Request for ESY placement - 7 years old IEP (kindergarten to first grade)
April 2015
ATTN: IEP team regarding upcoming meeting to discuss ESY
In
preparation of the follow up IEP meeting on April, we would like the
team to take into account the following information regarding our
request for an inclusive summer placement for The STUDENT. We base our
request for ESY services on the guidelines stipulated by state
Department of Education – Guide on Extended School Year Programs. As
stated in the guidelines, ESY criteria to be applied by a Team must
include the factors listed below, which we believe are relevant to The
STUDENT’s need for continuing support regarding social skills, as well
as functional life skills.
• The degree of the child's impairment – The STUDENT has poor social pragmatics skills and difficulty in interacting appropriately with peers. Per teacher’s grade report he rarely joins in or initiates a conversation. Per the 3-year speech and language evaluation report, The STUDENT’s overall scores placed him in the extremely low scores (1 percentile) when compared to his age-matched peers (page 4). In social pragmatics, The STUDENT “demonstrated reduced knowledge and use of social language rules to respond to social situations occurring in the school environment” (page 8). Per The STUDENT’s current IEP, The STUDENT’s “communication disability results in difficulty communicating with peers and adults both socially and academically” (page 7).
• The child's rate of progress – The STUDENT’s social pragmatics skills are slow to develop and lag behind his expressive language (per 3-year speech and language evaluation report 2014). For the last three IEP periods (2012- 2014) The STUDENT worked on the exact same social pragmatics goal which was never completely achieved. The benchmarks for this goal (take 3 conversational turns, demonstrate turn-taking skills, and initiate conversation with peers) are age and developmentally appropriate, and The STUDENT needs year-round opportunities to practice these skills and to have them modeled by typical peers.
In addition to social pragmatics skills, we are worried that, if not enrolled in an appropriate program during the summer, The STUDENT will regress in his toileting skills, as well as other self-care skills. The STUDENT toileting training started in September 2013, while he was enrolled in Kindergarten at his previous placement. For more than a year he had multiple daily accidents in school. Finally, some progress was noticed this school year and The STUDENT had progressively fewer accidents both in the classroom and in the afterschool program. Currently, he has only occasional accidents in the classroom. However, he has consistent accidents during particular transitions, such as when transitioning from the classroom to the after-school program. This is clearly an emotional response to what he perceives as a stressful situation. It shows the fragility of his skills, as well as the interdependence between social and self-care skills. We believe this is a critical stage of development in this particular skill acquisition which requires year round support. Proper toileting skills are essential for The STUDENT success in school and for his transition to the 1st grade. This was recently recognized by the team with the addition of a new “activities of daily living” goal (Goal #5 in the proposed IEP), which introduces specific benchmarks in order to decrease the frequency of accidents in the school setting.
• The child's specific behavior and/or physical problems – The STUDENT is showing behavior consistent to poor social and emotional skills. The STUDENT has difficulty communicating with peers, building and maintaining relationships, working cooperatively, negotiating, resolving conflict, and seeking help. Per several teacher’s reports (emails, daily communication book, team meeting summary, Term 1- Grade K Report Card Summary), The STUDENT is compensating for these skills by touching his friends, and he requires often reminders to keep his hands on his own body. Although he is rarely violent, there have been incidents in which he has kicked or pushed his friends. In these instances he has difficulty expressing his feelings and explaining what has happen.
• The child's ability to interact with non-disabled children – As detailed above, The STUDENT has difficulty in interacting appropriately with peers. Per teacher’s grade report The STUDENT’s ability to interact appropriately with others is an emergent skill, and he rarely joins in or initiates a conversation. Per speech and language current progress report, The STUDENT requires moderate to maximum cuing when interacting to adults or peers.
• The specific curricular areas in which the child needs continuing attention – Per The STUDENT’s current IEP, The STUDENT’s “communication disability results in difficulty communicating with peers and adults both socially and academically” (page 7). We believe The STUDENT requires continuous attention in all social and emotional skills identified in state Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Curricula K-12, namely: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Particularly relevant is his need for consistent opportunities and peer modeling to develop relationship skills. Per current grade report, The STUDENT’s ability to interact appropriately with others is still an emergent skill. We believe this is a critical stage of development in skill acquisition, and lack of social interaction with typical peers over a long period of time will negatively impact his emergent social skills.
In conclusion, we believe The STUDENT has a high risk of social skills regression during the summer vacation and requires continuing social interaction with typical peers in an inclusive setting in order to preserve emergent critical skills in social pragmatics and activities of daily living skills. Importantly, The STUDENT should start the inclusive summer placement at the same time as the rest of his typical friends. He needs to learn the new rules, routines, as well as form connections and start friendships at the beginning of the program. A later start (i.e. mid July) would put him at a significant social disadvantage, and would add unnecessary and potentially damaging social difficulties and frustrations. In addition, The STUDENT will require moderate support with transitions, lunch, toileting schedule, as well as supervision/facilitation of social interactions with peers, similar to those provided during the school day.
