hand, if the student does show, the student can say, "I don't want to be in special education anymore. I want us to reconsider my eligibility." At this point, the team can decide to reevaluate based on a review of records (in some cases they may need to request a classroom observation).

And when they review those records, they may decide that the student no longer requires specially designed education to benefit from a Free and Appropriate Education. As a team, they may find the student ineligible.

At that point, nobody has to go to an IEP meeting anymore.