Back to School IEP Checklist
Before the new school year begins, take a few minutes to review your child's IEP. Things change over the summer. This checklist walks through three key questions families should ask before September, along with practical guidance on what to do if something needs attention.
1. Do you know who your child's case manager will be next year?
For students who need consistency and clear communication, not knowing who to contact can mean weeks of uncertainty before anyone reaches out. Staff changes, building changes, and summer transitions can all affect who will be managing your child's IEP going into the new year.
What to do:
Contact the school's special education office before the school year begins and ask who will be assigned as your child's case manager. Introduce yourself, share any important context about your child, and confirm the best way to stay in touch. Starting that relationship early makes a real difference.
2. Do the service minutes and specially designed instruction still match the new school schedule?
Summer often brings scheduling changes that nobody flags against the existing IEP. A new building, a restructured class schedule, a different grade level, or a new teacher assignment can all create conflicts between what the IEP says and what the schedule actually allows. These gaps are rarely caught until the school year is already underway.
For students who receive specialized instruction in reading, math, or writing, this is especially important. Children with disabilities in these areas should be receiving specific interventions, not just general classroom support. Those interventions should be spelled out in the IEP with clear information about when they happen, where they happen, and how long each session is. If that information is missing or vague, it becomes very difficult to know whether the instruction is actually being delivered.
What to do:
As soon as you have access to your child's new schedule, compare the service times written in the IEP against what the schedule shows. Look specifically at any reading, math, or writing interventions and confirm that the when, where, and how long are clearly documented. Keep in mind that some intervention times may not appear on a general class schedule, as they are sometimes built into the school day in ways that are not immediately visible. If anything is unclear, there is no harm in reaching out to the case manager before school starts to ask how services will be delivered. A brief conversation early is much easier than trying to sort it out mid-year.
3. Are the specially designed instruction entries clear enough for a new team?
Teachers, support staff, and service providers who will work with your child next year may not have been at the IEP meeting where these supports were discussed. They may be relying entirely on what is written in the document. If the language is vague, what gets delivered may not match what was intended.
What to do:
Read through each specially designed instruction entry and ask yourself: if someone who had never met my child read this, would they know what to do, when to do it, and why it was chosen for my child specifically? If the answer is no, consider reaching out to the case manager before the school year begins to discuss clarifying the language. Depending on the situation, this may not require a formal IEP meeting. In some cases, a phone call or email exchange with the case manager is enough to get clearer language documented before the year starts.
