In Quebec, the Education Act (Gouvernement du Québec, 2020) requires the establishment of an individualized education plan (IEP) for all students with disabilities or difficulties in adaptation or learning. This planning and collaboration tool is used by the school system to identify students' needs and organize the educational services to be provided to them. This IEP is a legal document in which parents and school personnel determine specific supports and services the student will need to access general education. The Education Act mandates that parents are equal members in the creation of the IEP. Parents are therefore required to be included in the decision of evaluation and eligibility for their child’s special education services, placement and the actual writing of the IEP. Several issues surrounding parental involvement in the development of their child's IEP have been identified in the scientific literature. Parental involvement is often limited to listening to teacher information and signing documents (Childre and Chambers, 2005). The literature shows that the emotions experienced by parents during IEP meetings tend to be negative (Esquivel et al., 2008), particularly for parents of students with adjustment difficulties (ASD) (Zeitlin and Curcic, 2014), and that a large percentage are not satisfied by the IPE or the process followed (Slade et al., 2018). Other studies, such as that by, report emotional anguish among parents regarding feelings of being judged and not living up to school expectations (Zeitlin and Curcic, 2014). Researchers in this study report the use of expressions such as “frustrated”, “disgruntled”, “overwhelmed”, “sad” and “deprived” to describe parents' emotions during the IEP process.

This study explored how parents of students with ASD in Quebec (Canada) view their experience of participating in their child's IEP. It also aimed to better understand what influence their level of satisfaction with their child’s IEP and the process followed. The main research questions are: 1) What is the parents' satisfaction with their child's IEP and the process followed? 2) What role did the parents play throughout the IEP process? 3) Does the role they played and collaboration practices used influence their level of satisfaction?

This research is based on a quantitative methodology, using an online survey. The sample consists of 256 parents of ASD students from the province of Quebec (Canada), for whom an IP had been set up at school. Parents were recruited by an e-mail invitation to participate in the research sent by their school's secretariat and by a publicity on Facebook. The sample was predominantly female (88,28%), with an average age of 42.4 years. Most of the children for whom an IEP was created were in elementary school (69,9 %). Measures include three questionnaires: 1) a sociodemographic questionnaire including questions about the parents (age, gender, level of education, number of participations in an IEP process, etc.) or their child (child’s age, ASD severity); 2) the Parents’ IEP Satisfaction Survey (Slade et al., 2018) which included 5 items (α = 0.83); 3) the Inventory of IEP Development Practices (Gaudreau et al., 2023) which evaluates parents’ self-directed practices and collaborative practices of school during the different phases of the IPE process (37 items). Descriptive statistics were used to outline participant characteristics and engagement in IEP processes. Inferential analyses included correlation tests to examine relationships between professional characteristics and collaborative engagement, as well as t-tests and ANOVA with Bonferroni adjustments to compare satisfaction based on parents’ role, experience, and child characteristics (age, ASD severity).

Findings indicate that parents are moderately satisfied with the IEP and process in general but are less satisfied by their children involvement in the process. Different parents’ actions are strongly related to their satisfaction with the IEP, among others, the using tools to prepare for the meeting, implementing measures at home under the parent's responsibility, encouraging the child to use the targeted measures in the intervention plan, and participating in the revision of IEP. Collaborative practice of school more related to their satisfaction were sharing of information about the IEP process before the meeting, considering the parents' availability for planning the intervention plan meeting, sharing information about the child's needs and solutions during the meeting, and maintaining good communication throughout the process. Conclusion This study sheds light on the Parents’ actions in the IEP process that are more related to their satisfaction. These results are consistent with those observed in previous qualitative studies on parents' suggestions for improving the IP process and collaboration with school (Chouinard et al., 2023; Weiss & Rodgers, 2025).

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