What is an IEP? The individualised education plan in Indian schools

An IEP is a working document, not a certificate. It records what the school has agreed to do for one child over a term or a year, and it is the reference point for everyone who supports that child. Schools also call it an individual support plan, a learning plan or a student profile; the name matters less than whether it has targets, support and a review date.

In most Indian schools the IEP is written by the school's special educator or inclusion coordinator, drawing on the class teachers' observations, the family's information and the clinicians' reports. Some schools build a detailed plan with the family; others write a single page, or write one only when a family asks. No single format is used by every school, so read whatever your school produces against the contents below rather than against a template from elsewhere.

Families sometimes ask whether a school has to write an IEP. That is a question about the law and the board, and our guide to the RPwD Act and education rights covers what the law says. In practice, asking is always reasonable, and if the school has no process, offer to draft a one-page plan with the coordinator: three targets, the support, who does what and a review date.

Formats differ, but a useful IEP answers the same questions. Check that yours has each of these parts.

• Present levels: what the child can do now in each area the plan covers, described from observation and reports rather than labels.
• Strengths and interests, which the plan should use: a child who loves trains can count trains.
• A small number of measurable targets for the term, often three to six, each with a way of checking progress.
• The support: time in the resource room, a shadow teacher, adapted work, and who provides each.
• Accommodations in class and in tests, such as extra time, a reader or printed notes, and any modifications to what the child is expected to learn.
• Who does what: the class teacher, the special educator, the shadow teacher, the family and the therapists.
• How progress will be recorded, and how the family will hear about it.
• Review dates, and who will attend each review.

If a part is missing, ask for it at the next meeting. A plan without a review date tends not to be reviewed, and a plan without named people tends to become nobody's job.

A target is a sentence that says what the child will do, in what situation, to what standard and by when. Written that way, anyone who reads it, whether a new teacher, a shadow teacher or a parent, can tell at the next review whether it was met. Targets should be small enough to reach in a term: the next step, not the final destination.

The examples below show the form well-written targets take in different areas. They are illustrations, written for imaginary children, and none of them is a recommendation for your child: the right targets come from your child's present levels, the school's knowledge and the clinicians' advice. Communication and regulation targets in particular should follow what the speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist or psychologist has advised.

• Classroom participation: 'By the end of term, when the teacher gives an instruction to the whole class, the child will start the task within two minutes with no more than one reminder, on four days out of five.'
• Reading: 'By the end of term, the child will read aloud a short passage from the class reader and answer two of three questions about it correctly, in three weekly checks in a row.'
• Writing: 'By the end of term, given a picture and a word bank, the child will write three connected sentences, each with a capital letter and a full stop, in two of three weekly samples.'
• Number: 'By the end of term, the child will add two single-digit numbers using counters or a number line, with at least eight of ten correct on two separate days.'
• Communication: 'By the end of term, the child will ask an adult for help with a short spoken phrase or a picture card, instead of leaving the task, at least once in each of five observed lessons.'
• Self-care: 'By the end of term, the child will open their tiffin box, eat and pack it away within the lunch break, with no more than one reminder, on four days out of five.'
• Regulation: 'By the end of term, when the classroom becomes too loud, the child will show the agreed break card and take a two-minute break with the shadow teacher, instead of leaving without asking, on four of five recorded occasions.'

Most weak targets are not wrong, only too vague to check. The same intention can usually be rewritten so that a review can answer yes or no.

Watch, too, for targets that describe what adults will do, such as 'the shadow teacher will support the child in maths'. Support belongs in the plan, but in its own section; a target is always about what the child will learn to do.

The IEP meeting is usually held at the start of the year or term with the special educator or coordinator, often the class teacher, the parents, and sometimes the shadow teacher or a therapist. Ask for the draft beforehand, and send your own notes in advance: what your child can now do at home, what worries you, and the latest clinical reports. Preparing for a school meeting about your child covers the file to bring and the note to send afterwards.

• Which targets matter most this term, and why these?
• How will each target be measured, by whom and how often?
• What will be different in the classroom from what happens now?
• Which accommodations apply in unit tests and exams, and who makes sure they happen?
• What can we do at home towards the same targets?
• May the shadow teacher and the special educator at home have a copy?
• When is the next review, and how will we hear about progress before then?

If you disagree with a target, say so and suggest another. Ask for a copy of the agreed plan to keep.

A shadow teacher works to the IEP, not around it. Their daily notes should record what happened against the targets: the lessons where the child started on time, the day the break card was used, the lunch managed alone. Those notes are the evidence the coordinator needs at review, and a shadow teacher who has never seen the IEP is guessing at what the school wants.

A special educator at home works on the same targets in the afternoon, so the child meets the same expectations and the same words in both places. The monthly report then tracks each target in plain language; what a good monthly report looks like shows the format. Special Minds writes a child-support profile with each family before a placement, which is neither an IEP nor an assessment, and the shadow teachers and special educators it places work to the school's plan and report against it.

An IEP should be reviewed at least once a term, and more often in the first term at a new school or with new support. At each review, go through every target: met, partly met or not met, and what the evidence shows. A met target is replaced with the next step. A target that has not moved in a whole term needs a different approach, a smaller step or a question to the clinicians, not the same words copied into the next plan.

Keep every version. Over a few years the old plans become a record of how your child has progressed and what support has worked, which a new school, a new shadow teacher or a clinician will want to see. If your child may need exam concessions later, ask the coordinator early whether records of support will be needed; our guide to CBSE exam concessions sets out what one board asks for.