One promise the law makes you is simple and reliable: your child's IEP must be reviewed at least once a year. The annual review is the meeting where the team looks at how the past year went, checks whether the goals were met, and writes the plan for the year ahead. It can feel like a big event, and the invitation often arrives with little warning. The good news is that you don't need a week of preparation to walk in ready — one focused evening is enough if you use it well.
Start by re-reading the current IEP from front to back. You signed it a year ago, and details fade. Read the goals as if you were a stranger checking them: which ones were about reading, behavior, speech, or writing, and what exactly did they promise? Keep a pen in hand and mark anything that's changed, anything you don't understand, and anything that no longer fits the child you know today. This first pass turns a vague sense of "how's it going" into specific things to raise.
Next, pull out the progress reports from across the year and lay them side by side. They're the closest thing you have to a scoreboard. Look for goals that climbed steadily, goals that stalled, and any that were quietly dropped. If a reading goal shows the same number in October and April, that's a concern worth naming. You're not looking to catch anyone out — you're building an honest picture of what worked so the next year's plan is built on real information, not guesses.
Now make two short lists: wins and concerns. Under wins, write what's genuinely going well — a skill that grew, a support that helped, a teacher who clicked with your child. Under concerns, write the handful of things you most want to change, each in a single sentence. Keep both lists short. Three clear concerns you can state plainly will land harder than a dozen you rush through. This is also where you decide what a good outcome from the meeting would actually look like.
Then send your agenda items ahead of time. A day or two before, email the case manager a short note: "Before Thursday's meeting, I'd like to make sure we discuss his reading goal, the missed speech sessions, and summer services." Sharing your topics in advance isn't pushy — it helps the team prepare, and it means your priorities are on the table from the start rather than squeezed in at the end when everyone's watching the clock.
On the day, bring your two lists, the current IEP, and the progress reports, and remember you're a full member of the team. You can ask for anything to be explained, ask for changes to be written into the plan, and ask to keep going another day if you need more time. Nothing has to be signed on the spot. An evening of honest preparation is what turns the annual review from something that happens to you into a conversation you help steer.
General information and document preparation — not legal advice.
