An Index for my IEP Series

I’m still getting hoards of hits on this, mostly from Liz, who has a partial index of her own. So here it is, building on what she started:

1. IEP Preperation: School Staff
2. IEP Preperation: Parents
3. Present Level of Performance
4. Behavior Intervention Plan
5. Accomodations and Modifications
6. Goals and Objectives
7. Transition Plan and IHP
8. Service Options and Placement
9. ESY
10. IEP Process: Functional Behavior Assessment
11. Manifestation Determination Part 1
12. Manifestation Determination Part 2

Hopefully this can make things easier for those of you searching for information. I’ve more or less organized this according to how I proceed at a typical IEP meeting. Just remember that your state or county may do things differently. In fact, it even varies within districts and across teachers. Also, look at the category under “IEPs” where I make additional comments on IEPs that I happen to conduct or attend. Many thanks to all of you for stopping by and reading. I hope this will be helpful to parents and teachers trying to figure out the whole IEP mess.

Pt. 2 of the graduation post is on it’s way.

dick

Graduation Day Pt. 1

For many students, this is it.  It's the end of the line.  A very long line, but it is finally the end.  Of course, lot's of speeches will be made about how this is not the end, but the beginning.  About a new life, filled with potential, and how the world lies at the feet of every graduate.  Some will thank their teachers and parents.  Many will express some anxiety about getting out into the 'real' world.  But for the vast majority of graduating students and their families, this is a joyous occasion.  They walk across the stage, get their diplomas in their caps and gowns and exit the stage.  For most of us teachers, it is the last time we will see them for better or worse.  For some of us teaching in large school systems it might also be the first time we see them for the last time.

 

The highlight of every ceremony is when the students walk across the stage, and the families cheer, hoot and holler despite an administrator's admonishment to refrain until the end. 

 

I've observed several of these, and have been actively involved in some of the real highlights.  While families hoot and holler for their favorites, it's a pretty isolated thing.  Students generally refrain from being overly enthusiastic towards each other, except for their closest friends.  Families cheer for only those they know.  With one exception.

 

Niles was a young man with a severe case of autism combined with some serious OCD issues.  I wasn't there when he first entered Magnolia H.S., but I did get a chance to teach him for a couple of years at the ages of 21 and 22.  He was 6'2, 190 lbs. and thrived on sameness.  In the cafeteria, he always sat in the same place at the same table.  One time when the rest of the school was on the testing schedule, some unfortunate girl was sitting in his spot.  He simply picked her up by the neck and moved her.  He didn't hurt her, but she was pretty scared.  We always went to lunch when the lines were clear because Niles moved like the wind.  People were simply annoying bits of furniture that got in his way.  One day he even knocked the assistant principal to the floor, as she refused to get out of the way when Niles came flying through.  My kids have never been intimidated or impressed by power or position or status.  He always passed people on the side closest to the wall.  One day, a student passed him and passed him on the wrong side.  This small freshman had no idea why Niles tore after him, but he ran as fast as he could with Niles in hot pursuit.  The kid was terrified to see this big guy running after him.  Queen happened to see this and called out to the freshman to stop.

 

"HELP!" yelped the freshman.

 

"Just stop and freeze!  He's not going to hurt you!"

 

The poor kid cowered and trembled in the middle of the hall and Niles ran to him, past him and circled him 3 times.  Then walked briskly back to our room without laying a hand on him and really not even looking at the kid who probably needed to change his underwear afterwards.

 

So many stories about Niles with the blank stare and a terrible foot fetish.  Niles who quickly ate his lunch and covered his ears, run-walking back to the room to escape the noise in the cafeteria.

 

It was going to be the last graduation before Mr. Rogers retired.  Everything had to be perfect.  But there was problem.   Niles was graduating.  The administration was terrified that this young man would do something to wreck this occasion.  They suggested that Niles might have a private graduation in Mr.Roger's office.  But we were having none of that.  The boy had done 7 years of high school and had earned the right above and beyond anyone else.  Even if it was only a special education diploma.

 

We compromised by making a series of accomodations.  First, Niles would wait in a room behind the stage instead of on the floor with all the other graduates.  Second, when it came time for him to cross the stage, we would have someone at the other end to receive him and whisk him out and back to our classroom.  He would not have to endure the long program.  Third, while he went across, someone would walk on the floor, in front of the stage to direct him and be close by if anything happened.  That person would be me.  This was my first graduation and I would be very intimately involved.

 

We practiced all week, taking Niles to the gym and having all sorts of different people on stage to hand him a replica of an actual diploma and shake his hand.  We had various women and girls do this, wearing their sandals, as women and sandals were a trigger for Niles to fall on the ground and seduce the ground, so to speak.  All of the practices went flawlessly.  We had the head of the department play superintendent or principal just so she could help reassure the administration that all would be well.

 

Queen had to do some convincing to get Niles' father to even attend.  He was just as scared as everyone else that Niles would go nuts.  Niles' parents were divorced, and he lived with his father.  He had not seen his mother in years, despite the fact that she lived in the same town and worked in a nursing home that some our more social kids visited often.  But Queen somehow managed to convince both his parents to not only show up, but to even sit together.

 

The stage was set.  Graduation day came.  A nervous assistant principal – the one Niles had floored the year before – asked if we were ready.  We said we were.  But in reality, there was one factor that we had not counted on.  We had not even considered it.  All we were concerned about was Niles getting across the stage without knocking down Principal Rogers and General Superintendent and the entire school board.  We had practiced and were ready. 

 

As the program began, Niles was in his room, behind the stage with Queen, who had known him since he had came to MHS.  She was his one constant in the myriad of changing paras and teachers.  I went backstage to that room to check on them and let them know how far in the program we were.  Finally I went back and said, "It's time."

