Service minutes are an important aspect of any IEP. They describe how much time a student should be getting on the specific skills that need to be addressed.
Sometimes students have a significant amount of service minutes in their IEPs and, other times, the service minutes are limited.
The conundrum is figuring out how many service minutes to include in an IEP and how to designate those minutes in terms of a specific time frame. Below are some options for writing service minutes in an IEP and why you may or may not want to include them in such a format.
Designating Service Minutes in an IEP
Your school or district may have a specific way that they would like you to include service minutes in an IEP. If that is the case, follow their lead and write the times in that manner.
However, if you have the option to designate the minutes in different ways, choose the one that works best for you, other teachers who will be providing services, and the student.
Annual IEP Service Minutes
Some schools prefer that the student’s service times are written for the entire year. For example, if the student is supposed to receive occupational therapy, the service minutes would be written as a sum total for the school year. As those services are provided, the therapist can simply check off the time to indicate that it has been done.
One of the cons of this type of minute reporting is that it can be easy to get behind in the amount of services a child is to receive. This can lead to a disproportional amount of services being rendered throughout the school year.
Quarterly IEP Service Minutes
Other schools prefer to have the service minutes written down in a quarterly fashion. This type of writing describes how many minutes the student will receive in each quarter of the school year. This can work well for schools that have a lot of changes from one quarter to the next in terms of routine and structure.
Getting behind on the amount of service minutes needed to be provided is a danger of this type of minute writing as well.
Monthly IEP Service Minutes
Monthly service minutes are typically good for therapists and others who work with the student a few times each month. It allows them to be flexible with the days and times when they are scheduling the student’s services while still being in compliance. It does require providers to keep accurate notes and documentation though.
Weekly IEP Service Minutes
Instead of indicating time on a monthly basis, many schools, especially elementary schools, prefer to indicate service minutes on a weekly basis. This ensures that the student is receiving all of the services needed each week. While it is a shorter time period to provide services, there is typically flexibility for when those services can be provided throughout the week.
For educators and specialists with large caseloads, the weekly minutes may be overwhelming and could cause an issue if there are absences or special events throughout the day that would interrupt those usual service times.
Choosing how to write service minutes is largely a personal and school/district decision. They have to be written in such a way that allows for flexibility in scheduling, but that also ensures the student is receiving services consistently throughout the school year.
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