Facilitation - Ohio

Before the meeting begins, the IEP facilitator will make sure that an agreement to facilitate is signed and in place. If following the meeting, the team reaches an agreed upon plan, the IEP facilitator will assist the parties in reviewing and signing the plan. If an agreement on the plan is not reached following the meeting, the parties may elect to schedule an additional meeting, with or without the facilitator. Generally, the length of the facilitated IEP meeting is unknown, as the team members determine when the plan is completed and ready to implement. Many IEP meetings run at least one hour, so it should be assumed that a contentious facilitated IEP meeting will take longer. In those instances where a day is not sufficient to reach an agreed upon plan, IEP facilitation can be  scheduled for an additional day(s). 

A trained facilitator:
• Helps members of the IEP team focus on developing a satisfactory IEP. With the agreement of all team members, the facilitator may help create an overall agenda and assist in generating ground rules for the meeting.
• Guides the discussion by keeping the team’s energy centered on student-focused questions.
• Assists the team to resolve conflicts and disagreements that may arise during the meeting.
• Helps to maintain open communication among all members.
• Helps team members develop and ask clarifying questions.
• Helps to keep team members on task and within the time allotted for the meeting.
• Maintains impartiality and does not take sides, place blame or determine if a particular decision is right or wrong.
• Does not impose a decision on the group.