 

Queen was a nervous wreck.  I was just a bit concerned, but was okay.  Afterall, we had practiced this dozens of times, right?  What could happen?

 

But we had practiced in an empty gymnasium.  Now there were over 2000 people watching!  I was totally unprepared for what happened next.

 

Queen took Niles to his mark.  The announcer read his name.  Queen pointed to the Principal Rogers who held out the diploma.  Niles walked right on over, just like we had practiced.  I walked with him in front of the stage on the floor of the gym, pointing and gesturing to the Superintendent and the safety of the far side.  Niles took his diploma.  And he stopped.  And looked at the huge sea of faces.  Eyes.  Thousands of eyes.  My heart froze.

 

Oh no.

 

I actually felt it before I heard it.  I was facing the stage, with my back towards the audience, totally fixed on Niles and his movements.  Or in this case, his lack of movement.  I pointed and almost barked his name when it hit me from behind.  The unexpected force of a compression wave generated by a gym full of 2000 people roaring, clapping and shouting and cheering almost knocked me down.

 

Shit.

 

It was truly deafening.  Niles' classmates made the biggest racket I had ever heard from directly behind me and directly at him.  Jesus.  I closed my eyes and prayed.  Good thing it was a one-word prayer, because just as I opened them, Niles was on his way…to the proper side of the stage.  I never did see if he shook the Superintendent's hand.

 

Once off the stage and out, I breathed after what seemed like forever.  Queen had her car waiting on the other side of the building, by the door in a straight line from the stage.  Just like that, Niles was done.  He waited in his now-former classroom and sat at his desk in the corner one last time until the conclusion of the ceremony.

 

Every year that we have severe and profound kids cross the stage, it is the same.  The crowd erupts in the greatest, loudest eruption of applause of the entire day.

 

There is another side and another part to the graduation story.  It continues with part 2.

 

 

New Job?

The past week has been a hideous mess.  Well, not so much in the way of daily drama, but this is the last week of school and we each have our end-of-year checklists where we get things signed off by various people around the building.  For instance we get checked off by the media specialists when we have everything checked in.  The computer lab person checks us off when we have our computer inventory done, etc.  It's sort of like a scavenger hunt.

 

I addition to the stuff all teachers have to do, the special education department has its own extensive checklist.  All IEP's have to be completed, checked, double checked and organized.  The county office inundates us with various forms requiring us to fill them out and send them in for certain things to get checked off. 

 

It's just a lot of headache that is piled high atop shoulders already weary and trying to hold the line as we go through the last few days of school.  2 more days and a wake-up, as we'd say in the army.

 

I like what I do and I have liked it these past 6 years.  Not every minute of every day, mind you, but I have generally enjoyed being with these students and all of the adults that I work with.  I have built some real bonds with them and the parents.  Taz and Spaz, especially, despite being total loons have become such a staple in my daily life.  I have spent the better part of the last 3 months looking forward and planning to work with them next year.

 

However, something has come up that threatens my little pastoral world of student-teacher-parent-para.  An opportunity that is irresistible and is tailor made for me.  They are looking for a behavior intervention specialist.

 

My oldest, Thomas, needs to have dental work done as he has a few cavities.  We simply don't have the money, because for someone with ASD, dental work is the 5th circle of Hell.  We can't even give the boy a haircut without 2 people holding him down.  So he will need to be knocked out in a hospital in order to have his teeth worked on.  Magnolia County will cover 50% of the cost of dental care for their employees, but nothing for family members.  And guess who is the only one in the family with perfect teeth? 

 

So I was thinking about stringing together a series of ESY jobs this summer in order to pay for it.  While looking for my hourly rate, I saw the interventionist position vacancy notice on the county website.  That was last night, and I've been thinking on it ever since.  It starts July 1st and would involve an extended school year contract which means more $$$$.  But that is not the main attraction, here.  I've been studying applied behavior analysis alongside PhD and BCBA candidates for the last 4 years for exactly this position.  This is the one.  I talked to our SLP, Cleotis, who is one of the wisest folks I know.  She said "Do it! This position is YOU and has YOU written all over it!"  Cleotis was one who made me promise not to transfer to the new high school, and has begged me not to leave.  But now she sees this as a higher calling, and really jumped in behind me on it.  I told my department head about it and she was equally enthused, saying she'd be happy to be listed as a reference.

 

Hmmm.  I admittedly have mixed feelings about it.  What about Taz and Spaz?  I hardly think their parents would be equally as excited.  But I could be wrong.  I suppose I should feel good about the confidence my peers have in me.  But leaving what I have built will be most difficult.  I have so many loose ends.  The ESY and the hospital homebound student.  Bella and her transition into our program.  Jim, our newest student with full-blown autism whose mother pleaded for help with some of his issues.  These are commitments I made that will change over time with me attempting to cover an entire county if I get this new job.

 

If I applied and wasn't hired, I would be so okay with that.  I have sufficient challenges where I'm at.  But if I didn't apply, I would always wonder.  I would have a difficult time dealing if someone lesser took such a big job. 

 

And I know there are precious few of us around with ABA training as well as backgrounds in EBD and developmental delays.  In fact, out of the 9 of us going through the Ed.S program at GSU, I was the only one going for an ABA certificate.  Everyone else was going through the research-based instruction route save one who was in the assistive technology track.

 

In any case, this is a position that is long overdue.  There are behavioral hot spots all over the place, from those going through manifestation, to the problems on school buses to managing behavior in the hallways.  This last week of school, students are dawdling around instead of going to class, resulting in a lot confusion and delay as seniors take their final exams.  I have an idea that might work.  It might not work, but it's hard to imagine more confusion than I saw this morning. I'll see if I can give the principal my idea before the 8:00 meeting for all of the graduation ushers.

