Useless IEP targets

[BusyLizzie100]

I've just had DS1's latest IEP presented to me in draft form and I'm in despair.

 

It's so vague and woolly, eg one of the priority areas is self-control in a high anxiety situation; target is to get him to focus on teacher and sit back down (because he stands up, walks around or leaves the room); action etc is he'll get a table point if he successfully listens and responds ie sits back down (table with most points gets a sweet at the end of the week - a 'yucky' sweet, according to DS1, so not a huge motivation!); success criteria is to listen and sit back down/stay seated.

 

Am I missing something, or does this read like total [edited to comply with forum rules]? It's not SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound) and it does nothing to actually help him deal with the anxiety or deal with what is making him anxious so that anxiety is less of an issue... He already works really hard to hold everything together at school and we see the effects of his huge anxiety and stress at home, so just brushing it under the carpet seems wrong.

 

The other priority areas are handwriting and self-esteem, but again it's all really woolly. The advisory teacher doesn't seem to have come anything, either.

 

I've been trying to come up with something more appropriate myself. I'm due to have a 10-minute chat about it with the teacher after school tomorrow - not looking forward to it cos I'll have all three boys with me, including DS3 and his ADHD.

 

This has probably been discussed endlessly before, so forgive me if I'm repeating old stuff, but if anyone has any ideas or any input, it would be gratefully received!!!

 

Desperate Lizzie

 

 

 

Edited by Montee

Edited October 12, 2006 by Montee

[JenRose]

Busylizzie,

 

I can sympathise with you on this totally.

 

M,s IEP consisted of "Tell a teacher whenever he,s feeling anxious" and "to respond to facial cues" and "to learn how to take turns"

 

I just threw it back at them and told them it was pathetic.

[smiley]

 

Hi L,

 

I actually laughed at my son's IEP (it was either that or cry...). The thing that helped was getting an autism outreach worker in. Initially, i helped the school change his IEP to something more suitable - but without the understanding behind what was written, it was a useless document anyway.

 

Not sure of your situation - so apologies if it's already been tried - but i'd be asking the school to contact the AOW.

 

[BusyLizzie100]

Not sure of your situation - so apologies if it's already been tried - but i'd be asking the school to contact the AOW.

 

The IEP I've been handed already has 'input' from the outreach teacher - basically a tiny bit of rewording.

 

I said I'd been having a go myself, and so far I've come up with this. OK, it might be a bit wordy, but any input appreciated!

 

1. Priority area:

Anxiety and behaviour resulting from behaviour

 

Target:

To stop leaving work station inappropriately

 

Action/Strategies/Resources/Support:

 1-to-1 work daily (mid afternoon/not to early on) to help X identify what he is feeling and work on identifying causes of anxiety, using cartoon strips and visual tools.

 Adult support at transition between lessons and monitoring during playtimes, consider alternatives to playtime eg indoor reading/computer work.

 Provide a safe haven he can retreat to if necessary (not necessarily in the classroom).

 Praise X?s efforts to control himself.

 Provide specific and explicit social skills training.

 Visual supports: personal timetable on desk, showing what is expected of him, how long it should take him and what will happen next; visual system of asking for assistance or time out (eg green/red cards on desk).

 

Success Criteria:

I can stay seated at my workstation during work times without getting anxious.

 

 

2. Priority Area:

Handwriting

 

Target:

To record and present schoolwork neatly and legibly.

 

Action/Strategies/Resources/Support:

 Kinaesthetic warm-up exercises (as per OT?s advice) and handwriting practice every day.

 Teacher modelling how to join letters up correctly.

 Use wide-lined paper.

 X to identify best piece of work after every session and a piece that he can improve.

 Encourage and extend X?s creativity with 1-to-1 sessions using a combination of drawing and writing; use computer as further extension tool.

 

Success Criteria:

My recorded work reflects my true ability.

 

 

3. Priority Area:

Self-esteem

 

Target:

X to use his gifts and talents to support his peers.

 

Action/Strategies/Resources/Support:

 Use additional support to do further research in small group settings.

 Celebrate X?s successes in a way he can understand eg visually.

 Praise often; offer motivational rewards eg extra time on computer.

 Assist Mr Y with school website/newspaper every Monday lunchtime.

 Be Mrs Z?s computer assistant during ICT lessons to help peers.

 

Success Criteria:

I can be honest about what I am good at and what needs improvement; I feel more able to attempt new, unknown things with less anxiety.

 

 

Thanks, folks.

Lizzie

[Jericho]

The handwriting target you suggest sounds similar to the one in my eldest son's IEP. Strategies include using the interactive whiteboard, 1:1 help from the classroom assistant, talking through the correct way to form a letter and also using OT exercises.

 

His difficulties sound slightly different to your son's but the success criteria is time-based - ie when he can consistently write letters well for x number of weeks.

 

Good luck.

[bramblebrae]

I think your ideas look great and after seeing that and hearing Jericho talk about it being like his sons I'm gobsmacked my sons IEP is utter rubbish - not that he's got one in place at the moment as I was told they were still doing it and now we're in middle of October holidays here. I am going to have to get some advice guys when/if I actually get the new one. All the startegy part ever says on my DS's is with minimal support or none thats it. then there is some seemingly random target like 75% of the time or once a day for things like lining up correctly when coming in after lunch. I've had me head in the dark as usual though it maybe is he dosen't need help in some areas but I really liked your self esteem plan and I'm sure that would benefit him alot.

