Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Gearing up for coming year IEP meetings

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the advocate board, but here goes. I want to know, if anyone has any idea, exactly what gets put in the IEP. Right now, my son's IEP contains mostly stuff about his writing. Everything else he is getting is not in the IEP. I feel it should be. These are the things that they did that worked last year that I want to add:

1. If a new class is too much for him, start him at 10 minutes the first week, and add 10 minutes each additional week until he's there the entire time. That gives him a month to adjust.

2. He gets a snack mid-morning. HIs teachers last year would sometimes put him off and never give him his snack.

3. Break areas (even a separate desk) with an egg-timer so he can have five-ten minute breaks.

Does anyone else have any ideas for AS children? Is this acceptable to put into IEPs?

HOw old is your son? Does he struggle in any area other than writing? Many times kids with AS struggle with social pragmatics, attention/self regulation, organization and fine motor skills. Sometimes they have difficulty with listening/reading comprehension and math.

The IEP should contain goals for every area of difficulty. This often goes beyond writing and includes an organizational/classroom support goal, self regulation, Social and other academic goals. Your child's needs should drive the goal areas and there should be some data in the form of testing, teaching observation, work samples etc that you can use as a basis to determine his current level of performance and help to set goals for the coming year.

The 3 things you want to add seem reasonable and would go under the accommodations section of the IEP. On number 3 you mention an egg timer - another option would be to teach him to flip a "motor card" that would be on his desk to notify the teacher he needs a break. Part of a Self regulation goal might be to teach him to recognize on his own when he needs a break, to ask for a break (this is self advocacy) and then to take the break and engage in a strategy that helps regulate himself (maybe a short walk to the water fountain for example).

There are many other accommodations that I have seen:
1. Scribe as needed
2. Modified homework
3. Extra time
4. preferential seating
5. alphabet strip/ number chart on desk
6 . Head phones to block out noise
Here's a brief artical on IEP goals http://www.greatschools.org/special...ucation-program-iep-goals.gs?content=709
Here is an article on accommodiations: http://www.ldonline.org/article/Accommodations_for_Students_with_LD

The IEP should also include your concerns - the concerns can be about progress, how services are delivered, your child's emotional state etc. IDEA mandates this as part of the IEP to provide an opportunity for the parents to communicate what is on their mind. The TEAM should consider the concerns when developing the IEP to help answer them as much as possible.

My son is almost 9 years old. He is good about asking for breaks and snacks. The problem is that while the school accomodates this, and they are supposed to give it to him, these accomodations are not specifically in the IEP, which has been bothering me this year. So, the accomodations are given to him in an erratic fashion. I want to ensure they are supposed to do this for him, and that it is legally written down.

It's great that he is able to ask for breaks himself. I understand that if it isn't written in the IEP it doesn't happen (sometimes it doesn't happen even if it is in the IEP!).

So, to answer your question - He should get breaks as requested. Be careful about listing this as breaks as "needed". Often times a teacher may not think the break is "needed" and won't give it.

Thoughts:
1. Make sure the writing goals are spelled out concretely in terms of what he should be achieving and how it will be measured.

2. Yes, get all the breaks and other accommodations into the IEP. Sometimes they prefer to put these into a Behavior Plan (addendum but still legal)

3. Are there other things that weren't working for him that you want addressed? Our IEP includes social skills and participation goals very explicitly.

HTH,
DeeDee

My son gets social skills and gets sensory work weekly. I guess that should be in the IEP as well.

I just found last year he did really well until it seemed like the teacher started forgetting or letting slip his snacks and such, because he was behaving like a normal child...then he starts having issues once a week and suddenly he's very defiant. This concerns me and I want to make sure that I can point to the IEP and show what is supposed to be happening.

Artana, here's a way to think about this. What goes into the IEP is not just the services, but also the goals. You write the goals first, and the goals determine the services. So you start with very specific benchmarks you want him to hit (he will raise his hand before speaking at circle time in 4 of 5 trials by end of the first quarter-- or whatever). And then you put a service in place (an aide to remind him, or training outside of class, or whatever the team thinks will work) that will help him meet that particular goal.

Deciding what services he needs is fine, but if you don't have measurable goals attached to those services, they probably won't make it into the IEP.

HTH,
DeeDee

I understand. The goals are were I have the most issues. Most of the goals are very classroom oriented, and not necessarily things that will help him.

"He will stay on task even with non-preferred activities over 80% of the time" for instance. That sounds like "No matter how bored he is, he will do what we ask him to do". Of course, there are times that non-preferred activities are important things, but other times they are just busy work. To me the goal would make more sense as "He will appropriately express his frustration over a non-preferred activity 80% of the time" which is more about self-regulation and understanding how to express his concerns. I'm just not great at the wording.