By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com

Self-Determination skills are part of the Expanded Core Curriculum for students with visual impairments. One way of fostering self-determination is through student led IEP's. The amount of student-participation and leadership in the IEP will be directly related to the other factors including the significance of other areas of disability and level of motivation. 
All students who are 14 years of age and older should be encouraged to actively participate in the IEP development and in the IEP meeting itself. It is natural for students to be intimidated by what is sometimes a very large meeting that includes administrators and teachers. Help the student understand the importance of the meeting and that the goal of the meeting is to assist the student in being successful in school.
To help the student be actively and meaningfully involved in the IEP process, encourage the student to:
  • Choose a medium they would like to communicate their progress toward goals. Some students may enjoy putting together a PowerPoint presentation while others may want to put together a video or simply create a Word document. It may also be appropriate to bring in work samples.
  • Introduce all team members.
  • Make a list of their strengths, collecting supporting documents, and identifying at least one area in which they would like to improve during the upcoming year.
  • Read or orally present the information to the members of the IEP team at the start of the discussion of the current level of performance.
  • Ask for assistance or otherwise areas of need or difficulty they have been having.
  • Sign the final documents of the IEP as a participant.
  • Track progress on your own IEP objectives. This is also a great way to motivate the student to improve their accuracy. Have the student document why they felt they did well or didn't do well on a particular day.
  • Plan for self-improvement activities to master independent living and social goals.

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