I'll have to ask the autistic outreach teacher to have some input to as I don't think she does at present, which i should of checked on before- ugh I'm so reactive and so want to be proactive sometimes things just do not occur to me!

 

thanks for alerting my brain to what it's been missing think it might of fallen out too!

 

Lorraine

[Kathryn]

I'm not an expert on IEP's - (my daughter never ever had one during all her time at school ), but this looks good to me, Lizzie!

 

Going back to your first post, I'm surprised that sweets are still being used as used as rewards given all the publicity about healthy eating in schools.

 

K x

[Scout]

Dear Kathryn

 

I am new to all this but why has your daughter never had an IEP? Is it because she copes well at school? We have just had a call from the associate specialist pediatrics who has verybally diagnosed our son with Asperger's. However, she has asked me whether, in her letter giving her conclusions, we would like her to label him with Asperger's or whether we would prefer it to be verbal for now and then re-review him in a year or us call if we felt a label would be useful. I am not sure what to do. Our 6 yr old (Yr 2) does fantastically at school in every area and althougn his teacher said she would have noticed he was a bit off "normal", a bit socially immature, naiive, he is a pleasure to teach and is going to do very well academically. That said, she recognises what I have told her and, now I have told her our concerns, she has noticed things like him discreetly touching any radiators he sees! However, the specialist said (and I know) that socially the gap between his maturity and that of his peers will widen. We have 2 other sons aged 5 (Yr 1) and 4 (reception) and they deal with social mishaps already better than he does. He is very difficult at home where the environment is less regulated and in holidays become s mroe difficult and in term time less. However, I knew something was amiss from the very beginning so I know in AS is there. He goes to a lovely prep school with 12 in a class and I think this has something to do with why he copes so well and is so happy. That said, I would love some advice on whethr you (or anyone) thinks I should say yes or no to having it formalised in a letter. The specialist says it basically empowers people at school to treat him differently but he has no problems at school YET aside from sometimes being in a world of his own.

 

Please advise. I am worried that a formal letter will mean he can't attend stuff like Summer Camp (because I think with a special need, these things are not so easy to sign up to and yet he is well capable of having a rgeat time there and this year the staff said he was a delight (because he loves following the rules and being a good boy).

 

I guess he is (now anyway) very mildly affected and seems, if anything, a little eccentric, a bit silly sometimes. I am worried I about pushing it either way.

 

Thanks for reading this

 

SB

[nvapid]

Please advise. I am worried that a formal letter will mean he can't attend stuff like Summer Camp

 

I was worried at first as well, but most sumer camp places are used to haveing children who are AS. They have inclusion laws a nd regulations as well they must follow. My ds attened a sailin camp this last summer at the age of 11 for a week and there was no problems.

 

Having a formal diagnosis is not a handicap. If anything it has opened doors for us.

 

 

As to that IEP! those targets are WAY TO LARGE! and too complex!

 

Target = Stress - Need to recognise signal of stress, both by child and by teachers.

Strategy/resources = Apply ?rage cycle? management* with direct re-enforcement in Social Skills group ? i.e. what is done in class is discussed in SS

Exit Criteria = Demonstration and acknowledgement of stress signals. Child is able to communicate the onset of stress to an adult (who listens and he can trust to help)

 

*?rage cycle? management is a strategy that teachers are aware of. sen kids go through what are called rage cycles. there is a clear "rumbling" stage where the child can be seen to be getting upset, this is an oppertunity for the teacher to see to the needs of the child, use distraction or to correct what may be going wrong before the child "melts down" or has a full tantrum.

 

SMART targets must also be NON SELF POLICING. the emphasis must not be on the child to solely correct their behavior but on the adult to circumvent undesirable behavior and model acceptable behavior.

[Kathryn]

Hi Sancha,

 

My daughter is no longer at school (she's 17). Long story, but yes, she probably never had an IEP because she coped too well and managed to hide most of her problems, especially during the primary school years. She sailed through infant school because she was articulate and learned to read quickly and well. The problems only really began to emerge in year 3 when she moved schools, had to make new friends and more written output and organisation was required. Then in high school things started to really go downhill - she couldn't deal with the classroom and teacher changes, the number of subjects, homework etc.

 

She only got a formal diagnosis at 15. Even after this it was very difficult to get help for her as she was seen as "too able" and although her struggles were obvious to those of us who were close to her, on paper there was very little evidence of it over the years. The general assumption was: if she'd got this far, there couldn't be much wrong with her, surely. So in answer to your question I would say, yes, get the diagnosis formalised and documented now. It's great that your son is in a small class and happy, long may it continue, but there may be greater challenges ahead for him and a time may come when he needs more support, perhaps next year, perhaps in year 7 or maybe far into the future at GCSE. If such a point comes, you may be grateful to have a piece of paper to wave at a sceptical teacher who doesn't understand.

 

This is just my opinion, and I understand your fears about having your son labelled. But you can still choose not to share the information with certain people if you don't want to.

 

K x

Edited November 12, 2006 by Kathryn