IEP Team Member

Lauren Sammon

It is important for a general education teacher to be an active participant as

an IEP team member for several reasons. The general education teachers are
experts in their curriculum; they are well-educated on the material that students in
their grade must learn. In order to form an IEP, the IEP team must be able to
collaborate on modifications for the student based on the curriculum. Since the
general education teachers know the curriculums, they are vital to providing their
ideas for modifying lessons for students with disabilities. It would be difficult for the
team to modify lesson plans for students without the insight of the general
education teacher who will be implementing those lessons. The general education
teachers are also aware of the future demands of the students and can provide that
information in forming yearly goals for students with IEPs. The other members of
the IEP team may not be in the general education classroom. If the student with a
disability is being fully included into general education classes, the general
education teacher will be the one spending the most time with the student. Their
ideas and opinions regarding the modifications, goals, and requirements of each
student are very important because they will be the main source of education for the
student.
The general education teachers involvement in the IEP process benefits all
students in the school because this creates a collaborative working environment.
The research from Moving Toward Inclusive Practices showed that inclusive working
environments in schools not only benefitted the special needs students, but also the
special education teachers, administrators, and non-disabled students. (Burstein,
Sears, Wilcoxen, Cabello, & Spagna, 2004) The special education teachers previously
felt neglected, and on their own. After inclusion, the special education teachers and
general education teachers worked together towards common goals. Special
education teachers were able to provide attention for non-disabled students that
needed extra help and felt more connected within the school. Special education
teachers and general education teachers working together also establishes a
creative environment where the teachers can bounce ideas off one another and see
lesson plans from multiple perspectives. The inclusion of general education teachers
in the IEP process helps shape the school into a community, rather than everyone
working on their own. This collaborative environment as a result of inclusion was
shown at multiple schools studies in Moving Toward Inclusive Practices; each school
expressed their sense of new community after inclusion. (Burstein, Sears, Wilcoxen,
Cabello, & Spagna, 2004)
My role as an educator is to help facilitate learning in my students. Everyone
is different. Every student has different ways of learning. My responsibility is to
present material in a way that my students can understand and learn it, and that is
no different for students with special needs. My responsibility to a student with an
IEP is just the same, to facilitate learning, which may mean more time and attention.
My role as an IEP team member is to contribute my knowledge, work together with
the other IEP team members to develop the appropriate plans for students with

IEPs, and make sure that the requirements listed on the IEP are being met (Baird,
2003). Most importantly, I believe my duty is to genuinely care, be open to
collaborate, and try my best to help all of my students to succeed. I think if I am able
to do those things, I will be fulfilling my role.
References
1. Baird, M. (2003). What Every General Education Teacher Must Know About
Special Education Law. Northeastern Regional Cooperative. Retrieved from
2. Burstein, N., Sears, S., Wilcoxen, A., Cabello, B., & Spagna, M. (2004). Moving
Toward Inclusive Practices. Remedial and Special Education. Retrieved from
3. Smith, T. E. C., Polloway, E. A., Patton, J. R.,& Dowdy, C. A. (2012). Teaching
Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Settings (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Bonus Points
How is the experience of listening to a PDF different from reading the article?
I had a hard time figuring out which app/device that could read text aloud. I finally
found that Adobe Reader X had this capability, and tried it out. I was really excited
to find out about this option and looking forward to it, as I love talk radio and enjoy
listening to books on tape. However, I was pretty disappointed. The voice was very
robotic and hard to follow along with. It didnt sound like how one would normally
read, which threw me off. I eventually turned it off and went back to reading on my
own. I think in the future, I would love to use this type of audio, but only if someone
recorded it specifically for the article I was reading, not if its a computer generated
voice.