 BTW, tomorrow is the last IEP I have to LEA…HOORAY!  IEPs are FINISHED!  My son's went off without a hitch, Monday. They only arrayed 9 people on the other side of me this year.  It hardly seemed fair.  No major issues, here.  One thing of note is that we will definitely be canning the Concerta.  No one saw a difference in him at all during the past month.  And I have to admit that this was a surprise to hear this, as Jane spilled the beans a bit earlier than I would have.  But the whole group of teachers and therapists agreed that they couldn't see any substantial difference, and the bits of data they had didn't support it, either.  And we suspected that we were seeing some rebounding in the late afternoon.  Rebounding without benefit doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

dick

  

Rethinking Mainstreaming/Inclusion

An article in the London Times discusses a radical shift from a policy of inclusion from the largest teacher union inGreat Britain. I recently published a letter from Georgia’s office of Developmental Disabilities that drew one comment from an irate parent who might share in the views of the National Union of Teachers (NUT?!?)

There is something to be said for having specialized schools for children with severe disabilities. When I was working in the psychoed center, it was a wonderful experience, or at least as good as it could get working with students with severe emotional behavioral disabilities. Everyone there knew their jobs, everyone there was pulling in the same direction and we all had the same training. We all knew the procedures, and could operate as a finely tuned operation despite times of craziness and chaos. Yes, there was stress, but never once did I have to question the dedication and support of our building administrator who helped restrain kids when needed or helped with other interventions side-by-side with us paras and teachers. We were all in this together. If a kid needed shoes, clothes or food, we all pulled together and were able to make provision the kids in our care. We had volunteers come in to help teach music and art to the students and they were given an enriched environment. We had kids who had several seizure a day, and everyone knew what to do. Contrast this with my own recent experience where all the administrators and resource officers seemed to lose their heads.

Before coming to Magnolia County I worked in a state mental hospital that had a special facility for caring for those with profound and multiple disabilities. Those residents had nurses, doctors, therapists, teachers and an entire array of services at their disposal. There was absolutely no doubt that those students were well taken care of.

In regular public education, people are pulled from the streets with no specialized training to care for students with extensive needs. PT, OT, speech and adaptive PE services are all itinerate services, with overworked therapists traveling from school-to-school. The transportation system is stretched to the limit having to haul special needs students all over the county because not every school offers every service. The director of special education transportation has spent hours lamenting with me privately about how hard it is to coordinate getting these kids to all of these schools. (Why can’t they have just one special school for all of these kids?” she has asked me over and over. And I explain about the law and LRE and how parents seem to be under the impression that their students are better off at their home school. Some of these parents are surprised and dismayed at what they find.

Having specialized personnel under one roof offers benefits to the students and the staff. The administrators in such specialized schools either know what they are getting in to or find out very quickly. With professionals housed together, there is a much greater chance of collaboration occurring between the various disciplines. I can see and talk with the PT and OT together during lunch, as opposed to them spending their lunch time traveling between the various schools scattered throughout the county. We can provide better linkage to community agencies because they don’t have to keep track of several buildings, teachers and programs. If a teacher leaves, chances are that there are several other experienced teachers in the building to help mentor and train the new teachers and paras.

As it is, Magnolia County is currently looking for 2 severe and profound teachers to teach at the high school level. The Southside’s teacher is moving to a different program serving moderate kids, and the new school that is opening needs a teacher. Mr. Pyle is looking to leave the severe and profound field. That means there is only one SID/PID high school teacher left in the county familiar with our kids and our business. ME. The new school is nearly 20 miles away which will make it difficult to be able to just saunter over to help support and train a new person like when the new person started at the Southside school.

Magnolia County is also looking for PT, OT and SLPs. The burn-out rate is high for those who have to serve students at several schools simply because of the travel involved. OTs are often forced to work with individual children in a closet or in hallways because it is a low incidence service in each individual school. With only 3 or 4 students at each school getting OT, why should a school dedicate precious space for a therapy area?

This is not to say that inclusion does not have its place. Both of my kids are included, but they are able to walk, talk, use the bathroom, feed themselves and they do not have specialized healthcare needs. Compared to what I do, Thomas and Percy have relatively mild issues that have a direct bearing on their educational progress.

“The Cambridge researchers interviewed teachers, children and parents at 20 schools in seven local authorites. They concluded that the reality of inclusion was very far from the “world of fine intentions” inhabited by policymakers. “While there are many examples of social benefits both for children with special needs and their peers, there is much less positive evidence that learning needs are being met across the whole spectrum of ability,” the report said.

I think this is the main point: inclusion in theory is vastly different from the inclusion of reality for many students. For community-based programs like ours, being in the regular school setting is much less critical because we spend most of our time in the community setting, anyway. I’m not so much in favor of segregation as much as trying to increase the availability and quality of services for students with extensive needs. As it is, special education has become highly balkanized, and resources are stretched over a vast area instead of being concentrated to the point of need. And like it or not, resources are limited. That’s just a fact of life. There is not unlimited time, unlimited money and unlimited people with specialized training. It is unrealistic to expect every single school building to serve students with specialized needs and to do it well.

But Lord Adonis, the Schools Minister, said: “Children should be taught in mainstream schools where this is what their parents want and it is not incompatible with the efficient education of other children.”

It is true that this is what parents want, but I’m not sure if parents realize that they have been sold a tainted bill of goods. In the world of limited resources and the push for accountability, special education students are the minority. One of the provisions of NCLB is that failing schools do get more latitude in how they spend money that is otherwise earmarked for special services and programs. Any guess as to who might get shortchanged in the process? Not the kids taking those high stakes tests.

