Kristi Staton EDUC 350: Spring, 2011 Module #9 Individual Education Plans Assignment: Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Review Due Date: 4-23-11 Point Value: 50 You are receiving the IEP that was written following the educational evaluation for the student you have been following. The goal of this assignment is for you to review what an ISTART 7 IEP looks like for an actual student. The IEP you have may not be perfect that s ok. One of your goals will be to look at the IEP with a critical eye. Please keep in mind that an IEP should be written that would provide a new teacher (maybe you) with enough information to start working with a student. The following steps should be used as a guideline as you complete this assignment. Prepare a written response for all questions (to be turned in to the titled drop box in Angel). 1. Read the entire IEP BEFORE you do anything else. Done 2. Locate and highlight the major headings within the IEP (will be in bold)- located all headings Guardian Information Purposes of Case Conference Case Conference Meeting Schedule Evaluation Information and Student Data Concerns of the Parent Eligibility Special Considerations Outcome Participation in Testing Programs Goals Goal Title: Receptive and Expressive Language Goal Title: Writing Goal Title: Math Accommodations Services and other Provisions
Least Restrictive Environment and Program Written Notes and other Relevant Factors Notice of Implementation 3. Was your student found to be eligible for special education? In what disability category? Under the Eligibility Section in the IEP it states that the student is eligible for Special Education Services. The two disability categories include Other Health impaired and Language Impairment. a. If your student was NOT found eligible, please complete question # 4, then go to question # 11.. 4. Using Article 7 review the eligibility criteria for that disability. Do you feel that the educational evaluation supported the case conference committee decision? Why or why not? Other Health Impaired- Jenny Jump Up does not suffer from chronic or acute health problems, however she does lack in adaptive behavior skills, communication skills, and social interaction skills. This point was the only point that Jenny Jump up fell under in the eligibility criteria for this disability. I do not feel that there is enough data to support that Jenny Jump Up has a Other Health Impaired disability. Language Impairment- I am a little indifferent about the case conference committee decision for this special education category. Jenny s scores are very low compared to those of her peers but under the definition in Article 7 I do not know if the outcome is due to a disability. The case conference committee does state that she will be up for reevaluation in 3 years where they again will be able to decide if it is indeed a disability or if she just needed a little guided help. Her social and development history does include poor communication and social interaction skills which are listed in Article 7 under the definition of Language Impairment. I think that this decision was appropriate as a trial run to see if Special Education Services will help Jenny, however, I strongly agree that she should be up to reevaluation to see what benefits if any are being made. 5. Was there any information in the present levels of performance that surprised you? No there was nothing that really surprised me. 6. What needs were identified that need to be addressed? Were those supported in the educational evaluation? Where, and to what extent? I do not know what you mean by needs. The guardian however was concerned about attention span in school while the school focused on the low reading and math skills. Under the Goals sections the need
of reading and math skills were addressed to little extent. It mostly focused on goals what needs to be accomplished not necessarily how it should be done. 7. Review the goals that were written. Was there a goal for each need that was identified? Were the goals standards based? Behavioral? Could they be monitored? Jenny Jump Up had several goals which included Receptive and Expressive Language, Math, and Writing. For each broad category the goes were standards base and surprisingly no behavioral goals were made even though Jenny becomes distracted easily. Note: It is said that her distractions however do not affect the work of hers or others. The monitoring that was mentioned in the IEP included either using a simple rubric for math and writing and a collection of assignments for receptive and expressive language. 8. Review the Services and provisions that were agreed upon? Do they make sense given the knowledge you have about the student? Why or why not? Too little? Too much? Honestly it does not make very much sense to me. Why is it that the speech/language therapy was/is initiated at an earlier time than the rest. (I may have missed it somewhere but I believe that all the disabilities were discussed in the same case conference.) The rest of the information does make sense, and although there is very little information it is very forth coming and easily understandable. 9. Were there accommodations that were needed? What were they? Do they fit with your recommendations or those of the school psychologist? There are no accommodations needed however she will receive direct support during classroom group instruction (mostly to stay on task). The support may be from gen. ed. teacher, special ed. Teacher, or paraprofessionals. These are what I would recommend. I think that after these accommodations are met student will participate more and will be able to concentrate on her work without being easily distracted. 10. Was a behavior plan needed? If so, discuss it Not it was not and I am surprised because after reading the information I thought that for sure she had an emotional/behavioral issue even though it did not seem like an extreme case. 11. Read the Case Conference Written Notes. Were they clear? Concise? Thorough enough? I think that the only part I was confused with were the peer notes. It discussed Jenny s Pre-school background. Was Jenny evaluated in Pre-school also? I am not sure what the peer helper is stating in her notes
