When the MET finds your child eligible and requiring special education services, the evaluation process is finished. Next, the IEP team will get together to develop the initial Individualized Education Program (IEP).
Federal law requires the school to hold a meeting to develop the initial IEP within 30 calendar days from the eligibility determination date. Special education and related services must then be made available as soon as possible after the IEP is developed.
The MET findings should carry into the IEP
The IEP should not start from a blank page. The evaluation identified strengths, needs, and areas where the disability affects school performance and access to the curriculum. Those findings inform the plan the team builds next.
For example, the IEP must include present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, measurable annual goals that address disability related skills to master, a description of how progress will be measured, and the special education, related services, accommodations, and supports the team determines are needed.
Read the evaluation again before the IEP meeting
The most useful preparation is to go back through the MET report with a different question: where should each identified need show up in the IEP?
Some needs may be addressed through goals and services and others can be addressed through accommodations and program modifications. Others may require supplementary aids, behavior supports, assistive technology, and/or changes in how instruction is delivered. Not every need becomes a goal, but significant needs should not simply disappear between the MET and the IEP.
Watch the baseline
A measurable goal needs a starting point. If the evaluation shows a weakness in reading fluency, written expression, language, behavior, or another area, the IEP should give the team enough current information to know where the student is starting and how progress will be measured. The baseline data that is documented with each goal is where the student is currently performing in that skill.
Ask what will happen, not only what the document will say
The IEP is an implementation document. Before the meeting ends, you should understand the services and supports being proposed, how often they will occur, where they will occur, who is responsible for delivering them, and how you will know whether they are working. You will also walk away knowing when progress on the goals will be reported which will help you track progress and ensure you are receiving those reports (often called Quarterly Progress Reports).