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Teague Albenesius
Gallaudet University
Individualized Education Program Interview Themes: Albenesius 2
This paper will consist of a reflection of three interviews I conducted with a parent, a
student, and a teacher who have experienced the Individualized Education Program (IEP)
meeting process. I will identify connections between the interviews and themes that have been
consistent throughout. I will also discuss the implications of these interviews on my future
teaching and how I will interact with my students and their families.
Background Information
My interview with a parent who has experienced the IEP process is a mother who I will
call Jacqueline in this paper. Jacqueline has a son who is fifteen years old with Down Syndrome.
He is in eighth grade for the second time and is currently very involved in his school program
and in afterschool extracurriculars. Jacqueline is very involved with her sons education.
My interview with a student involves a current student at Gallaudet University who I will
call Annabel for the remainder of this paper. She is deaf and communicates best through
lipreading and through amplification. Annabel has had an IEP since she was in kindergarten.
experience at Maryland School for the Deaf. She is currently teaching 3rd through 5th grade and
has been teaching for the last ten years. I will refer to her as Kaitlyn for the remainder of this
paper.
Communication
The first theme that I noted throughout my interviews was the importance of
communication between parents, teachers, and administration. Annabel stated that the best
teacher she had in school was her first-grade teacher. This teacher regularly emailed her mother
and kept her mother informed about her behavior, improvement, and all relevant classroom
Individualized Education Program Interview Themes: Albenesius 3
happenings. Similarly, the communication allowed for her mother to be incredibly involved in
her daughters education and her daughters IEP. Annabel had consulted her mother about the
questions before the interview and her mother even noted that the teacher worked collaboratively
with the speech teacher on goals to be sure that Annabel reached her goals. Later in the
interview, Annabel gave me the advice that I should communicate with my students about their
needs in the classroom and keep those in mind when I plan for the students in my classroom.
Kaitlyn emphasized communicating with parents often about their children. This communication
could be about the students needs, strengths, behavior, or anything that could support the
parents at home with their children or the teacher at school. She also stressed the importance of
communicating with the IEP team before the meeting so that conflicts and issues can be resolved
before the meeting. Kaitlyn said that the communication should also continue after the IEP
meeting to be sure that all teachers who work with the student are aware of the students goals so
that they can support the student meeting those goals and the student receives the supports they
Based on this information, I should always try to make communication a priority with my
students, their parents, and other staff. Strong and friendly communication with parents can make
them feel at ease and build relationships that set the student up for success (Theoharis &
Fitzpatick, 2011). Parent involvement and strong communication can also lead to higher
expectations for students and better student outcomes overall (Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Javitz,
Teacher Qualifications
Both Jacqueline and Annabel mentioned how teacher qualification affected their services
and placements. Jacqueline explained that her child needs speech services, but that her school
Individualized Education Program Interview Themes: Albenesius 4
does not provide the services with a qualified teacher so she chose to not waste her childs time.
Annabel said that her teachers did not know how to work with her, elaborating that many of her
teachers would exaggerate words or turn their backs to her while they were talking. Some
teachers would not facilitate discussion within the classroom, which would lead Annabel to miss
out on a lot of classroom discussion. She also mentioned how her first classroom placement had
her best and most qualified teachers who spoke clearly and always made sure that Annabel could
Both Annabel and Jacqueline outlined how a lack of knowledge lead to poor interactions
with the student. The most valuable thing that a teacher can do is be informed about the needs of
the student and how to best support them. As a teacher, I will do what the teachers of Annabel
did not; I will follow a students IEP supports and accommodations, but more importantly I will
also ask my students how I can best support them in the classroom because they can provide
great insight about what their own need are. While Jacqueline claimed the importance of support
staff being qualified, I as a teacher can advocate for my student if another faculty is not qualified
because No Child Left Behind requires that teachers be highly qualified. While my degree of a
Masters in Deaf Education and Elementary Education will make sure that I am highly qualified
relating to supporting my students with disabilities. For example, deBettencourt states that many
preservice teachers only grasp the provisions of IDEA and cannot apply the concepts of Section
504, so a resourceful first step as a teacher would be to seek out more information in areas that
other preservice teachers and new teachers tend to struggle with (deBettencourt, 2002).
Appropriate placements and accommodations were also stressed in all the interviews.
Annabel reflected on her educational experience and believes that a placement within a signing
environment would have benefited her long-term. Jacqueline believes that her son needs a
middle ground between fast-paced academic coursework and classes that focus on life-skills.
Jacqueline also thinks that her childs strengths are not considered when placing her child. She
believes that within the current school, however, that her child is placed as appropriately as the
school will allow because he does have elective courses like art and PE that have a peer
mentoring system established with general education peers. She thinks that the IEP system fails
her child because appropriate placements are not to the standard that she thinks is appropriate.
