Investigation of individualized education program meetings and family participation in meetings

The aim of this research was to define the contents of individualized education program (IEP) meetings handled in elementary and secondary schools that provide inclusive education in Aksaray based on family experiences. In this research, case study design, which is one of the qualitative research was used. Data were collected through participant observation done in IEP meetings, semi-structured interviews done with the families, and field notes. The collected data were analyzed with an inductive method. Consequently, studies for participation in meetings before IEP meetings were found to be limited in delivering meaningful participation. In the functioning of the meetings, it was found that there were some limitations of structural features of the meetings and contents of meetings were generally about debates on the current situation, and diagnosis and placement, and there was limited content for future planning. On the other hand, it was seen that the families mostly attended the meetings by gathering information and their experiences was just limited to getting information. Therefore, it was observed that their perceptions of the meetings were positive.