Published in the July 2026 issue of the ISHA Voice
By Maureen Marrandino, ASHA SEAL for Illinois and member Legislative and Regulatory Committee, Karen Kockler, ASHA SEAL for Illinois and member of the School Affairs Committee
As a new school year begins, we thought you might like a reference guide for understanding the differences between consultations you may provide as part of an MTSS/RtI team and the consultative services you provide as part of an IEP team. There are significant differences, and it’s important to know about and understand those critical differences.
To that end, after meeting virtually with a member of ISBE’s Special Education department, we created a table/chart for your reference. It should be pretty straightforward. The content comes from federal (IDEA and the Code of Federal Regulations) and state (ISBE and the IL Administrative Codes) resources; these are all linked for you in the document.
Please note the specific guidance from ISBE, which is essentially to follow/uphold federal and state regulations, and to follow your district’s requirements for documentation. Bottom line is that there are specific requirements for the content of IEPs, even with regards to Consultation services. These must be documented in the IEP. However, depending on individual student need, if consultation is determined by the team to be important for a student, then it should be described clearly so that any service provider would understand the type of consultation needed, the amount of time required, frequency of service (i.e. consultation), for a duration determined by the team, and the location for where the consultation will take place. IEP consultation does not need to have written goals specific to the student, but can be written for the team. And, if a goal is not necessary, a description of the Consultation service provided in one of the sections of the IEP will suffice (i.e. Supplementary Aids, Additional Notes, etc.); the amount of time, frequency, duration, and location should be included somewhere in the IEP. ISBE’s staff guidance is to include as many appropriate details in the IEP as necessary. Here is an example:
The speech-language pathologist will provide consultation to the student's educational team to support the implementation and generalization of the student's social-communication IEP goal. Consultation may include reviewing student progress and data; collaborating with teachers and other service providers; recommending and/or modeling evidence-based strategies, visual supports, environmental supports, and communication strategies; and assisting staff in identifying opportunities to practice and generalize targeted social-communication skills across academic and nonacademic settings. The SLP will monitor the student's progress toward the social-communication goal and adjust recommendations as needed based on student performance and team data.
Frequency/Duration: [e.g., 30 minutes per month]
Location: Educational setting/team consultation
Provider: Speech-Language Pathologist
Like many things, when it comes to district expectations, there are differences in the directives for consultative services throughout the state. We hope this will prove to be beneficial guidance for all of you! Wishing you the best year yet! Here’s to 2026-27!!!