Individualized Education Plan Essay

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2007), an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is a written plan that is created for a student who has a documented disability and requires specific special education services. Each IEP must be designed to suit the individual child’s needs in order to provide them with free and appropriate public education. The main purpose of the IEP is to ensure that students with disabilities receive the necessary accommodations to be successful while remaining in their least restrictive environment. The Mastropieri and Scruggs text (2014) lists several major components involved with making an IEP. One of these components includes “student’s current level of academic achievement and functional performance.” Essentially, the IEP must indicate how well the student is doing in school at the time that the IEP is created. As the first component listed,
Many times, the general education teacher is the person who first sees issues in a child that could benefit from the IEP. Regardless of who determines that a student is struggling, the general education teacher must be a part of the team that creates a child’s IEP, as he or she can provide insight about the child’s needs and how they can be met within the classroom (U.S. Department of Education, 2007). Additionally, the IEP itself can play a part in the general education classroom if the student’s least restrictive environment allows him or her to remain there. The IEP could require a general education teacher to adapt to a different curriculum or implement related services within the classroom. Teachers may also need to focus more on collaboration with other teachers or a special education teacher, which could result in a co-teaching situation. These factors would greatly change the dynamic of the classroom and may present a challenge to the general education