Be Sure to Attend Your Child's IPRC Meeting

Last weekend, a mother called and told me that the family had gone to an IPRC meeting in June and now the school asked them for their input in her son's IEP - Individual Education Plan. By law in Ontario, if a student has been identified as exceptional with special needs, an individual education plan should be written up within thirty school days when the student starts a new school year This mother did not know what to do but was smart enough to seek professional help.

I wish I did that and  had gone to all the IPRC meetings for my older son, Er, who was identified as a gifted student way back when he was in Grade Three in a Toronto elementary school.

As a mother with two young children and holding down a full time job, I was very aware of the fact that I needed to save my sick days for my children in case they were sick and I needed to stay at home to look after them. Therefor, I did not take any days off lightly. Even when I was sick, I still dragged myself to work so that I would not be absent too many times.

I regret not attending every one of these annual meeting at our son's school and advocating for him. Some people, including some school personnel told me" You don't have to attend this meeting. Your son is in the gifted program and he is fine. It's a matter of formality that the school has to go through each year."

How wrong was that? I noticed that for a few times  on the report that came back to us about our son's areas to be improved were - social skills and confidence. Had I known as much as I know now, I would definitely have gone and attended the meeting and done the following:

1. Discuss with the school about our son's progress
2. Learn as much as I could about the areas in which our child needed to improve
3. Work with the school to come up with a plan of action to help our son to develop skills and confidence in the areas needed

I wished I had spoken to more people and learn about the importance of attending the annual IPRC meetings for our son.  Regardless of whether a student is gifted or not, an IPRC meeting is an important one where parents can learn, ask questions and give input to the school about their child's program in school.

Don't miss it and make an effort to attend the annual review meeting at your child's school\!

R.T.
Toronto