Attending First IEP since diagnosis

[Cameron]

Hi my daughter Erin (8) has just been diagnosed with autism in the last few months. The school has arranged an IEP meeting this month. I would like some advice as to what to expect and how to ensure that Erins needs are properly assessed /met. I have been researching everything I can about autism and the particular difficulties that Erin has and how best to. Manage them. I want to go forearmed with information to ensure that the school provides all the support and assistance that she requires. She has had input from OT, has ongoing input from SALT and there is an Educational Psychologist attending the meeting. My hope is that the EP will be able to ensure that Erins learning style is fully assessed and that they have an understanding of ASD. Any help advice would be gratefully received.

 

Thanks

 

Cameron

[cmuir]

Hi

 

Googled IEPs and found the following:

 

An Individual Education Plan includes targets, provision, and outcomes.

 

Targets: Each pupil's IEP sets targets for him/her to work towards. The targets are related to the pupil's particular difficulty (learning, communication, behavioural or sensory/physical disability).

 

The targets set on an IEP should also be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-related).

Provision

 

This details the nature of the extra support that the pupil will receive. This can include specialist teacher or teaching assistant support, working in a small group, alternative activities such as speech and language support, mentoring, life skills teaching, anger management etc.

Outcomes

 

The IEP should include a section showing the pupil's progress against his/her previous targets.

 

 

I must confess to often coming away from my son's review meetings feeling utterfly frustrated. Staff have a tendency to want to talk solely about my son's achievements – all well and good, but by not acknowledging, identifying and addressing his difficulties, there's no benefit to him. In addition, when I've identified a gap, I've been told 'sorry, I won't be able to have anything in place just now, so it'll have to wait and go on the next IEP'. Guess what I'm trying to convey is that the reality doesn't always match expectations or what should happen. However, despite being frustrated, it's interesting to see what school staff identify as an issue along with an action plan, which also details progress.

 

Best wishes.

 

Caroline

[justine1]

Hi

 

My son is also 8 years old, I went for his first IEP meeting when he was 6 yrs old, in year 1,before diagnosis so I knew nothing about ASD. From my experience the IEP is more to do with the education aspects so if you feel she cannot write well you will want to see what target they will set so she can make some progress over the year. Two things to remember one is that an IEP is targets for your child to try and reach it does not have to stop at school, on my sons IEP he has alot that can be practiced at home. Another thing is that you have to try not to compare your child to her peers the targets are her own targets and even if she does'nt reach them any progress is good, you will see improvements over the year.

 

Lastly as far as the ASD understanding and her getting more support you would have to explore the possibility of getting her assessed fo a statement, you could raise this at the IEP meeting. My son was on IEP for a year and it made no difference overall because of his behaviour so we had to get a statement. Good luck.

[Sally44]

If you google IEP SMART targets, that will give you advice on how the targets should be written.

 

IEPs don't have to be all educational ones. It is about the SEN, which under ASD may well include emotional difficulties, social interaction, sensory difficulties etc.

 

I also advice that you download the Code of Practice from the top of the educational form under publications.

 

This is the book that explains about Social Action, School Action Plus and a Statement.

 

SEN support is a graduated approach. For an IEP the child is usually already on School Action Plus, and the next step is a Statement. I would strongly advise that you write to your Local Authority to ask for a Statement of Special Educational Needs. Your daughter is 8, and will soon be moving to secondary school, where the demands will be much greater on her.

 

ONLY a Statement is a legal document where the LA is legally responsible to ensure that the provision it details is made, and if it isn't you can use Judicial Review. You have no such powers under School Action Plus.

 

You haven't mentioned Speech Therapy. Has she been assessed by them for all her expressive and receptive speech skills using standardised assessments? Have they also assessed her social communication and social understanding?

[Cameron]

If you google IEP SMART targets, that will give you advice on how the targets should be written.

 

IEPs don't have to be all educational ones. It is about the SEN, which under ASD may well include emotional difficulties, social interaction, sensory difficulties etc.

 

I also advice that you download the Code of Practice from the top of the educational form under publications.

 

This is the book that explains about Social Action, School Action Plus and a Statement.

 

SEN support is a graduated approach. For an IEP the child is usually already on School Action Plus, and the next step is a Statement. I would strongly advise that you write to your Local Authority to ask for a Statement of Special Educational Needs. Your daughter is 8, and will soon be moving to secondary school, where the demands will be much greater on her.

 

ONLY a Statement is a legal document where the LA is legally responsible to ensure that the provision it details is made, and if it isn't you can use Judicial Review. You have no such powers under School Action Plus.

 

You haven't mentioned Speech Therapy. Has she been assessed by them for all her expressive and receptive speech skills using standardised assessments? Have they also assessed her social communication and social understanding?

Firstly thanks for your replies. She sees a speech therapist and has been for a few years, she has both expressive and receptive difficulties and has limited social communication and understanding.

 

I will certainly look into getting a statement as aim worried that she may just 'drift' if i don't go in and stick up for what I want for her and be able to keep them. Thank you very much for your suggestions.

 

Cameron

[Sally44]

You can also contact your Local Authority Parent Partnership.

They are supposed to be independent, but they are employed by the LA. Peoples experiences of their local PP differ. But they are there to support parents. They can attend IEPs and other school meetings with you. They are supposed to answer your questions and tell you where to get information from.

In my experience I found that they often gave good advice - but could not actually tell me the reason they gave me that advice eg. My son has ASD as well as Dyslexia. After an IEP the PP worker recommended that I wrote to the the Local Authority SEN department and ask them "how" they would support his SpLD. I didn't do that at the time - but did follow it up later on as part of a Tribunal Appeal.

It turned out that the LA do not have ANY teachers with any qualification for supporting children with SpLD. Obviously the PP knew that. But could not spell it out for me. Does that make sense?

When a child has a Statement EVERY need has to be identified ie. dyslexia, and every need has to have provision quantified and specified to meet that need. It turns out my LA could NEVER meet that need, because it would require a specialist teacher that the LA would have to buy in because they don't have one!

Once I knew that I could write to the Head of the SEN department and ask her specifically what qualifications their SpLD teachers had (none for both ASD or Dyslexia - plus it turns out they don't even go into my son's school).

I can use that information to prove his needs are not being met, get my own quote for a specialist dyslexia teacher and either the LA has to buy in that provision within their maintained school, or, as we are seeking, we have that included as part of an independent school placement package.

So sometimes it is about asking the right questions to the right people.

Edited October 5, 2011 by Sally44