IEP meetings: what a student can say, ask, and refuse

Section 300.321 lists the required members of an IEP team: the parents, at least one general education teacher if the student is in any regular class, at least one special education teacher, a district representative who can commit resources, someone who can explain evaluation results, and, in the words of paragraph (a)(7), 'whenever appropriate, the child with a disability.'

The word 'appropriate' leaves room to argue, but section 300.321(b) removes the argument once transition planning starts. When a meeting will discuss postsecondary goals (what happens after high school) and the services needed to reach them, the school must invite the student. Under section 300.320(b), that planning must be in place by the first IEP in effect when the student turns 16, or earlier if the team decides. If the student does not attend, the school must take other steps to learn the student's preferences and interests and put them in the plan.

Useful things to say: which accommodations you actually use and which sit unused, what a hard day looks like, and what you want after graduation. Section 300.320(b) says the transition part of the IEP must contain measurable postsecondary goals for training, education, employment, and, where appropriate, independent living.

A student can also ask why. The Supreme Court in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District (2017) held that an IEP must be 'reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child's circumstances.' In plain words, the plan has to aim at real progress for this student. If a goal has been copied from last year, asking 'what progress did I make on this, and why is it the same?' is a fair question under that standard.

Attendance is an invitation, not an order. A student who finds the meeting overwhelming can attend for part of it, send written comments, or skip it and still have preferences recorded under section 300.321(b)(2). A student can also decline a particular accommodation that feels humiliating, like being pulled from class in front of friends, and ask for a different way to meet the same need.

Before 18, the parent holds the legal decisions. Section 300.320(c) requires that, at least one year before the student reaches the age of majority under state law, the IEP include a statement that the student has been told which rights will transfer. Under section 300.520, a state may provide that at that age all the rights the law gives to parents transfer to the student, including the right to agree to or refuse the plan. Which age applies, and whether a student can choose to keep a parent involved, is a state-law question; the state department of education's special-education office will say.