12. Are there any parts of this IEP that you think could be improved upon? If so, how? Although it is organized I think that the IEP could be organized in a different way. It is a very to the point document and I think that I will be able to make more sense of each IEP as I read more and more of them, however, if a parent or student would look at their IEP they may get very confused on what it is actually saying. I think that the goals could also be more personal and although standards need to be met I think there should be a section for personal goals or perhaps what the child believes his/her goals should be. They need to be included in the IEP just as much as everyone else. 13. Provide a brief statement of your feelings about this assignment and how it might help you in the future. This assignment really slapped me in the face :*) I realize that IEP s are a lot more difficult than I originally thought. Although it is easy to find what you are looking for the information is very limited and if I am a new teacher and not one who has been with this child from the start I may feel like I do not have enough information to start to help this child. I think that after reading this along with much other practice IEP I will be able to become a stronger teacher. Some things just get better with practice and I believe that understanding IEP may be one of them! I think it would be very beneficial if I were able to sit in on an actual conference where they are creating an IEP for a child. (hopefully I will get the chance in spring when I am student teacher ). EDUC 350: Spring, 2011 Module #9 Individual Education Plans Assignment: Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Development Due Date: 4-23-11 Point Value: 50 You have now had the opportunity to follow a student from Referral for Evaluation Educational Evaluation Eligibility Individual Education Plan. This assignment will focus on your own development/improvement of the student s IEP. As an educator, you will either be involved in writing the IEP (if you are the special education teacher) or contributing to and interpreting the IEP (if you are a general education teacher). Therefore, it is important for you to have a good understanding of the major components and the importance of what they portray.
I always remind my teachers that if they would move tomorrow or if that student would move tomorrow that the IEP should provide enough information for a new teacher to have a good starting point of working with that student. Student s should never have to pay the price for us being unprepared or us preparing an ineffective IEP. This thought helps keep it all in perspective; it s not about the hassle of paperwork it is about doing right by students and teachers alike. 1. Use the IEP Review Assignment responses that you gave as a catalyst for this assignment. In the review assignment, you already identified areas that you either questions or had additional input on. 2. Using the attached pages, complete the components that are given. You can use information that was created on the IEP that you received. However, you will want to either add to or delete to make it your own. IEPs aren t always about reinventing the wheel, they are about capturing the present and looking forward. Don t feel like you have to change everything. Name Kristine Staton Student you were assigned Jenny Jump Up IEP DEVELOPMENT ASSIGNMENT Please complete the following components you would find on any IEP. Use the information you have been given, as well as the completed IEP you reviewed. Strengths of the Student (found on page 1 of the ISTART 7 IEP): Jenny Jump Up is verbal and able to follow simple directions. She gets along well with her peers. Present level of academic and functional performance (this is one of the most important sections that sometimes gets the least attention): After testing Jenny Jump Up s scores mostly were in the Average range with some exceptions. Cognitive concerns include comprehension
and knowledge skills. Math skills were considered low and written expression skills were considered very low. Adaptive behavior skills were also reported as low however those skills were rated adequate in the home environment. Sever areas were found to be at risk for behavior and emotional functioning including, conduct problems, summarization, attention problems, adaptability, leadership and externalizing problems. Clinically significant problems also included Atypicality, learning problems, social skills, functional communication, study skills, school problems, adaptive skills and overall behavior symptoms index. Special Considerations (this is the section that will discuss if there are any language needs due to limited English Proficiency and also if there are any behavioral needs). If your student had a behavior plan, look that over. We will address behavior plans more thoroughly in the next