Regular education has enough problems managing the students that they have who are “normal.” Dumping students with severe disabilities on them and saddling them with various modifications is not going to enhance education for anyone. Rethinking inclusion is a first step. Common sense should indicate that no one solution works for every person and especially for those with disabilities. Parents do need to think about outcomes that go beyond the social benefits and more towards getting their students to function as independently as possible. Those mainstream friends they make at school are not going to be the ones to suction their trachs or catheterize them or change their nappies (the Brits are cute that way!) nor are they going to drive them to the doctors or to a job or even to other social events outside of school. I’ll write more on this later, but when graduation day comes, all that social interaction isn’t going to amount to a hill of beans. I would rather have a few places that handled exceptionalities very well than have all of the neighborhood schools handling these students very poorly. And this is the choice we are faced with. Not all schools can be all things for all people.

 

dick

IEP Process: ESY

 

Remember when I said I was finished with my series on IEPs?

 I lied.

 

I'm beginning to wonder if I'll EVER be finished with the bloody things…

 

I didn't mention much about ESY in my IEP series, because for 99% of our kids, it isn't much of an issue.  However, the law says that Extended School Year (ESY) at least must be considered.  Consideration, in reality, involves placing a statement at the end of the minutes stating that it was considered and the committee determined that it was not warranted.

 

If you, as a teacher, would like to get really popular with your county special ed. director, begin doling out ESY services like condoms at an orgy.  It's probably the fastest way to get a phone call from him/her saying, "Please come to my office at once.  And bring all of your personal effects with you."

 

ESY gets a really bad rap from special educators at all levels.  You've just gone 9-10 months with these kids and are looking forward to your summer break.  Then this ESY thing comes up and it looks like you might have to spend your whole summer teaching!  Who wants that?

 

Before talking about what ESY really looks like, when is it warranted?  The 3 areas of consideration are: substantial regression/recoupment; critical point of instruction related to objectives on the IEP; and mastery of goals and objectives.

 

Regression/recoupment refers to a student who has substantial regression when extended periods of instruction are not present.  Many students regress over the summer, but most also recoup over just a few weeks.  Those that take months to recoups what they lost would be entitled to ESY.

 

Critical point of instruction refers to a student who is learning a critical skill and the break interrupting that instruction.  For instance if  a nonverbal child begins talking in late May, that would be considered a critical point of instruction and may get ESY to continue with those skills.

 

Mastery of IEP objectives is a consideration when a student has not mastered many of their goals, and this becomes a form of compensatory instruction. 

 

In all cases, our county special ed, director wants to know before the IEP and before anything is promised.  Then he/she will want to know the extent of services and if the teacher is willing to provide those services.  And this explains why ESY is not offered more often, because teachers are reluctant to give up their time off.  So it is easier to not make much of an effort to offer it.  But families may also be reluctant to give up vacation time, so it is not a highly sought after service.

 

ESY does not mean that the child gets dropped off at school at 8 and picked up at 3:00, like a regular school day.  I've done ESY twice before and will do it again this summer.

 

A few years ago, the outgoing director of special ed. decided to give out ESY.  I'd never known anyone to get it before, so I was surprised to learn several folks were getting it.  One was my student and it consisted of one hour a week to simply check on him to make sure all the community services were being coordinated.  He had a lot of issues, including DFACS and community health services.  It wasn't difficult and the kid lived just down the road from me, so it wasn't too big of a deal.  During that same summer, the director called me to ask if I would do ESY during summer school for a student with autism.  This was closer to what most people think of when they think of extended school.  But even that was only a half day 5x/week for 3 weeks.  But this student never showed up, so I basically got paid for waiting around for him for a week.

 

For this summer, I am basically extending hospital homebound services for 3 hours a week.  I'd be willing to put in more hours if needed, simply because my oldest needs dental surgery and I can use the money!  Teachers have often historically done summer jobs for extra money, and ESY isn't a bad way to do it.  It involves less than a full day and pay is typically better than what a person might otherwise make on typical summer jobs.  Unlike summer school, ESY can be done at the student's home and is 1:1, so it is more relaxed than a typical school day.

 

As a parent, I've never given a lot of consideration for ESY services.  One reason is because a parent doesn't know which teacher will do it.  If it's not your child's regular teacher, who will be delivering the service?  Whoever is willing to do it, which may or may not be what you want.  It takes some time to get to know a child and establish a working relationship, which is hardly worth it with a summer only lasting 6 or so weeks.  There may be some value in it for transition, for instance the child's new middle school teacher coming an hour a week during the summer when a child is transitioning out of elementary school.  But again, the who, how, when, where and why of it needs to be explicitly worked out ahead of time.

ESY can be a useful tool, and should be given serious consideration for certain situations.   As schools get closer to becoming more balanced or year-round, ESY becomes less of an issue.  However, even breaks of 2 weeks such as during the winter holidays can be under consideration for ESY.  As with everything else in an IEP it comes down to the needs of the individual student.

 

dick

IEP Process: Service Options and Placement

This is it.  The end of the IEP line. 

Actually, I could go on forever, but I feel like I've been going on forever as it is.  One of the other LEAs has pneumonia, so I'm having to pick up her IEPs.  This in addition to having to write my own, which I like to get out 2 days before the meeting.

After looking at all the information, including goals, PLOP, accommodations, transition plan and BIP, then we consider the options for services.  And there is a good reason for doing it this way as illustrated by comments by Coach Brown and Reflective Teacher on my post about accommodations.  If a parent demands accommodations to the point where they become modifications, a more restrictive placement should be considered.  And there is a continuum of services and placements offered within special education.

The "Least Restrictive Environment" or LRE part of IDEA is probably the most contentious of the entire IEP process.  This is going to determine where the student is going to be served, and everyone begins the IEP with some idea as to where that should be.  But according to the process, it really shouldn't be decided until the end, based on all of the supporting data and evidence.

So what are the placement options?  From least-to-most:

-Regular education with no special education support: This is the least restrictive at all and generally one might see this right before a student is discharged from special ed.