I think the greatest takeaway I can get from this portion is to consider the student when
determine the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). The Least Restrictive Environment is a term
that seems to be debated among various groups because of the word restrictive. In reference to
Deaf students, the LRE would the environment with the most language, opportunities for direct
instruction, and resources (Holmes, 2016). However, the federal government encourages that a
student should be placed in general education courses if possible (Rozalski, Stewart, & Miller,
2010). These conflicting disagreements tend to cause disagreements about where Deaf students
should be placed, and that is something that I will need to consider as a future teacher for the
Deaf. I will be working at a school for the Deaf, meaning that I will have resources, mentors, and
support around me to best accommodate my students. However, I will need to actively take
advantage of these resources so that I can implement them in my classroom and best support my
students.
Individualized Education Program Interview Themes: Albenesius 6
Another theme that was consistent in both the parent and student interview was the lack
of self-advocacy, self-determination, and transitioning for both students. Annabel says that she
lacked self-advocacy skills and still has not learned how to advocate for herself. In high school,
she does not remember any efforts made to transition her to an occupation or college which
caused her to struggle in college. I also found it fascinating that her areas for improvement are
things that she cannot change, like her hearing level and listening skills. Looking back, Annabel
wishes that she developed more of these skills and other skills related to self-care, like how to
replace batteries for her hearing aid. Jacqueline explained that there is a person who is designated
to oversee her sons transition, but she has done very little in her opinion. She wishes that her son
received more instruction for self-advocacy, considering he does not know that he has a
disability.
As a future teacher, I need to be sure that my students are advocated for and receive
information about advocating for themselves. Students who are taught more self-determination
skills are more likely to take an active role in their IEP meeting and put their knowledge to work
(Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Javitz, & Valdes, 2012) (Van Laarhoven-Myers, Van Laarhoven,
Smith, Johnson, and Olson, 2016). As a teacher, I can work with the parents to be sure that
students understand their disability when the time is appropriate and that the students can learn to
Disability Varies
The last theme I noticed between the parent and student interview is that both Jacqueline
and Annabel voiced that the son and Annabel respectively do not represent all people with that
specific disability. Jacqueline mentioned that she knows what supports are best for her son and
Individualized Education Program Interview Themes: Albenesius 7
that she can make recommendations based on him, but those recommendations would not work
for all students with Down Syndrome. Annabel shared this sentiment, stating that her success in
an oral program would not work with all students who have her hearing level.
mirrored this response by saying that when she considers modifications for her students in her
lesson plans, she figures out what her students need based on observation and not just what the
textbook states about the students disability. Kaitlyn further elaborated that differentiated
instruction is incredibly important for a classroom with disability because each student will have
different needs and I will need to match our students based on those needs.
I can apply this to my future teaching by not placing my students based solely on their
disabilities. Students are individuals, meaning that a placement for one student will not work
automatically for another student with the same disability. As a teacher, it is crucial that I
communicate with the students and parents about appropriate accommodations and consider my
Overall Implications
This paper and these interviews have taught me that there are many things to consider as
a teacher. As a teacher, I will work to communicate with parents and staff, strive for personal
development and qualifications, strive for appropriate accommodations and placements for my
students, advocate for my students own advocacy skills and development, and consider my
students as individuals and seek out their needs and how I can accommodate them within my
classroom.
Individualized Education Program Interview Themes: Albenesius 8
References
deBettencourt, L. U. (2002). Understanding the difference between IDEA and section 504.
https://gallaudet.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1959182-dt-content-rid-
4218267_2/courses/Fall2017-EDU735-HY01/IDEA504.pdf
Holmes, T. (2016). Deaf education: Current issues & trends and technology, part I and part II
https://gallaudet.blackboard.com/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course
_id=_138209_1&content_id=_1835701_1&mode=reset.
Rozalski, M., Stewart, A., & Miller, J. (2010). How to determine the least restrictive
Theoharis, R., & Fitzpatick, M. (2011). Maxs family experience: Web-resources for
working with special education students and their families. Critical Questions in
https://academyedstudies.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/theoharisfitzpatrickfinal.pdf
Van Laarhoven-Myers, T.E., Van Laarhoven, T.R., Smith, T.J., Johnson, H., and Olson, J.
1962236-dt-content-rid-4224513_2/courses/Fall2017-EDU735-HY01/transition1.pdf.
Wagner, M., Newman, L., Cameto, R., Javitz, H., & Valdes, K. (2012). A national picture of
parent and youth participation in IEP and transition planning meetings. Journal of
Individualized Education Program Interview Themes: Albenesius 9
https://gallaudet.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1960673-dt-content-rid-
4222159_2/courses/Fall2017-EDU735-HY01/Transitioniep.pdf