Analyzing My Future Role and the Steps in the Individualized IEP

This essay discusses the Individualized Education Program (IEP) and its crucial role in special education. It outlines the author's future educational role as an IEP team member, emphasizing the importance of understanding students' strengths and weaknesses, providing expertise, and allocating necessary resources. The essay also identifies mandated and optional members under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), examines the ethical principles and professional practice standards of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and analyzes the legal, ethical, and policy responsibilities within an IEP checklist. Furthermore, it highlights essential skills for performing effectively in this role, such as team building, communication, management, and leadership, and explains how the checklist ensures ethical principles and practice standards guide the author's responsibilities as a general or special education teacher. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of performing these roles to support children with special needs.

Running head: THE IEP PROCESS 1
MY FUTURE EDUCATIONAL ROLE AND STEPS IN THE IEP PROCESS
Name of the student
Institutional Affiliation
Date

THE IEP PROCESS 2
My future educational role and the steps in the IEP process
Introduction
Individualized Education Program plays a very crucial role in a special
education classroom. Special education is an instruction which is specifically designed and
which is provided for free to students with disabilities. This education program describes a
student’s special need program for one year. The program includes several ways on how the
school will help the student achieve the set goals. It aims at making the student progress in
making progress in the general curriculum and also participates with their colleagues who do
not have disabilities in extracurricular activities of an appropriate extent and nature (Aron &
Loproset, 2012).
My future educational role
As a member of the IEP, there are several educational roles that await my execution in
the future. The roles include sharing the students' weaknesses, strengths, and interests and
also be able to share useful information with the children. Making the students with special
needs feel free around me so that they can be able to openly share whatever they are
undergoing with me. Another role is to have sufficient knowledge to be able to educate these
children with disabilities. In future also, there is a responsibility of providing expertise about
standards and grade level expectations. Last but not least is to help people understand how
the student's disability will impact in the classroom and to allocate the necessary resources to
help these children (Ashton, 2011).
Members who are mandated to be present under IDEA and those who are
optional under IDEA

THE IEP PROCESS 3
There are group members who are required to be in the meeting by the Individual
with Disability Education Act (IDEA). These are team members whose areas of related
services or curriculum is being discussed or modified. In the provided IEP checklist they
include: the special education teachers, a counsellor or psychologist, parents or the guardians,
administration, speech therapists, occupational therapists, and general education teachers
(Ashton, 2011).
There are other team members who can decide to come or not. Their presence is
optional and whether they come or not the meeting can go on successfully and they include
students and students advocate not compulsory (Fuchs, Fuchs & Stecker, 2010).
Description of the CEC Ethical principles and Professional Practice Standards
and how they guide the practice
The Council for Exceptional Children deals with the development of quality for
teachers who deal with students with special cases. Practising remarkable teachers can use
CEC standards to help them sustain the necessary knowledge and skills. These special skills
help them to meet the needs of their students. (Marx et al. 2014).
There are various ways in which these ethical principles and professional practice
standards guide the practice. First, they help to maintain a higher level of uprightness and
professional proficiency and also to exercise professional discernment that is of benefit to
people with special needs together with their family members. It also plays a crucial role in
maintaining challenging expectations for people with special needs to develop quality life
potentials in ways that respect background, culture, dignity and language (Smith, 2010).
Examination of the legal, ethical and policy responsibilities within the checklist
Within the checklist, all the IEP team members are fully aware of their responsibilities
in preparation for the meeting as well as all the legal, ethical, and professional policies and

THE IEP PROCESS 4
practices. The ethical responsibilities are based on human principles of wrong or right. The
legal and policy responsibilities are based on written law (Winterman & Rosas, 2014).
Skills from the checklist that will be helpful for me to perform
There are several important skills that will be crucial for me to be able to perform.
They include team building skills like collaboration and participation. These skills have been
very critical especially during the preparation of the meeting. The other skills include:
communication skills, management skills, and leadership skills (Winterman & Rosas, 2014).
How the checklist ensures that ethical principles and practice standards guide
my role, responsibilities and expectations as general education or special education
teacher in my future professional practice
The checklist provides a guide of what is expected of a general teacher or a special
education teacher. The instructions and the responsibilities are given to the team members
before, during and after the meeting provides good preparation for my future professional
practice as a general education teacher or a special education teacher. The ability of the team
members to take the responsibilities and follow the rules and regulations ethically provides
good mental preparation for my future professional practice (Ashton, 2011).
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are several roles that are important and need to be performed in
future to help these children with special needs. The checklist contains critical information
concerning the IEP meeting.

THE IEP PROCESS 5
References
Aron, L., & Loprest, P. (2012). Disability and the education system. The future of Children,
97-122.
Ashton, J. R. (2011). The CEC professional standards: A Foucauldian genealogy of the
re/construction of special education. International Journal of Inclusive
Education, 15(8), 775-795.
Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L. S., & Stecker, P. M. (2010). The “blurring” of special education in a new
continuum of general education placements and services. Exceptional children, 76(3),
301-323.
Marx, T. A., Hart, J. L., Nelson, L., Love, J., Baxter, C. M., Gartin, B., & Schaefer Whitby,
P. J. (2014). Guiding IEP teams on meeting the least restrictive environment
mandate. Intervention in School and Clinic, 50(1), 45-50.
Smith, P. (Ed.). (2010). Whatever happened to inclusion?: The place of students with
intellectual disabilities in education (Vol. 7). Peter Lang.
Winterman, K. G., & Rosas, C. E. (2014). The IEP checklist: Your guide to creating
meaningful and compliant IEPs. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company.