Student Involvement in Individualized Education Program Meetings

We conducted a review of the literature to investigate interventions designed to increase students' involvement in their individualized education program (IEP) process. Sixteen studies were identified and analyzed in terms of six variables: purpose, participants/setting, design, dependent variables, independent variable, and results. Our findings suggest that students with widely varying disabilities can be actively involved in the IEP process. Our results also indicate that both published curricula designed to teach students skills to enhance their participation prior to IEP meetings and person-centered planning strategies are effective in increasing students' involvement in their IEP meetings, as substantiated through direct observation; scores on measures of self-determination; and/or feedback from participants, parents, and teachers. We discuss the results in terms of implications for practice and research, the need for future studies to assess the impact of student participation on students' daily lives, and the need for institutions of higher education to prepare teachers to include students in the IEP process.