What Should Happen When Your Child Isn’t Making Progress?

By Frances Shefter, Esq. (and mom)

Parent’s Guide to Reading an IEP Series:

Part 1: Present Levels
Part 2: Annual Goals
Part 3: Accommodations
Part 4: Supplementary Aids and Services
Part 5: Special Education and Related Services
Part 6: Progress Reports
Parts 7: Not making progress.
Part 8: Placement (coming soon).

Part 7 of the Parent’s Guide to Reading an IEP

Over the past several weeks, we have been working through your child’s IEP one section at a time. We started with the Present Levels because they are the foundation of the IEP. From there, we looked at goals, accommodations, Supplementary Aids and Services, Special Education and Related Services, and most recently, progress reports. Throughout this series, I have encouraged you to look at all of these sections as parts of one coordinated plan designed to support and educate your child.

Last week, we talked about progress reports and how they help us determine whether that plan is working. We also talked about how the progress reports from the current IEP should help the team develop the Present Levels for the next IEP. But what happens when you look at the progress reports and realize your child isn’t making the progress you expected?

Maybe the progress report says your child is making “some progress,” but when you look at the actual data, the progress seems very small. Maybe your child has been working on essentially the same skill for several years and still hasn’t mastered it. Or maybe the school says your child is making progress, but you’re seeing something very different at home. Whatever caused you to start asking questions, the important thing to remember is that you don’t have to wait until the next annual review meeting to figure out what is going on.

An IEP is a plan, and sometimes plans need to change.

Start by Figuring Out Why

When I see that a student isn’t making expected progress, my first reaction isn’t automatically that the child needs more services. Sometimes more services are exactly what the child needs, but before we decide what should change, I want to understand why the current plan isn’t working.

This is where everything we’ve discussed throughout this series comes together. Go back to the Present Levels. Were the child’s needs accurately identified? Look at the goals. Do they actually address those needs, and are they written in a way that allows us to measure progress? Then look at the accommodations and Supplementary Aids and Services. Are they appropriate for this child, and are they actually being implemented as written? Finally, look at the Special Education and Related Services. Is the child receiving the specially designed instruction they need, and is it being provided with enough frequency and intensity to allow the child to make meaningful progress?

I also want to know what instruction has actually been provided. If a child is struggling with reading, for example, it isn’t enough for me to know that the child receives 45 minutes of reading instruction five days a week. I want to understand what is happening during those 45 minutes. What instructional approach is being used? Is the instruction appropriate for the child’s specific reading needs? Is it being provided individually, in a small group, or in a larger setting? Has the approach been adjusted when the data showed the child wasn’t responding?

This is why the data is so important. The data should help us identify where the problem may be. It shouldn’t simply tell us that the child is struggling. It should help us understand what the child can do, what the child still cannot do, what has been tried, and whether what has been tried is working.

Sometimes, when you start asking these questions, you discover that the entire IEP doesn’t need to change. Maybe an accommodation isn’t being implemented consistently. Maybe a Supplementary Aid needs to be clarified so everyone understands exactly how it should be provided. Maybe the goal needs to be adjusted because it isn’t measuring the right skill. Other times, the data may show that a more significant change is needed, such as a different instructional approach, increased services, additional supports, or further evaluation.

The point is not to jump immediately to a solution. The point is to understand the problem first.

Making Progress Isn’t Always the Same as Making Enough Progress

This is something I think is really important for parents to understand. Children don’t always make progress in a straight line. There may be periods when your child makes significant gains and other periods when progress slows down. One difficult quarter doesn’t necessarily mean the IEP isn’t working.

At the same time, the fact that your child has made some progress doesn’t automatically mean the current plan is appropriate.

For example, let’s say your child’s goal is to perform a skill with 80% accuracy by the end of the IEP year. At the beginning of the year, your child was at 30%. Six months later, your child is at 35%. Technically, your child has made progress. But I would still want to know whether that is enough progress to reasonably expect your child to reach the goal by the end of the IEP year.

If the answer is no, that doesn’t necessarily mean the goal was wrong or the school did something wrong. It means we need to look more closely at what is happening. Maybe the goal was more difficult than the team anticipated. Maybe your child needs a different instructional approach. Maybe the frequency or intensity of the services isn’t enough. Maybe there is another need that is interfering with progress that the team didn’t fully understand when the IEP was written.

I don’t expect parents to walk into an IEP meeting knowing which of those answers is correct. That’s not your job. What I want you to be able to recognize is that the data isn’t matching what the team expected, and then feel comfortable asking the team to help you understand why.

A very simple question can start that conversation: “My child is making some progress, but are they making enough progress to be on track to meet this goal?”

Then listen to the answer. If the team says yes, ask them to explain how they know. If the team says no, the next question is what needs to change.

You Don’t Have to Wait Until the Annual Review

I think this is one of the most important things parents can take away from this article. You do not have to wait until the annual IEP meeting to raise concerns about progress.

