IEP Handbook for Teachers

You finally sit down after a long day, only to remember… you still haven’t touched that IEP due next week. Your brain’s foggy, the legal language feels like a puzzle written in code, and you’re expected to be the translator, the coordinator, and the miracle worker.

Effective communication regarding student IEPs can be a major challenge for many IEP teams. Making sure all teachers are on the same page regarding what students need in order to succeed at the root, not made easier by the sometimes confusing and hard to understand language of the IEP itself.

We often see this breakdown because of:

• IEPs written in inaccessible language
• IEP team members not being present at IEP meetings
• Time constraints or silos between departments

As special education teachers, it is part of our job to make sure that we are supporting general education teachers in providing necessary and appropriate supports and accommodations, and this begins with understanding the IEP itself. For more ideas on how to best streamline this communication, check out this blog post on Effectively Providing IEP Information to General Education Teachers.

Beyond this, I know personally the overwhelm that special education teachers can feel when writing IEPs, especially at the beginning when they are new to the profession! The process is overwhelming and complex, and the stakes are high because we all want what is best for our students.

The IEP process requires an in-depth knowledge of goal setting, communication methods, and support along with the organization skills to stay on top of it all.

But, what if you could get ahead of the game before the IEPs even start coming due?

We all know that sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves is simply making sure we are prepared and not scrambling around at the last minute trying to make sure things are ready. What if there was an IEP Handbook that not only had a section to serve general education teachers, but also provided information necessary for special education teachers from the start of their career and moving forward? That’d be cool…

What should be in an effective IEP handbook?

Here are my top 10:

1. Support and Explanations for General Education Teachers: Emphasize the importance of accommodations and the legalities surrounding them. Provide training on how to read an IEP and where to find the information more urgent and relevant for their teaching. Provide information for support when teachers are at a loss for how to implement certain accommodations.
   • Don’t forget you can write “Teacher Training” into a child’s IEP!
2. Parent and Teacher Input Forms: A form by which special education teachers can receive feedback from general education teachers as well as from parents. It is so important to know what is going well and not going well in the classroom!
   • Grab editable parent, teacher, para, and student input forms / questionnaires inside the IEP Toolkit.
3. Do’s and Don’ts / Best Practices: Relevant to all special education teachers but especially to newer teachers would be a discussion of what to do and what to avoid. Learning from those who have gone before is imperative and can help us avoid mistakes we would have made otherwise.
   • You can learn the top 5 IEP writing best practices in this free masterclass here.
4. Checklist of the Process: This would be a section that allows you to track the process of an IEP from start to finish in a checklist format. From the initial parent contact all the way to the completion of the IEP, this checklist would keep you on track and aware of every vital step of the process.
   • Download your free IEP Writing Timeline here and your free IEP Meeting Checklist here.
5. Due Dates: A master calendar to keep you on track for all the (very many) due dates that we all know come with working with IEPs.
6. Terminology: This would serve as a sort of glossary or dictionary of all terms, abbreviations, etc. that a special education teacher may need to know over the course of the year.
   • Download your free special education acronyms list here.
7. Setting and Tracking Goals: Discuss the best method by which to set a goal as well as the best method by which to track goals. This section could also host a template goal tracking sheet for teachers to use for their students.
8. Example IEP: So often, we know things in theory, but it can be so helpful to see an exemplary version of what we are expected to produce. Including an excellently written IEP serves as a guide for what is expected.
9. Methods for Presenting your IEP: A training that usually falls by the wayside – how do you go about presenting the IEP to the student, their parents, and their teachers? What is your role in an IEP meeting and what strategies do you use to communicate?
10. All the blank forms: Having all necessary forms in one place can save a lot of time when we are putting things together. Blank copies of all the essentials in the last section may be a beneficial addition.

BONUS items you can add in:

• Student Self-Advocacy Tools
• State and Federal Law Snapshot
• Meeting Prep Scripts

Using Your IEP Handbook During the School Year

Throughout the year, you can use your IEP Handbook to:

• when lesson planning or when setting up your calendar
• onboarding staff and new IEP team members
• during annual review prep
• at parent-teacher conferences
• during team meetings or re-evaluations

Making a Digital IEP Handbook

Though handbooks are traditionally thought of as a paper copy, I would also encourage you to consider an electronic version. Developing this content within Google suites is an excellent way to keep the freshest information and the most recent version at the tips of our fingers.

Imagine walking into every IEP meeting calm, prepared, and confident—because you have everything you need at your fingertips. Download your IEP Handbook starter tools from the TII Member Resource Library today, and take the first step toward IEPs that actually work.

You became a teacher to change lives—not to get lost in IEP templates, legal jargon, and paperwork loops. The Intentional IEP helps you get back to what really matters: seeing the possibilities in every student and making them happen. With expert training and 10,000+ time-saving goals and tools, you’ll turn IEPs from obstacles into opportunities. Join us and reimagine what’s possible.