Module you do not need to re-create here unless you choose to. My student did not have a behavior plan even though I believe that one is necessary. Even though Jenny has a Language Impairment there are no needs due to limited English Proficiency. Needs that will be addressed through the IEP Goals (these should have been identified in the present levels section it is important to include what as addressed, but to not add things that weren t addressed): The 3 goals that were addressed in the IEP included Math, Writing and Receptive and Expressive Language. (Again I believe a goal should have included behavioral goals) ****** For the next section write at least 2 goals based upon the needs you identified above. Follow the format below. The pdf that was included in this module, titled Manual on Effective Goal Processes provides a great overview of what makes good and measurable goals. Use that as a resource. Writing good, measurable goals is one of the most difficult areas for teachers. Goal # 1: Goal Title (what content or behavioral/social area): Math Annual Goal Statement (what do you want that student to accomplish by the end of the year?) Jenny will increase her math skills be completing her math assignments, tests, and quizzes with an average of 75% or higher in the general education classroom. Monitoring (how will you monitor the goal? don t worry so much about the way it is written in your IEP think about: will you monitor by assessing weekly, will you
do daily checks, etc ) Since math is done usually daily I will assess weekly maybe with a weekly test that is just a timed math worksheet and see her improvement week through week. Also I believe that a large part of the problem is not understanding assignments I will check to make sure that her homework is written down in her planner and that she has it in her folder to take home. Standards/Elements Aligned to Goal: (you do not need to complete this, but review the one you have. In the ISTART 7 system, you are able to go directly to the standards to find the elements or objectives that will help meet the annual goal you set. Different corporations do this differently. Since the IEP system is changing soon in Indiana, I did not want to confuse you. Next year the new IEP should be addressed and shown to you in another course) Goal # 2 (same notes as above, I did not repeat them here) Goal Title: Expressive and Receptive Language Annual Goal Statement: Jenny will increase her receptive and expressive language skills to improve her thinking and reasoning abilities by meeting the following objectives with 80% accuracy. Monitoring: Since a lot of expressive and receptive language skills are graded on completion I think I would decide to use a yearly checklist that lists off everything that student much complete that year. Also I will monitor this goal by progress reports. I will make sure to keep documents throughout the year to compare them to previous and post documents that may be the same or similar. Accommodations (looking at the accommodations that were chosen, do you think they were appropriate? Include accommodations you think are needed for this student to successfully access education). This section says accommodations for state assessment purposes; keep in mind that these need to be the same ones that are necessary for daily access. My student did not have any accommodations. However, it was said that she would need extra direct support during classroom instruction. I think that this is a good accommodation for Jenny but since it states that this extra instruction can come from a paraprofessional, general ed. Teacher, or special ed. Teacher it is unclear how much direct support she will be getting if the general ed. Teacher provides the instruction. It would be very beneficial if there were a paraprofessional in the room to help Jenny but with funds that is not always as easily done.
Services and other Provisions (Are these the services you think meet the students needs; put in what you feel is appropriate in this section): Jenny does not need any provisions but services are listed as following, reading, math, and language arts resource, and speech/language therapy. I think however that the amount of time spent in the resource room should be increased to give Jenny more instruction if needed. Least Restrictive Environment (what you see is an LRE Placement Category, which is a number code. Please refer to the LRE Code Page that is provided in this module. Indicate what LRE you think is appropriate): I think that the most appropriate LRE for Jenny would be the General Education Classroom with pulled out special education services which is what is listed in her IEP. I think that the amount of time out of the classroom depends however on how much additional instruction Jenny is given. I think that at least 75% of the day though she should be with her peers and have a paraprofessional helping in the classroom if funds allow. Other information you feel should be added to make this a more thorough IEP: I think that there is a lot more information I could add about Jenny to make this a more thorough IEP. The documents you gave us the previous weeks about the history and testing results I feel like should be attached to the IEP. Are these documents attainable by new teachers to help assist the child? ** My hope is that by breaking the components down like this, it is less overwhelming than looking at the computerized system. The system makes sure that every single legal requirement is addressed at a case conference, which is its true benefit.