Autism methodology is perhaps the hottest area of litigation between parents of students with autism and school districts, and it comes down to this: Your IEP team needs to make balanced methodology decisions based on student need, legal requirements and the best practical compliance strategies. Make sure that's happening in your district.

The IDEA regulations require that each child’s IEP contain a “statement of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services, based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable, to be provided ...”. However, the U.S. Department of Education holds that IEPs are not required to include specific instructional methodologies, and that whether to specify methodologies in a child's IEP is an IEP Team decision based on what is necessary to provide FAPE.

Special education attorney Elena M. Gallegos gives you practical tips and effective strategies for approaching methodology issues in the IEP team meeting. You’ll learn the answers to these questions and more:

• Can the district refuse to discuss methodology in an IEP team meeting?
• Is prior written notice required when a district refuses to provide documentation of research-based methods?
• When might it be necessary to specify methodology in an IEP?
• How should an IEP team select a methodology or methodologies?
• Are eclectic approaches legally defensible?