Preparing for the IEP Meeting: Future Planning Statement

As your IEP meeting approaches, you will want to prepare a "Future Planning Statement". This part of the IEP is for parents to express their goals, wants, needs and aspirations for their child. It can be very simple, with short-term goals. Or, it can be very detailed, with long-term, complex goals. Below is our "Future Planning Statement" from Drew's IEP:

We see the first five years of Drew’s life as a critical window where he needs intensive intervention to establish his communication and listening skills that he will need in all future educational and life experiences.

In the short term, we see Drew attending the [School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing] in Columbus, Ohio. The program will offer Drew extensive, structured and specialized educational curriculums specifically designed for the hearing impaired child. The goal for these preschool years is to establish an appropriate foundation of communication, language, listening and literacy that will hopefully allow him to integrate into a mainstream Kindergarten class in [our school district] with minimal or no services and accommodations.

If Drew receives this appropriate education, we see Drew graduating from High School and attending college or post-secondary education, should he choose to do so. We see Drew as a positive, contributing member of society, who is able to support himself and his family both financially and emotionally, without letting his deafness define him.

Yeah, that about sums it up.