Conference material from the Symposium presented by John McCook and Gary Ruesch, Esq., which focused on the IEP team leaders' preparation for the IEP meeting and how to function effectively as IEP team leaders. This 1˝-day intensive symposium on IEP leadership was broken into 2 distinct parts, each featuring presentations, hands-on activities and Q&A sessions with the presenters.

Day 1: Preparing the IEP Team
This half-day symposium focused on leadership issues in preparing the team for the IEP meeting. Topics include: file review, chronology development, data collection, staff training and roles, response to intervention (RTI), facilitated IEP process, identifying potential pitfalls, and member attendance and excusal.

Day 2: Conducting the IEP Meeting
In this full-day session, participants learned how to effectively lead the IEP meeting process, focusing on its needs, organization, pitfalls and responses. Topics include: using data; developing a “SMART” IEP goal structure; strategies for working with difficult people, parent attorneys and advocates; developing the district’s placement offer; RTI as an implementation phase for eligibility or pre-referral issues; members’ roles; new discipline and due process procedures; critical legal issues; saving a flawed meeting; and what to do when you can’t reach agreement.