Start Where Your Child Is: A Family Guide to IEP Present Levels

When a family sends me an IEP to look over, I do not start with the goals. I start with the present levels.

That section tells me whether the team actually knows your child. It is the baseline for every goal, every accommodation, every service and the placement decision. If a need is not written there, it is very hard to get a goal or a service for it later. And when the goals feel off, nine times out of ten the gap started in present levels.

This guide walks you through that section the way I would explain it to you across a kitchen table.

Inside you will find:

• What the law actually requires, in plain language, and the three parts every strong present level needs.
• Where the information comes from, including a checklist of records to request before the meeting (your own observations count).
• The four questions that build the whole IEP, and how to spot where barriers really live: curriculum, instruction, materials and environment.
• How to break a hard task into its four pieces so support goes exactly where the barrier sits.
• A strong present level, piece by piece, and vague vs. clear statements side by side.
• A quick check to use before you sign, plus "Help me understand..." questions that keep everyone at the table.
• Three worksheets: a task breakdown, a vague to clear rewrite, and a full present levels draft in your own words.
• The full Present Levels (PLP) Checklist, a one-page PLP Review Tracker, and trusted resources to keep learning between meetings.

Your child has a rightful presence in every classroom and activity. Present levels are not a list of what is wrong. They are a map of which barriers to remove so your child can access what already belongs to them.

14 page printable PDF. Instant download.

From Chaos to Collaboration℠,

Latina

Written for families in any state; state rules and assessment names vary. SOAR Educational Services provides non-attorney advocacy and education. This guide is not legal advice. For personal use by the purchasing family.

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