Showing posts with label IEP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IEP. Show all posts
Besides Me, Who Will Be at My Child's IEP Meeting?
As a parent you are the first member of your child's IEP team. But there are other members who come and go depending on the needs of your child.
The Core Team Members
While there are a stunning array of people who will move onto and off of the IEP field, three players will probably do the largest amount of ball-carrying for students with special needs. They're the ones who will send you letters announcing scheduled meetings, and the ones who will hand you the 5,000 copies of the booklets on knowing your rights. They'll be responsible for evaluating your child on arrival in the system and periodically thereafter. One of these individuals will probably be assigned as your child's case manager.
The School Psychologist: Back before RTI, the psychologist is the person who will give your child IQ tests and other psychological surveys as part of the evaluation portion of IEP planning. The psychologist may make observations during the meeting about your child's psychological state or concerns. If your child is having problems during the school year that require counseling, this psychologist may be able to help, or there may be another school psychologist who handles counseling of students.
Special Education Teacher: The special education teacher is the person who will give your child tests that assess level of educational achievement and ability. The special education teacher may make observations during the meeting about the appropriate educational placement for your child. Should your child need special learning techniques, modifications and accommodations in the classroom, the special education teacher will be able to strategize those with you and the teacher, and help monitor progress. This teacher will be charged with outlining your child's educational progress and prognosis for the IEP, and with gathering opinions from all other teachers as appropriate. What you hear from the teacher at the meeting should be consistent with what you've been hearing throughout the year. If not, ask why. If you haven't been talking with the teacher throughout the year ... well, then I'll ask, why not? Don't be a stranger.
The Social Worker: The social worker is the person who will take down a family history during the evaluation process. The social worker may make observations during the meeting about your child's relationships with other students and general participation in the school experience. Should your child need special assistance with peer relationships and conflicts, the social worker may be able to arrange appropriate programs.
The Regular Education Teacher: From the school's point of view, nobody knows your child better than the teacher. So it's natural for the teacher to be involved in the planning of the IEP. Your child's regular education teacher will always be at the meeting. That's good news for you if you've built a rapport with a teacher, or if a teacher has a particularly good feel for your child's abilities and needs. If your child has multiple teachers in the course of a school day, they won't all crowd the meeting.
The Physical Therapist (PT): The physical therapist works on your child's gross motor skills -- no, not the ability to burp impressively or spit across the room, but the movement of major muscle groups to make big movements like walking, running, catching a ball or kicking it. Once your child is in school, there may be a particular emphasis on skills that enable a student to make it untroubled through a school day, like walking without jumping or flapping, participating in gym class, or carrying a lunch tray or a binder. You should listen to the goals set by the PT and make sure they're meaningful to your child's life and priorities.
The Occupational Therapist (OT): As the PT looks at gross motor, the OT deals with fine motor skills, those small precise movements we all take for granted and our kids can't do if you paid them. Things like printing and handwriting clearly. Tying shoes. Coloring in the lines. Turning a combination lock. Did I mention printing and handwriting clearly? The occupational therapist will, and writing is likely one of the things that will pop up in OT goals. If your school therapist happens to be trained in sensory integration therapy, you may be able to have some of that calming, organizing activity written into your child's plan as well. It will have to be undertaken in a way that makes it important to schooling, however. (Like being able to remain seated, or keep from disrupting the class.)
The Core Team Members
While there are a stunning array of people who will move onto and off of the IEP field, three players will probably do the largest amount of ball-carrying for students with special needs. They're the ones who will send you letters announcing scheduled meetings, and the ones who will hand you the 5,000 copies of the booklets on knowing your rights. They'll be responsible for evaluating your child on arrival in the system and periodically thereafter. One of these individuals will probably be assigned as your child's case manager.
The School Psychologist: Back before RTI, the psychologist is the person who will give your child IQ tests and other psychological surveys as part of the evaluation portion of IEP planning. The psychologist may make observations during the meeting about your child's psychological state or concerns. If your child is having problems during the school year that require counseling, this psychologist may be able to help, or there may be another school psychologist who handles counseling of students.
Special Education Teacher: The special education teacher is the person who will give your child tests that assess level of educational achievement and ability. The special education teacher may make observations during the meeting about the appropriate educational placement for your child. Should your child need special learning techniques, modifications and accommodations in the classroom, the special education teacher will be able to strategize those with you and the teacher, and help monitor progress. This teacher will be charged with outlining your child's educational progress and prognosis for the IEP, and with gathering opinions from all other teachers as appropriate. What you hear from the teacher at the meeting should be consistent with what you've been hearing throughout the year. If not, ask why. If you haven't been talking with the teacher throughout the year ... well, then I'll ask, why not? Don't be a stranger.
The Social Worker: The social worker is the person who will take down a family history during the evaluation process. The social worker may make observations during the meeting about your child's relationships with other students and general participation in the school experience. Should your child need special assistance with peer relationships and conflicts, the social worker may be able to arrange appropriate programs.
The Regular Education Teacher: From the school's point of view, nobody knows your child better than the teacher. So it's natural for the teacher to be involved in the planning of the IEP. Your child's regular education teacher will always be at the meeting. That's good news for you if you've built a rapport with a teacher, or if a teacher has a particularly good feel for your child's abilities and needs. If your child has multiple teachers in the course of a school day, they won't all crowd the meeting.
