IEP Meeting Reflection I was granted the opportunity to observe an IEP meeting for a male student with his

parents, counselors, and two of his teachers in attendance to discuss with the student what he needs to do in order to graduate on time. The student has been classified with Significant Identifiable Emotional Disability (SIED), on account of his anger and frustration with school that leaves him feeling as though he is inadequate. He often describes himself as being dumb, but his acuity scores along with his parents, teachers, and counselors prove it to be otherwise. The only area he struggles is in math, he is close to being partially-proficient, but he scores partiallyproficient in writing and science while he is close to being advanced for reading. Video games and distractions on the internet contribute to his low grades, as he has failed to turn in a majority of the work in all of his classes, but he is only failing three of his classes. When asked about his disenchantment with school, the student replied, I dont see the point in schoolWhen am I ever going to need to know about Vietnam in real life? I wanted to jump at the chance to explain him the reasoning, but Mr. Quinn explained that it is not so much about the content as it is the skills he is acquiring by completing his schoolwork. He also explained that the students desired occupation, unexploded ordinance technician, requires him to have a high school diploma, and should use that as motivation to get through school. They then collaborated together to outline a plan for him to pass his current classes and get on track to graduate on time. Something I wish the staff at this meeting had done was to offer more assistance to the parents. The student was offered a myriad of ways he can get help for productivity, but his parents were somewhat left in the dark. His mother had repeatedly asked what she can do to help and how to get more involved with his education, to-which they told her to come to the career fair to get information about the bomb-technician occupation the student is interested in.

While this gets them a bit more involved, it does not give them a wealth of options to help their son, and they could have been Internet resources (e.g. Khan Academy, online lectures, etc.) to help them harness their sons learning ability. They also could have set up a weekly correspondence, through email or phone call, between the students parents and his teachers, to check-in on his progress. I can definitely see myself being a part of this process in my career, for I can empathize with students who dont see the worthiness of themselves or their education. There were many times during this meeting that I wanted to chime in and give the student some advice and examples of my own experience. A major part of this is to help students see the big picture of why they are in school; at the same time, they need to feel they have the ability to ask for assistance at all times. My students will always be able to ask for my help with whatever struggles they have in school, or life in general, and students struggling with emotional issues must be made to feel they are not at a disadvantage in school/life because of their learning disability. It is imperative for students to be given accommodation for external hurdles, which can also assist them in jumping over their internal ones.