I spent a great deal of time last summer reading up on IEPs. After all of my research, I still get baffled by them. I can't understand how something so simple gets so complicated. I printed out Chapter 12: Smart IEPs (available in PDF on the website) from their book From Emotions to Advocacy and added the book to my reading wish list. I know Patty's school did an amazing job last year, but school is going to keep getting harder and I want to ensure Patty has the best opportunity to learn.
I had a conversation with Patty's advocate recently (from Protection & Advocacy) and she said something that really made me take note. Well, she always says something that makes me take note, she's one smart lady. But on that day, she told me that first and foremost, Patty is a First Grade student. She's not a special education student in first grade. It really resonated with me. It was a light bulb moment, for sure.
So, even though we have all summer before First Grade, I'm going to be spending some time looking at the things a Kindergartener is expected to know by the end of Kindergarten. How do I plan to do this? Well, I am going to look at her final IEP Progress Report and go from there. To start with. But, since an IEP doesn't cover all areas of learning, I'll also be spending a lot of time looking at the Common Core Standards. I was very lucky to receive a great email from Ms. P, Patty's special education teacher, where she broke down many areas and told me what Patty's weaknesses were.
Those common core standards are a mystery in and of themselves. Although the standards are fairly specific in what is supposed to be mastered in each grade level, the report card we receive doesn't specifically say if your child met the standard. That's a change we'll probably see in the years to come. Have you checked out the standards? I wonder if there is a "common core for dummies" book out there?
Update:
My bloggy friend Joy of I Can Say Mama left a great link in the comments. If you're looking for IEP goals/objectives, this may be just what you need! IEP Goals and Objectives Bank
"Patty is a First Grade student. She's not a special education student in first grade."
ReplyDeleteI just love this! That woman really understands what it is all about!
I do not know anything about IEPs apart from the fact that it is obviously a big hassle for everyone involved so I can just say that I hope being prepared as good as you are will help getting the most out of it.
By the way, I once posted something on my blog about IEPs, too. Not sure if you have seen it; you might want to check it out:
http://icansaymama.blogspot.com/2013/01/iep-this-might-help-you.html
thanks Joy! i left a comment on your post!
DeleteThanks, Misty!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't actually heard of Wrightslaw and am just realizing (it's our first year in) how complicated the whole IEP process is and how much we as parents need to ultimately lead the discussion surrounding goals. Also - love the same sentence that Joy does! That's amazing. So this woman - did you have to hire her or is she part of the standard team? Tucker hasn't had an advocate and now I wonder if he needs one. Thanks so much for the info.
our state has a free advocacy program called Protection & Advocacy. not sure how it originated, but a family member gave me the name of a lawyer who had spoken to an autism support group. when i reached out to that person, i learned that she was an advocate at P&A. three years of public school and no one in the school system had ever mentioned P&A to us. guess it's a best kept secret! if we ever needed, i believe our advocate would accompany us to our IEP meetings.
Deleteask your specialists and therapists if your area has any kind of advocacy program. our advocate has been my sanity saver. she sent me a ton of information to read, and always tells me of new things that i should be reading. and she knows IDEA inside and out. honeslty, if our school system had someone like her, i would never have to worry about our IEP meetings.
i would love to find a company that specializes in IEP goals and objectives. a place that could evaluate patty and give us an idea where our attention and focus should be. haven't found such a place yet. but did learn about the Kennedy Center for Learning at Vanderbilt recently, but patty is too young for their services. like that link Joy shared, i believe our school system uses a "data bank" which is not truly "individualized" to the specific needs of students. i've often said i would love to read the IEPs for all of the kids from patty's first year of K. i would bet anything that all of those kids had the exact same goals/objectives. and that couldn't possibly have been correct.
one thing to keep an eye on in tuck's IEP is the method the teacher is going to use to measure the goals/objectives. observance is not what you want to see. two teachers may observe a situation differently. we have four goals and all of them have "teacher observation" and i really hope to see that gone sooner than later. that's why by the end of summer i want to have a list of the common core standards that patty has mastered, and the ones that need attention. i think the school should do this, but i think our school system has had poor leadership in the special education department over the past several years.
also look the x% accuracy that your child is going to complete a task. it really should be "patty will x 100% of the time on x occasions". but it's not like that in her IEP.
another thing to look at during your IEP meetings, how much does the regular ed teacher contribute to the conversation? in that first year of K, the reg ed teacher barely spoke. last year was better, but still not as it should be. ideally, the regular ed teacher should lead the meeting and have the support/assistance of the special ed teacher. it hasn't happend for us yet, but i have high hopes for this next school year!
oh, and before your meeting, sit down and calculate how many hours are in a typical school day. have that on a paper, list it by hours and by total minutes. if tuck is pulled out of the reg classroom, you can easily see how much of the regular day he'll be missing. you might ask for an hour by hour schedule of the day. that way you know how long he'll be at lunch, music, gym, recess, etc.
and if nothing else, don't get overly paranoid about ARC meetings. the picture often painted online is that the school is always trying to screw you over and deny deny deny services for your child. that may be the case in some ways, but don't go to the meeting with a line drawn, us v. them feeling. and always say that you are there to make sure your child is career or college ready at graduation.
Wow, thanks for all the awesome info, Misty! I'm going to find out whether we have a similar advocacy program. It annoys me and confuses me why the schools don't have these people as part of the team - especially when they are already funded and the school wouldn't need to adjust budget. Thanks for the suggestions - it'd never have occurred to me to doubt "teacher observation" and really awesome point about "will x 100% of the time" - I know that Tucker's from last year didn't have any 100% (that I remember). And some od the items weren't "hard" enough. I felt like a few of the goals were things that he'd do anyway without extra direction. We let it slide last year assuming the school wanted to ensure their success. I asked Tucker's teacher about it and one thing she said was that really the IEP was more goals that we want to specifically measure but that they would continue to work with him in all areas. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I'm also not convinced that the IEP is something that's consulted on a regular basis. With that said, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Tucker's teachers right now and have total confidence in them.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm really worried about is in a year from now when he'll transition to a kindergarden (which will likely be at a different school). Thanks so much for all of this. I've CC'd it and pasted it into a Word doc so that I can easily refer to it. Much appreciated!
last summer i read Writing Measurable IEP Goals and Objectives, by Baraba Bateman. it was great, it basically said you have to know what should be learned, and then build a goal/objective around it. i just ordered From Emotions to Advocacy, can't wait to read that one.
Deletein preschool, i didn't realize how important the IEP was. and i agree the goals were set low. i still think the goals are kind of low. i mean, i want patty to get an education. it seems like that would be first priority just b/c she is a student, but i get the scary feeling that kids who receive special ed services are able to skate along. and that's not acceptable.
glad my crazy rambling was helpful! there are a lot of books and web articles out there. just don't let them scare you! i sometimes feel the stories are painting a really bad picture of schools!