- Regular education with special ed. consultative services: Basically, the student is on their own, but a special ed. teacher will check on them and monitor progress and offer suggestions for the regular ed. teachers as well as follow up on accommodations.

- Regular education with special education resource: The student will spend most of their time in regular education but may be pulled out an hour or two for special education services.  This includes speech language, hearing and vision services as well as academic support. 

-Regular education with Collaborative services:  Sometimes this is called co-teaching or team teaching.  Basically this is most likely to be offered in a class that has several special needs students and there is a regular teacher and special education teacher in the same room.  Both are technically serving all of the students, but the special ed teacher is primarily responsible for implementing accommodations, modifications and strategies for the special ed group.  

- Regular education with para support: It's arguable whether this is more or less restrictive than collaborative services.  However these paras tend to be "helicopter paras" that hover over the one or two students assigned to them, therefore I count it as a more restrictive setting.

- Special education self-contained with regular education electives.  The student will spend most of their time in a special education setting, but will go out to some elective classes like art, music or P.E.

- Special education self-contained:  This is where the student spends all of their time in special education.  However this does not mean they are in the same class with the same teacher all day.  It simply means their services are being delivered by special education personnel. 

- A special school or facility:
Georgia has a psychoed network for student with severe emotional behavior disabilities.  Several states also have special schools for the deaf and blind.  And there are still a few residential placements around, but these are becoming increasingly rare.

There are also a variety of other services to be considered such as PT, OT, speech, vision, hearing, adaptive PE and special transportation.  Yes, the short bus is sometimes considered a service option.  Health services, adaptive technology and nutritional services are also  services I have listed and used in the past.  These services will either be direct services or indirect.  Indirect services are consultative, where the OT or PT or whoever comes once a month or so and consults with the teacher about any issues or needs.  I have heard of some students getting counseling or mental health services, but this is not very common around these parts.  What passes for school counseling nowadays is not what I would consider very good.  These counselors are not really proper therapists compared to what is in the private sector.  They can listen and offer some wise guidance, but they usually have other administrative duties in addition to their counseling functions.  But I would welcome input from any readers more familiar with the school counseling field.  School psychologist are devoted almost exclusively to testing and evaluation, leaving intervention to others.

In considering options, I generally list all options the student has had previously and then maybe one that is the next least restrictive.  It is useful to talk to parents to get a feel for what they are thinking in advance, and I will keep saying that advance drafts of the IEP need to be available to parents before the meeting.

Pretty much everything I've discussed before this point could have/should have been written and prepared in advance of the meeting.  The stuff is written or typed beforehand and is reviewed during the IEP.  Parents, I would encourage you, a week prior to the meeting, to ask that anything written in advance of the meeting be made available to you at least the day before.  This is why so many parents are so dazed, confused and angry at these things.  They show up, get all of these things shoved on them and are then expected to make a decision then and there regarding their child's future.

Service options that are considered can be written in advance.  Options rejected and accepted can NOT be done in advance of the meeting.  EVER.  That is supposed to be a committee decision, and if that is filled out beforehand, the school could get in a world of hurt. 

Parental involvement and participation are mandated by both NCLB and IDEA.  Spend time getting parents' thoughts and feelings beforehand.  Help them prepare for their meeting, if you can. 

As parents, being prepared is the best defense against misunderstanding.  And really, over the long haul, it falls on the parents to assert their rights.  And sometimes that means raising some hell.  Inviting an advocate is almost always a good idea.  If there is the slightest chance of misunderstanding or suspicion, don't go to the meeting alone.  Bring your spouse or a friend.  Having said that, don't show up with an attorney for the very first meeting.  If that happens, our instructions as teachers are very clear: shut down the meeting immediately, and inform the county office so that they can invite the school attorney and reschedule.

Suppose you go to the IEP, they go through it all, you agree to everything, you sign it and then walk out with an uneasy feeling.  You begin to wonder if you did the right thing.  As a parent, you have the right to call for an IEP at anytime.  But first talk to the case manager or write them a note expressing your concerns.   It is in their best interest to make sure you are a satisfied customer.  We all hate these things, and the teacher who has a dissatisfied and motivated parent has a real problem on their hands.  On the other hand, a satisfied and motivated parent can do wonders.  I've gotten extra needed help and needed renovations thanks to parents who were willing to complain and advocate.

There a group of parents that will probably not read this.  Ever.  If I write about parents, I'm talking about those that are very involved (sometimes to a fault).  But there are some who have very little involvement at all.  They never come to IEP meetings and sometimes not even a manifestation hearing.  They simply allow the system to do whatever it wishes.  That's not to say I'm not going to do right by those students, but there is an impact a parent can have simply by meeting with a teacher that can pay grreat dividends  Right or wrong, when a parent tells me they intend to attend an IEP, they go to the head of the line in the preparation process.  Those that say they are not coming still get an IEP, but they are simply demanding less diligence on my part.

Okay, hopefully you have some better background on this IEP business.  Now, if you don't mind, I need to get busy writing some of my own!

dick

IEP Process: Transition Plan and IHP

The transition plan is a required component of IEPs for students 16 years old or older, although most systems do it at age 14, presumably before the student begins high school.  For all the anxiety over all the other parts of the IEP, this section probably involves a great deal more fear over the uncertainty of the future.  And it should.  The end goal of all educational efforts (regular and special education) is a successful transition into adulthood and post-school life.  Hopefully the student will be able to live and work independently.  But with students with special needs, this is often not the case.  As a parent who functions in the role of educational undertaker, it is all too frightening.  Fortunately I have 12 years or so before having to facing that eventuality.  Some of you parents do not have that luxury.

 

The purpose of the transition plan (known in some districts as an ITP (individual transition plan) is to plan for what that student will do after high school and then map out a course for getting them there.  Is the student working towards a regular education diploma?  Will they go to college?  Will they live in a group home?  Will they require services from vocational rehabilitation services?