The Speech Therapist: The speech therapist works with your child on receptive and expressive language. In clear language, what that means is that what your child understands of what people tell him, how she is able to make that understanding clear, and how she is able to make her own self understood are all within the speech therapist's area of interest. This includes both types of articulation -- the proper production of speech sounds, and the proper forming of thoughts into words. Be sure all your concerns for your child's language usage and understanding are being addressed, not just her ability to move lips and tongue properly.
The Physical Therapist (PT): The physical therapist works on your child's gross motor skills -- no, not the ability to burp impressively or spit across the room, but the movement of major muscle groups to make big movements like walking, running, catching a ball or kicking it. Once your child is in school, there may be a particular emphasis on skills that enable a student to make it untroubled through a school day, like walking without jumping or flapping, participating in gym class, or carrying a lunch tray or a binder. You should listen to the goals set by the PT and make sure they're meaningful to your child's life and priorities.
The Occupational Therapist (OT): As the PT looks at gross motor, the OT deals with fine motor skills, those small precise movements we all take for granted and our kids can't do if you paid them. Things like printing and handwriting clearly. Tying shoes. Coloring in the lines. Turning a combination lock. Did I mention printing and handwriting clearly? The occupational therapist will, and writing is likely one of the things that will pop up in OT goals. If your school therapist happens to be trained in sensory integration therapy, you may be able to have some of that calming, organizing activity written into your child's plan as well. It will have to be undertaken in a way that makes it important to schooling, however. (Like being able to remain seated, or keep from disrupting the class.)
Turn in for Part Two, Who Will Be at the IEP Meeting?
Things I Give Parents
I send home or give parents lots of things over the year--data, progress reports, and newsletters. I have many parents that ask for about reading levels about what students need to do either to move up or simply give them an idea about where they are in the big picture. The "Parent's Guide to Reading Levels" contains both DRA and Fountas and Pinnell reading levels 1st to 6th grade with a brief list of major themes that have to be mastered. The other form I use to track my students over several years. It's great for IEP meetings because everyone can see the students progress over the years. It is labeled in Fountas and Pinnell. My building uses both-we give the DRA twice a year and our core reading curriculum in labeled in Fountas and Pinnell. I'd love to hear what you share with parents throughout the year. Have a great Wednesday!!
Practical Tips for Families with IEPs
I'm always on the hunt for anything that I can give parents to help them through the IEP process. Being in the Elementary grades, we are often the first ones to guide them through the process and should feel empowered not intimidated by the process.
Parent's First IEP Meeting
For those of us in elementary education, we are offend the first to tell parents that their child needs extra help. Getting to that meeting sometimes is a great relieve and sometimes its not. I think that it depends on how the parents feel about the whole process along the way. RTI demands us to keep parents in the loop about student progress the whole way through. By the time you start thinking, the child needs an IEP (Individual Education Plan) it shouldn't be a surprise.
When the student is part of the RTI process, you have the time to share with the parents and classroom teacher how the student is responding to the intervention(s). Its during these meetings that you can have the tough conversations about process/lack there of and what will happen next. Having open lines of communication is key. In Colorado, this information becomes the backbone of our IEP reports and evidence reports for giving a learning disability label. Its important to document the parents voice throughout the process and listening to them. This is a chance to educate them on what special education is and isn't. By the time you get to that conversation about looking at special education it should be a no brainer. Parents questions and concerns should have been answered about what they can expect prior to the first IEP meeting. I have created a parent checklist that can be given to parents when you send home an IEP prior to a meeting or have it for them at a meeting. You will find below a checklist that my team used last year as a checklist for ourselves. I'm planning on using it with my parents this year.
Click on the picture to grab your copy. Have a beautiful Sunday and smile. Hug your family members a little more and tell them you love them.
When the student is part of the RTI process, you have the time to share with the parents and classroom teacher how the student is responding to the intervention(s). Its during these meetings that you can have the tough conversations about process/lack there of and what will happen next. Having open lines of communication is key. In Colorado, this information becomes the backbone of our IEP reports and evidence reports for giving a learning disability label. Its important to document the parents voice throughout the process and listening to them. This is a chance to educate them on what special education is and isn't. By the time you get to that conversation about looking at special education it should be a no brainer. Parents questions and concerns should have been answered about what they can expect prior to the first IEP meeting. I have created a parent checklist that can be given to parents when you send home an IEP prior to a meeting or have it for them at a meeting. You will find below a checklist that my team used last year as a checklist for ourselves. I'm planning on using it with my parents this year.
Click on the picture to grab your copy. Have a beautiful Sunday and smile. Hug your family members a little more and tell them you love them.
Paperwork Overload and Something to Help
I can't see the bottom of my desk right now. I'm knee deep in all the end of the year paperwork while finishing a couple of IEPs. However, each May before I leave, I go through all my IEP files to make sure that they are up to date. This is a daunting task since I want to keep everything. My district doesn't give a lot of direction on what needs to be kept because as long as the IEP is document is in the system. But, but, but what about your own copies? The data, progress monitoring, and the testing protocols. With the help of a former exceptional needs teacher, I create a Exceptional Needs Student Records form and both parents and teacher could use to track what information you have for each student folder. How do you organize your personal student records after each IEP meeting?
Exceptional Needs Student Records
Exceptional Needs Student Records
Parents and IEP's
The road to special eduction is not a mystery and we should make possible to make sure parents understand the process. This removes confusion and makes that initial staffing go much more smoothly.
In response to this, I have a handout that I give to all parents when they sign permission for assessment. They have told me that it has helped in preparing for that first meeting and getting some clue about the special education process. Anyother ideas about helping parents through the process that you have found that work for you??
A Parent's Guide to the IEP
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