An observational analysis of the conference

Abstract

Through naturalistic observational procedures, this study examined the dynamics of individualized education program (IEP) conferences. Participants present, the nature and frequency of topics discussed, and the length of conferences were considered. A followup questionnaire was administered to all conference participants to measure satisfaction. Results indicated that the IEP conferences studied generally involved the resource teacher, who was found to he the most dominant speaker, reviewing an already developed IEP with the parents, who were the primary recipients of the comments made at the conference. Implications point to the need to train parents in procedures and responsibilities associated with the IEP process and to train professionals to involve parents as active decision makers in defining an appropriate education for their child. SUE