 

Generally we try to list student preferences, interests and abilities, and then look at possibilities.  As the years go by, the ITP should become more detailed and focused.  As part of this plan, the student is informed in the year he/she turns 17 that all rights transfer to them.  IOW, the student is the one who has parental rights, the student is the one who accepts or rejects service options etc.  As a courtesy, schools keep parents involved.  But they don’t have to. 

 

My students, who are severe, are no exception.  Rights transfer to them UNLESS the parent applies for and obtains guardianship of that student.  I’ll probably discuss this issue in a later post since it involves some detail, but parents should initiate this process soon after the student turns 17.  The process takes away rights from the student and grants them to the guardian by declaring the student incompetent.  But it is a necessary process, because it protects the student from being abused and taken advantage of by the system.  For less severe students, partial guardianship may be obtained to protect their interests. 

 

Planning for transition should take place, in a parent’s mind, right now.  No matter the age of the child, parents are the ones who have to take the much longer view.  While teachers, schools and programs come and go, the parent is the one constant in that child’s life and along with the child has to live with the consequences of decisions made today.  Teachers tend to pass problems along like a proverbial hot potato up the line.  As a High school teacher, I am the end of the line.  There’s no place left to toss them except out the door.  And out there, is a very cold and bleak world for our kids.  There is no IDEA, there is no due process, and there are no procedural safe guards.  No one has to take your kids once they are out.  Parents, at that point, you are STUCK with whatever happened during the previous 21 years.  Look for something more from me about this around graduation time. 

I want to spend just a bit of time on the IHP or Individual Healthcare Plan.  Unlike all of the other sections previously covered, this is NOT required by law.  But consider this: suppose your son has a seizure at school.  Does everyone know what to do?  Will someone be trying to stick something in his mouth?  Supposing your child takes medication at school and forgets to take it until 3 hours later after they are supposed to take it.  Are they supposed to just skip it, or does the nurse give it anyway whenever they can?  Suppose your child has asthma, are they allowed to carry their inhaler?  If your child is tube fed, who is responsible for feeding her?  What if she vomits it up and aspirates on the bus? 

 

The reason for the IHP is to work all of these things out ahead of time so that school personnel know what to do when things happen.  And things happen at school.  I have one student who has seizures 2-3 times a week, and the parent doesn’t want to be called unless in lasts for more than 5 minutes and we administer Diastat.  Another parent wants us to call her if their son has ANY seizures ever.  The IHP is basically like a nursing plan with sections on actions that school personnel are to take.  We try to cover all contincies possible.  This document contains the history and medical issues of the student as well as contact information for parents, relatives, pediatricians, neurologists and anyone else that might need to be contacted.  If I have to make a 911 call, having such information available for
EMS can be invaluable as they can note allergies and make arrangements with parents and doctors quickly.  For instance, when Charlie was taken to the hospital,
EMS kept asking him to tell them how he was feeling and trying to get him to respond.  Fortunately I was there to tell them that he was nonverbal and couldn’t respond no matter how lucid he was.  For students with medical issues, the IHP is a vital part of the student record.  Parents who I have developed these for have been very relieved to know this thing exists and is available.  And it comes in handy in an emergency.  Because emotions can run high during such times, it is helpful to have procedures spelled out so I don’t have to decide.

 

Parents could write an IHP, but they do need to be mindful of school resources and policies.  If there is no nurse in the building, parents need to know that.  If there is a school nurse, that person needs to be involved with the process, as he/she may have to be trained up on some of the procedures.  Yes, I have had to train the school nurse on catheterization!  Generally our school nurse is doing administrative stuff and isn’t too awfully stressed until she sees me jogging up the hall.  Then she knows it is on.  Most special educators have no idea what an IHP is, much less know how to write one.  Nurse know how to write a nursing plan of care, but may need a refresher course.  Most nurses don’t write one for students in the school because it is a waste of time because no one reads it.  Simply adding actions for school personnel, though, makes it a marvelously more functional document.

 

Now, finally, we are getting towards the end of this whole mess known as the IEP.  We are at least at a point where we can discuss service options and placement which I’ll cover next time around.

 

dick

 

IEP Process: Goals and Objectives

I suppose a lot of readers are getting rather bored and fatigued by this IEP series. Guess what? Writing these things is no picnic, either! Is it any wonder that case managers look for shortcuts while doing these things?

Goals and objectives are what are going to drive the students’ placement and services during this coming year. While a BIP is the most abused part of the IEP, the goals and objectives are among the most neglected. My youngest, Percy, just had his IEP and while the objectives are different, the criteria for mastery and method of evaluation are all exactly the same; 3/4 opportunities and teacher observation. All the way down. Most teachers simply mark in 75-80% all the way down for criteria. This pretty much renders the objectives as written in the IEP as useless. Because when progress reports come out, teachers are going to eyeball the objective’s progress and make it up as they go out of the air.

Let’s take a sample goal of increasing academic skills and the supporting objective of reading sight words. “Thomas will read 10 sight words.” The criterion is at 80% and method of evaluation is teacher observation/data collection.

What direction does this give Thomas’ teacher next year? All it says is that he will read 10 words with 80% accuracy. So does he master the objective the first time he reads 8 out of 10? And how is the teacher tracking this?

Let’s turn this ugly duckling around. Thomas is still going to read 10 words, but now the criteria for mastery is to read 8 of 10 words over 5 consecutive sessions. Now I have a much better idea of what mastery really looks like. And I’m going to evaluate progress using discrete trial data. Now when it comes times to teach this, I know discrete trial is the format of choice. My objective now has the components of a lesson plan.