We would like again to thank you and the whole team for your support, effort and time investment. Thank you for your support during the process.
Sincerely,
The parents
• The degree of the child's impairment – The STUDENT has poor social pragmatics skills and difficulty in interacting appropriately with peers. Per teacher’s grade report he rarely joins in or initiates a conversation. Per the 3-year speech and language evaluation report, The STUDENT’s overall scores placed him in the extremely low scores (1 percentile) when compared to his age-matched peers (page 4). In social pragmatics, The STUDENT “demonstrated reduced knowledge and use of social language rules to respond to social situations occurring in the school environment” (page 8). Per The STUDENT’s current IEP, The STUDENT’s “communication disability results in difficulty communicating with peers and adults both socially and academically” (page 7).
• The child's rate of progress – The STUDENT’s social pragmatics skills are slow to develop and lag behind his expressive language (per 3-year speech and language evaluation report 2014). For the last three IEP periods (2012- 2014) The STUDENT worked on the exact same social pragmatics goal which was never completely achieved. The benchmarks for this goal (take 3 conversational turns, demonstrate turn-taking skills, and initiate conversation with peers) are age and developmentally appropriate, and The STUDENT needs year-round opportunities to practice these skills and to have them modeled by typical peers.
In addition to social pragmatics skills, we are worried that, if not enrolled in an appropriate program during the summer, The STUDENT will regress in his toileting skills, as well as other self-care skills. The STUDENT toileting training started in September 2013, while he was enrolled in Kindergarten at his previous placement. For more than a year he had multiple daily accidents in school. Finally, some progress was noticed this school year and The STUDENT had progressively fewer accidents both in the classroom and in the afterschool program. Currently, he has only occasional accidents in the classroom. However, he has consistent accidents during particular transitions, such as when transitioning from the classroom to the after-school program. This is clearly an emotional response to what he perceives as a stressful situation. It shows the fragility of his skills, as well as the interdependence between social and self-care skills. We believe this is a critical stage of development in this particular skill acquisition which requires year round support. Proper toileting skills are essential for The STUDENT success in school and for his transition to the 1st grade. This was recently recognized by the team with the addition of a new “activities of daily living” goal (Goal #5 in the proposed IEP), which introduces specific benchmarks in order to decrease the frequency of accidents in the school setting.
• The child's specific behavior and/or physical problems – The STUDENT is showing behavior consistent to poor social and emotional skills. The STUDENT has difficulty communicating with peers, building and maintaining relationships, working cooperatively, negotiating, resolving conflict, and seeking help. Per several teacher’s reports (emails, daily communication book, team meeting summary, Term 1- Grade K Report Card Summary), The STUDENT is compensating for these skills by touching his friends, and he requires often reminders to keep his hands on his own body. Although he is rarely violent, there have been incidents in which he has kicked or pushed his friends. In these instances he has difficulty expressing his feelings and explaining what has happen.
• The child's ability to interact with non-disabled children – As detailed above, The STUDENT has difficulty in interacting appropriately with peers. Per teacher’s grade report The STUDENT’s ability to interact appropriately with others is an emergent skill, and he rarely joins in or initiates a conversation. Per speech and language current progress report, The STUDENT requires moderate to maximum cuing when interacting to adults or peers.
• The specific curricular areas in which the child needs continuing attention – Per The STUDENT’s current IEP, The STUDENT’s “communication disability results in difficulty communicating with peers and adults both socially and academically” (page 7). We believe The STUDENT requires continuous attention in all social and emotional skills identified in state Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Curricula K-12, namely: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Particularly relevant is his need for consistent opportunities and peer modeling to develop relationship skills. Per current grade report, The STUDENT’s ability to interact appropriately with others is still an emergent skill. We believe this is a critical stage of development in skill acquisition, and lack of social interaction with typical peers over a long period of time will negatively impact his emergent social skills.
In conclusion, we believe The STUDENT has a high risk of social skills regression during the summer vacation and requires continuing social interaction with typical peers in an inclusive setting in order to preserve emergent critical skills in social pragmatics and activities of daily living skills. Importantly, The STUDENT should start the inclusive summer placement at the same time as the rest of his typical friends. He needs to learn the new rules, routines, as well as form connections and start friendships at the beginning of the program. A later start (i.e. mid July) would put him at a significant social disadvantage, and would add unnecessary and potentially damaging social difficulties and frustrations. In addition, The STUDENT will require moderate support with transitions, lunch, toileting schedule, as well as supervision/facilitation of social interactions with peers, similar to those provided during the school day.
We would like again to thank you and the whole team for your support, effort and time investment. Thank you for your support during the process.
Sincerely,
The parents
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