If you receive a progress report in November and something doesn’t make sense, ask about it in November. Start with the teacher or service provider. Ask what they’re seeing and whether the data you’re reading reflects what they’re seeing in the classroom. Sometimes there is information that didn’t make it into the progress report, and a conversation is all you need to better understand what is happening.

If you continue to have concerns, or if the next progress report shows the same problem, you can ask the IEP team to meet. The IEP is not supposed to be written at the annual review and then put on a shelf for the next 12 months. If the data shows that your child is not making expected progress, the team can look at the IEP and determine whether something needs to be changed.

That doesn’t mean I encourage parents to request an IEP meeting every time their child has a bad week or one data point goes down. Remember, we’re looking at the entire plan and the bigger picture. What I’m looking for is a pattern. Is your child consistently not making expected progress? Are they falling further behind? Are the same concerns appearing in multiple progress reports? Have you raised the concern before without seeing a change?

If you are seeing a pattern, I encourage you to start the conversation rather than waiting several more months for the annual review.

What Should the Team Change?

This is often where parents get stuck. They know something isn’t working, but they don’t know what to ask for. I think there is a lot of pressure on parents to walk into an IEP meeting with the solution already figured out, and I don’t think that’s necessary.

You don’t have to know exactly what your child needs in order to raise a concern.

Start with what you know. You know your child isn’t making expected progress. You know what the data says. You know what you’re seeing at home. Bring that information to the team and ask what they think needs to change.

Maybe the team needs to revise the goal. Maybe the instructional method needs to change. Maybe your child needs more frequent or more intensive specially designed instruction. Maybe an accommodation or Supplementary Aid needs to be added or clarified. Maybe the team needs additional information and should consider an evaluation or reevaluation. There are many possible answers, which is exactly why I don’t encourage parents to start by deciding that their child needs a specific number of additional service hours or a particular support because another child receives it.

Go back to your child’s needs and the data.

The question isn’t, “What does the school usually do when a child isn’t making progress?” It isn’t, “What did another parent get for their child?”

The question is, “What does my child need now?”

That is the conversation the IEP team should be having.

Data Detective 🔎

Let’s look at an example. Your child’s reading goal says that by the end of the IEP year, your child will read a grade-level passage with 90% accuracy. At the beginning of the year, the data shows 55% accuracy. Three months later, your child is at 58%, and three months after that, your child is at 60%.

Your child has made progress. The question is whether it is enough.

I would want to know whether the team believes your child is on track to reach 90% by the end of the IEP year. If not, I would want to understand why. I would ask whether the instruction has been implemented consistently, whether the current instructional approach is working, and whether the frequency or intensity of the service needs to change.

Notice that you don’t need to walk into the meeting and tell the team what to do. You can look at the data, recognize that something doesn’t seem to make sense, and ask the questions that help the team determine what needs to change.

That is advocacy.

How Shefter Law Can Help

My goal with this entire series is to give you the tools to advocate for your child on your own. If you receive a progress report and you’re concerned about what you’re seeing, I encourage you to start by asking questions. Talk to the teacher or service provider. Look at the data. Compare the progress to the annual goal and ask whether your child is on track. If they aren’t, ask what the team thinks needs to change.

Many times, parents can have these conversations and work with the school to make appropriate changes without an attorney or advocate involved. That is a good thing. You know your child, and the more you understand the IEP and the data behind it, the more confident you can be advocating for what your child needs.

There are times, however, when you may need additional support. Maybe you have been asking the same questions for months and aren’t getting answers. Maybe the data continues to show limited progress but the team doesn’t believe anything needs to change. Maybe you and the school simply have very different views about what your child needs. In those situations, having another set of experienced eyes review the IEP and the data can be helpful.

At Shefter Law, we can review the IEP and progress data with you, help you identify the questions you want to ask, or attend an IEP meeting with you when additional support is needed. But my hope is always that the information we share gives you the confidence to start the conversation yourself.

Book a Free Case Analysis.

Final Thoughts

One of the most important things I want parents to understand is that an IEP is not supposed to stay the same simply because the annual review meeting hasn’t happened yet. It is a coordinated plan designed to support and educate your child, and if the data shows that part of the plan isn’t working, it is okay to ask the team to look at it again.

You don’t have to know exactly what needs to change before you raise the concern. You don’t have to know every special education law or walk into the meeting with a list of demands. Start with what you know about your child, look at the data, and ask whether what you’re seeing makes sense.

If it doesn’t, ask why.

Then work with the team to figure out what needs to change so that the IEP continues to meet your child’s needs. Sometimes that will be a small adjustment. Sometimes it will require a bigger conversation. The important thing is not to continue with a plan that isn’t working simply because that is the plan that was written at the beginning of the year.

You know your child. You are an important member of the IEP team, and you are allowed to ask questions when something doesn’t make sense. You may be surprised by how much you can accomplish simply by understanding the plan, looking at the data, and starting the conversation.

Coming Next Week…

In Part 8 of the Parent’s Guide to Reading an IEP, we’ll look at placement and Least Restrictive Environment and talk about why placement should be based on the supports and services your child needs, rather than deciding on a program first and then trying to make the IEP fit.