How about a different goal: Thomas will remain on task for 20 minutes. His caseload manager will put in 80% and have “data collection/teacher observation” as the way to evaluate progress. That objective is all but useless. I have absolutely no way to tell whether he has mastered this or made progress or gotten worse. And there’s no hint of how to teach him to stay on task. The teacher is simply going to pull something out of their posterior in order to say he has mastered this by the end of the year. It is a joke.

If you are a parent, look at your child’s goals and objectives in their IEP. If they all have the same criteria and have the same method of evaluation, you are being sold a worthless bill of goods. If they all have a mastery criteria of 80% and nothing else, the goals are rubbish. “Teacher Observation” is shorthand for “pulling results out of my posterior.” “Data collection” is shorthand for “pulling a pencil out of my posterior and using it as a magic wand to make results appear by magic.” If you are a special education teacher and trying to skate by on this, you are wasting your time. It may seem easier to do this, but in the long run you are going to pay dearly. You can not teach from this, much less evaluate how your teaching is working. It’s better to have a few well-thought out objectives than a dozen haphazard ones.

So how can we redeem this objective? Certainly, staying on task and attending are worthy goals if a student has difficulty with this. Think. How long are they attending now? Chances are, you don’t really know. It varies, depending on the task. A student may attend for hours on the computer or video game, but not be able to remain on-task for 5 minutes for written seat work. So let’s concentrate on seat work. Okay, you’ve already improved your goal!

“Thomas will remain on-task during independent written seat work.” Now you know when to observe. Not during circle time or recess, but during those times he has to be sitting down and writing something. Now think some more. Is 20 minutes too long? For younger students, it might be. If he is having serious problems, 5 minutes might be more realistic. But we’re going to find out. How are you going to figure out how well he is doing now? You are are probably going to want to time him. Think again. Take a 5 minute session and divide it into 30 second intervals. During each 30 second interval, he is either sitting and writing or he is off-task. Track how many intervals he is on-task versus off-task. Let’s say he is off task for half of those intervals. You now have a good idea of how to write this goal. We can still use 80%, but we need to be more precise. Think about how you will get him from 50% to 80%.

“Thomas will remain on-task for 5 minutes with nonverbal prompts and cues.” The criteria will be 80% of intervals over 5 sessions and the evaluation method will be using interval data. Now when you revisit that IEP 3 or 4 months from now you not only know what to teach but have some idea of how you teach and measure it. Making mastery over several sessions gives a better indication of true mastery rather than a whim. If he does master this you can either extend the length of time or up the criteria from 80% to 90%.

Teaching special education involves a high level of sophistication and expertise. Some knowledge of data collection and precise teaching methods is crucial to writing meaningful goals and objectives.

Parents, much of this may seem like Greek to you. But if I present you with an Excel graph of your child’s progress, you will be able to see how your child is doing and anyone can see how quickly or slowly your child is getting it. Success is everyone’s goal, but monitoring and measuring it is the job of the teacher. That’s why the good folks in the county pay us what they do.

You also see why I don’t like vagueness. This is why we end up with these stupid tests and calls for accountability from the Feds, because of sloppiness that serves no one. The problem with these tests is that they do not measure ongoing progress. If they fail a test in 3rd grade, they will be tested next in 5th grade after 2 years and after being handed off to 2 different teachers. But at least the tests give some degree of accuracy at a given point in time. In special education, the process needs to be continuous with some degree accuracy. And those folks being pulled off the street with no training have no idea of how to do it.

Unfortunately, most parents do not have the level of expertise necessary to correct sloppy objectives, much less write good ones of their own. But what they can do is demand accountability. When mastery of previous goals is discussed, ask to see supporting data, such as data sheets and/or a graph. Better still, you might consider asking for these during progress report time. A teacher making stuff up will be forced to either fly right or they will have to make even more stuff up. And making up data is not as easy as it sounds. You will probably be classified as a “problem parent” and might not get a Christmas card from your child’s case manager. But you will end up with a better IEP.

As a teacher (or teacher wannabe) putting this extra thought and effort in the IEP today will help you teach better in the fall. You reap what you sow, and sowing garbage in the spring will yield more garbage in the fall. One other reason to put this level of work into your objectives is that all of them will comply with alternate assessment criteria. They are supposed to be well-defined and measurable. ALL of them need to be measurable and thinking about how to measure them will help write a better goal.

Writing IEPs is a difficult process. I’m not trying to make them more difficult as much as making them more meaningful. Right now, the way most objectives are written, they are rubbish and an absolute waste of time.

D.

See the index to the entire series I have written on IEPs.

IEP Process: Accommodations and Modifications

The behavior intervention plan will likely contain some accommodations and modifications related to the students behaviors. However, the accommodation and modification summary is geared specifically to teaching and learning.

Accommodations and modifications are not the same. Accommodations are designed to enable the student to access grade level content and stay on the same track as peers. Modifications basically alter the expectations, lowering content standards. My students with severe disabilities are on an alternate and functional curriculum, which is a major modification from the regular state curriculum of Georgia Performance Standards everyone else has to follow. The state is in the process of aligning its alternate assessments with these standards, so that even our kids are supposed to be working on some grade level things.

Crazy, I know.

But for students who are not as severely disabled or involved, accommodations rule the day. I’m including a link to some good material covering accommodations that reflects current policy and practice and is aligned to both NCLB and the latest IDEA.

I’m keeping this section short for a couple of reasons. One, is that it is not one that I have to deal with regularly. Others can speak on it with more authority than I can. Also I want to spend more time and energy on the goals section.

This is not to say accommodations and modifications are unimportant. In fact, this section of the IEP often results in more contention and litigation than any other. This is the section of the IEP that often impacts regular ed. teachers the most. Accommodations are NOT optional for teachers. I have heard of them being somewhat optional for students, in that they often choose not to take the extra time or take advantage of extra support in their accommodations. But it is up to the case manager to make sure a student’s teachers know what the accommodations are.

