Special ed/IEP question?

Question

I just started tutoring a sped student 1:1 with speech/learning disabilities on his academic skills. His mother wants me to help him improve in these areas so he can be mainstreamed into a regular class by the time he gets to high school in a year. Today, I looked at his IEP and discovered something that left me dumbfounded:

As I'm looking at the top of the IEP, the old conference date on each page was scratched out and a more recent date was written over top of it. The parent did not attend any IEP meetings recently. She last had a phone conference several months back. She said they just sent that IEP to her with the new date. I'm sure they changed the date to be in compliance. This is unethical. What should she do?

*At first, I told her to go to the CSE office and ask for new IEP

meeting (also the testing information on the IEP is 1-2 years old).

But, I'm sure there is something else she could do about this.

Answer 1

I agree, the parent can request a new meeting at any time.  As a Sped teacher myself, I know I have hand written the date a few times at/during an IEP.. but our IEPs are computerized and if we have network issues, thats all i can do, but i always let them know it is a DRAFT and i will send it home with the correct date when i have access again.

Parents can also request updated evaluations at any time pretty much as well.

Answer 2

This depends on your state/province.  New federal mandates (US) allow the IEP to be changed without a full meeting if the parents and school are in agreement as to any changes.  It should, however, be initialed beside the new date.  Her phone conference may have resulted in the date change.  Each state mandates when the student needs to have a full Multi-factored exam.  Most states are either every 3 or every 5 years.  They may not be out of compliance.  The mother, however, can request a meeting anytime so if she feels that another meeting is necessary, they will have to comply with her request.