Understanding and Advocating for IEP Accommodations

Abstract

An Individual Education Plan (IEP) guides the delivery of special education supports and services, but some students with disabilities are uncomfortable talking with their teachers about the accommodations, or they do not advocate for themselves when asking for those accommodations to take place in the classroom or during testing situations. This paper discusses how a first year middle school special education teacher in Virginia completed a project for her masters degree by working with parents and their students to understand how and why providing struggling learners with accommodations within the instructional setting can contribute to academic success. The project also evolved into a yearlong study that taught the special education teacher how peer influence can be a positive factor in helping reluctant learners develop self-advocacy skills, and she learned the importance of developing professional collaborative partnerships that ensure proper supports are put into place so that struggling learners can be academically successful.