A while back, there was some discussion as to how to word these things. Coach Brown advised making the language as vague as possible. As a behaviorist, that really goes against my grain. The problem with ambiguity is that no one will know what the expectation is. If the teacher interprets wording of the accommodation one way and the parent another, you are basically asking for a judge’s intervention in the matter. For instance, “extra time”; does this mean days, hours or minutes?

Being vague on this score is asking for trouble from a contentious parent/student. Specifics protect everyone involved from abuse of the system by teachers, students and parents. Once it is written and signed, this is what you all have to live with. When I LEA an IEP for students with mild disabilities, I make sure to question the regular education teacher regarding the accommodations in order to determine how reasonable they are and if they are adequate and effective. As special educators, we often don’t have a very good sense of what works for regular ed. teachers. Having some detail might help give more novice regular ed. teachers (who seem to often end up with the most involved kids) some direction and guidance as to what to do with these students. Therefore, if you are a regular ed. teacher serving students with IEPs, the accommodations section of the IEP is your most crucial component. Special educators need to make sure to solicit input from regular ed. teachers who are attending the meeting here, if no where else, since regular educators often are a bit dazed and confused when it comes to IEP meetings. And who can blame them? I’M often dazed and confused with the whole process!

 

dick

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IEP Process: Behavior Intervention Plan

After going over the present level of performance, we have a form that asks several questions. Does the student have vision impairments? Does the student have a hearing impairment? Does the student require assistive technology? All of theses are addressed in a separate section which is an add-on to the PLOAP. The other question is; does the student have behaviors which interfere with his/her learning or the learning of others? Answering “Yes” to this question means that there must be a behavior intervention plan (BIP).

Of all of the sections of the IEP, this one gets abused and misused more than any other. Since IDEA 1997, Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA) are required for students with behavior issues.

In Magnolia County, they have interpreted that as meaning only those students going through or likely to go through a manifestation hearing. This means that the vast majority of BIPs have no FBAs associated with them. This is a serious problem.

My son, Thomas, has a BIP that I wrote for behaviors globally known as “off task behaviors.” Mostly getting up out of his seat, talking to his neighbor, making noises and wandering around the room. Teachers often put a shopping list of interventions in the BIP including redirection, reprimands, time out, keeping him in from recess and those who are more sophisticated may include rewards for being on-task or a token system. But unless the function of the behavior is known, interventions are hit or miss, and have a big chance of failure.

Basically, behaviors are driven by either access or escape. Access to attention (either peer or adult) access to preferred items or access to sensory stimulation. Escape from demands is the most common escape function, although escaping from peers, adults or sensory overload is also likely. An intervention designed for access behaviors which are used by the student for escape are going to make behaviors worse. For instance one student used to beat the crap out of us during lunch. Hitting, kicking and scratching are efficient behaviors for both access and escape. In another setting, he would use aggression to get adult attention. In the lunchroom, he was aggressive in order to escape the noise and over stimulation. The interventions used for his aggression were different according to the function. We put the escape aggression on extinction and gradually shaped him into staying in the cafeteria for longer and longer periods. He likes the lunchroom today because we made the environment more reinforcing by getting him some friends that he didn’t have access to anywhere else. Once his desire for peer attention kicked in, we saw aggression drop to nearly zero, because aggression is usually incompatible with having friends.

For Thomas, the “off task” behaviors are also multiply controlled by both access and escape. By making access contingent on completion of work this helped…sometimes. But impulse control is often a problem in children, so such contingencies don’t always hold. Other cues and signals as well as a richer schedule of reinforcement can provide additional support. And we’re trying the Concerta, but the BIP is independent of that. Unless the school has a doctor on staff and/or is willing to pay for it, they can only keep data that reflects his performance on or off the drug.

Behavior Intervention Plans should be specifically tailored to the behaviors of the student and the functions of that behavior. As such, ALL BIPs should be supported by an FBA. BIPs should be reviewed each year to evaluate effectiveness. In the case of Spaz, the aggression has nearly disappeared but now we see more self-injurious behaviors. So, his FBA and BIP are going to have to be entirely overhauled this year.

Fun times…NOT! It’s a lot of work putting an FBA together because it involves amassing a lot of data. But it will be worth it in the long run. An FBA can remain in effect as long as the functions and behaviors exist. Spaz has had the same FBA for 4 years. Now that we’ve effectively treated the behaviors, it’s time for a new one targeted other ones that are troublesome.

When Thomas’s teachers started complaining about his behaviors earlier this year, Jane started getting worried and concerned. So I told her to ask them one question: “Are you following his BIP?” The complaints stopped. The entire IEP needs to be a ready reference and resource for teachers and parents. A properly written BIP will state the functions of the behavior, definitions of behaviors, include positive supports, contingencies and consequences.

Parents should pay close attention to this plan and have extensive input into that as well as the FBA. If there are disputes about your child’s behavior, the first questions are going to center around whether the BIP is being followed. If it is not, this is the quickest route to problems with the school. If the student is threatened with suspension or expulsion, the BIP becomes a major factor. Failure to adhere to the BIP can increase a school’s liability. Remember, the IEP is like a piece of legislation.

Could parents write a BIP? Without knowledge of school policies and regulations, it would be difficult. Plus it is helpful to have an understanding of applied behavior analysis and positive behavioral support. I’m not talking about the Lovaas stuff, I’m talking about systematic observation and application and using data to design interventions that improve outcomes for students. However, there are a fair number of special ed. teachers writing these things with not much more background knowledge than many parents. If a parent thinks he/she can do a better job, I say give it a shot. The committee may be able to work with it and improve on it. Parent input is crucial regardless of who actually writes the BIP. A good plan that is put in place can save problems later on, as it should contain steps for teachers to follow if problem behaviors continue or worsen.

dick

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