Read Your IEP Backwards

As any avid reader of the sports section of a tabloid-style newspaper knows, the way to read the paper is to start at the back and work forwards.  IEPs should be given similar back to front attention.

The items that are in the back of the IEP are typically the following, which often get overlooked or short shrift:

• Transition planning
• Assistive technology
• ESY
• Behavioral planning
• Accommodation and modifications

Time runs out and these important parts of the IEP are not adequately addressed; so the related concept to reading the IEP from the back to front is too use the clock wisely. Most IEP meetings are alloted a certain amount of time, typically no more than two hours and then as time runs down the "team" will pronounce that we have to finish up, and that leaves these items with scant attention that they vitally deserve.

Transition planning is perhaps the single most important part of the IEP and most transition plans are cursory fill in the blank exercises in "getting it done now to finish the meeting."  I firmly believe that education is an ends in itself. I was a history major in college; a major with limited real life utility but all about the love of learning.  While learning for its own sake is important, a child with an IEP needs to emerge with a concrete plan of what lies ahead after public school with concrete steps on how to reach those goals.

IDEA 2004 in a very contradictory way addresses transition planning. It permits districts to start transition planning at 16 instead of 14 (bad idea) and mandates that transition plans have measurable goals and plan for achieving outcomes (great idea). Unfortunately too many districts pick up on the later starting age and fail to implement the reinvigorated substantive portion of the law.  I recently came across a wonderful book on transition plan written by teachers for teachers with planning tools, checklists, and insights to implement. The book is called The Transition Handbook: Strategies High School Teachers Use That Work by Hughes and Carter. As a parent, I would (and have) buy this book and nudge the school people to adopt some of the suggestions. I would even buy one for your favorite case manager, as this may increase the chances of getting good innovative transition planning.

Assistive technology is the unwanted child of the IEP process. Little understood and left to wither for lack of attention. IDEA 2004 for the umpteenth time emphasizes the primacy of AT in the process, but unless sufficient time is alloted to actually consider this back of the IEP item it will not be properly developed.

ESY  is so very critical for many children to preserve gains and to move forward year to year. Rigid formulas ignorant of FAPE requirements is the rule of the day.  ESY deserves more than the 30 seconds that it is given at most meetings--half the normal service delivery time, in an unnamed segregated setting,  for an arbitrary number of weeks, and working on undefined goals.  This piece of the IEP requires more development than is typically provided in violation of the law.

Behavioral planning is an item that is often checked n/a without even a moments discussion.  I have discussed the importance of behavioral planning in past posts. The discussion should not hinge upon the house being on fire--literally--before positive and proactive planning steps are taken.

Accommodations and modifications are sometimes treated as requests not mandates in the IEP especially at the high school level.   My blood pressure surely rises when a special education director tells me he or she can not make the _________ teacher follow the mandated accommodations such as no scantron testing or untimed tests etc., or modifications to the curricular expectations.  These items are frequently the product of preprinted checklists without sufficient thought, as to the exact way that this child will need and use the accommodation or modification.

I recently have had several calls from parents of high schoolers who have suffered dearly for the fact that this section of the IEP was overlooked. In one instance, the child did not get his accommodation of "no scantron testing" and he failed 2 classes.  With some timely assistance and advice from me, he was able to retake some tests and get other grades reversed. The other instance did not work out as well. The child failed one class since he was forced to take scantron tests. He fell into a depression. To boost his feelings about himself he took up his old hobby of playing with knives at home.  He also has memory and attentional issues, and he inadvertently forgot he had a knife in his backpack when he went to school. Of course, it was discovered and all manner of disciplinary process began against him. While it may seem tenuous,  the first step on this road began with the school personnel not implementing the accommodations on his IEP.

My recommendation is to hold a meeting at least once a year devoted exclusively to transition planning.  AT deserves its own meeting(s) especially when the technology is newly acquired and unfamiliar.  Behavioral planning and provision for accommodations/modifications need to be afforded ample time to fully consider and address these areas. ESY is a subject that should be addressed informally or formally in the winter, so that if there is an impasse it can be resolved even through due process well before the summer. There is nothing worse than finding out you are not going to get appropriate or any ESY, 2 weeks before the end of the year, and due process will not help as it may well drag on through the summer months.  Applying the sports fan's approach to newspaper reading to your child's IEP will certainly result in a better IEP.

 

Comments

[Perry A. Zirkel]

For individuals interested in response to intervention (RTI) and the larger legal question of specific learning disability, here are two new, relatively inexpensive monographs:

PERRY ZIRKEL, THE LEGAL MEANING OF SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION ELIGIBILITY (2006) - available from the Council for Exceptional Children (tel. 800/224-68309 or www.cec.sped.org)

GEORGE BATSCHE ET AL., RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION: POLICY CONSIDERATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION (2005) - available from the National Ass’n of State Directors of Special Education (tel. 703/519-3800 or www.nasdse.org)

[stacey]

Wow, I really like your blog. Lots of good info. I thought I was all alone way out west in the great state of Texas. Good to know I am not, and encouraging. Thanks!

[dan baker]

Some free ieps's you can copy and paste from my site. www.iep4u.com/math.htm
free quizzes and some links at www.iep4u.com

[Ronda]

Hello,
I am a teacher at a school where a certain teacher views an IEP as a suggestion rather than the law. Can you guide me specifically to web sites that addresses this type of behavior? Also, what does ESY and FAPE stand for?

Thanks!