Document Type

Capstone

Abstract

The Individuals With Disabilities Act (IDEA) was designed to ensure that qualifying families receive a free appropriate public education and related services for their eligible children with disabilities. For school age children, special education includes the development of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that outlines the supports the school will provide to 4 each eligible student to promote participation in their education. Parents and caregivers are mandated to be equal members with school staff on their child's IEP team to develop a program that will optimize their child's capacity to succeed in school. Research into parent IEP involvement demonstrates low participation in the IEP process due primarily to poor understanding of the process and how they can meaningfully contribute to decision making for their child's education. This capstone project sought to determine if providing parental training from a holistic, occupational therapy perspective on the IEP process would result in increased understanding and readiness for active participation in IEP development. Families transitioning from Early Intervention (EI) services to special education pre-school were provided with Likert scale surveys to determine the baseline level of understanding. Educational training on the IEP process was provided to half of the respondents. A post-survey and a two-week follow-up postsurvey was then provided to training participants to analyze how the training impacted their level of understanding about the IEP process as compared to those who did not receive training. Results show the parent training was effective in increasing levels of understanding and preparedness for IEP participation.

Publication Date

4-17-2023

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