6 years - parental concerns

Parental input to IEP goals - 6 years old

Before each IEP meeting we prepare a letter for our IEP team, which we send out couple of weeks before the meeting. This is our annual review - we comment on what we think was achieved, we raise our concerns, and we propose our goals for next year. With each year we are getting better at this and so our letter has more details every time. The purpose of this document is for the school to know that we are serious about the upcoming meeting and that we are prepared. We have thought carefully about what was achieved and even more carefully about what our son should do next. We want the school to know that we have high expectations for the coming year and expect appropriate goals.

This document was sent to the team before the IEP meeting.  We are arguing for paraprofessional support. This is a data-driven argument, informed by the evaluation reports.

Based on the 3-year evaluations we believe that in order for The Student to have meaningful access to academic instruction and appropriate social interactions with adults and peers during school, he requires additional support in the areas described below.

Support with classroom communications	·         provide appropriate social modeling ·         facilitate social interactions ·         assist with repairs of communication breakdowns ·         provide total communication support in the classroom (including using ASL and AAC) ·         provide support so The Student can  accurately and fully express his wants/needs in classroom	Per SLP report, The Student scored in the 1 percentile rank for overall language skills, 2 percentile in ability to interpret, recall, and execute oral commands of increasing length and complexity, 2 percentile in intelligibility and articulation, 9 percentile in ability to use social language rules. Per SLP report (page 8): “The Student demonstrated reduced knowledge and use of social situations. Showed difficulty providing appropriate and complete verbal answers to questions. This would impact his ability to understand pragmatic language and correctly use that knowledge within social situations occurring in the school environment (e.g. classroom, recess, lunch).” Per SLP report (page 12): “The Student has significant decreased intelligibility with unfamiliar listeners. When communication breakdowns occur, The Student was observed to frequently attempt to repair the communication by repeating the word, using gestures, using signs, and presenting the object he was talking about.” Per SLP report (page 12):” The Student was noted to have difficulty with recalling and repeating sentences of increasing length and complexity and use morphological rules. Difficulty in these areas will negatively impact his ability to accurately and fully express his wants/needs in the classroom by using longer and more complex language.“ Per Ed report (page 4): “While The Student is able to utilize many nonverbal communications skills, such as facial expression, ASL and other gestures, he continues to need a great deal of support with his oral language skills.”
Support with academic instruction and activities	·         help The Student with initiating, organizing and completing tasks ·         provide reminders to continue the current activity ·         provide restructuring of the activities as needed ·         provide repetitions ·         break down complex instructions in manageable steps ·         manage and organize frequent movement breaks and position changes	Per OT report (page 6): The Student’s organizational skills and his ability to work independently are not functional for school performance:  “The Student has difficulty with initiating, organizing and completing tasks. The Student needs frequent reminders to keep working.” Per Ed report (page 2): “With new information, The Student often requires visual support, simplified delivery and repetitions.” Per Ed report (page 2): “During times The Student is required to write in the classroom, he works one-on-one with a teacher to help with focus and organization. Without this support, despite his knowledge of letters, The Student has a very difficult time with writing tasks.” Per Ed report (page 4):”His ability to apply academic skills is low average. In new and challenging academic tasks, he requires one-on-one support.” Per SLP report (page 3):” As the demand of the task increases, The Student’s attention wanes and increased encouragement or restructuring of the activity is needed.” Per SLP report (page 5):”The Student has difficulty comprehending sentences of increasing length and complexity. Trouble in this area will negatively impact The Student’s understanding of language within the classroom setting (e.g. directions, teacher explanations)”. Per SLP report (page 5):” The Student needs repetition and explicit instruction in order to recall and connect newly learned information with concepts that are already known.” Per PT report (page 2): “Frequent movement breaks and position changes are accommodations that should continue.”
Support with AAC implementation	·         facilitate use of AAC devices ·         provide total communication support in classroom (including using ASL and AAC)	Per SLP report (page 13): “The Student will benefit from additional support to aid in his receptive and expressive language skills. Various AAC strategies should continue to be probed during a trial period to determine the most effective communication support for The Student.” Per Ed report (page 4): “While The Student is able to utilize many nonverbal communications skills, such as facial expression, ASL and other gestures, he continues to need a great deal of support with his oral language skills.”
Support during lunch	·         provide communication support ·         provide fine motor skill support	Per current IEP, The Student is still working on self-care skills required for independence during meal times (open containers, unzip lunch box, open Ziploc bags). Per OT report (page 5): The Student “needs some support with utensil use during lunchtime.” Per SLP report (page 8): “The Student demonstrated reduced knowledge and use of social situations. Showed difficulty providing appropriate and complete verbal answers to questions. This would impact his ability to understand pragmatic language and correctly use that knowledge within social situations occurring in the school environment (e.g. classroom, recess, lunch).” Per SLP report (page 12):” The Student has significant decreased intelligibility with unfamiliar listeners.” Per SLP report (page 12):” The Student has difficulty using language to navigate social situations occurring in school, including during interactions with both peers and adults.”
Support during special area classes (art, music, gym, technology, library)	·         provide communication support ·         facilitate social interactions ·         help The Student with initiating, organizing and completing tasks ·         provide reminders to keep working ·         provide restructuring of the activities as needed ·         provide repetitions ·         break down complex instructions in manageable steps ·         manage and organize frequent movement breaks and position changes	Per OT report (page 6): The Student’s organizational skills and his ability to work independently are not functional for school performance:  “The Student has difficulty with initiating, organizing and completing tasks. The Student needs frequent reminders to keep working.” Per SLP report (page 3):” As the demand of the task increases, The Student’s attention wanes and increased encouragement or restructuring of the activity is needed.” Per SLP report (page 8): “The Student demonstrated reduced knowledge and use of social situations. Showed difficulty providing appropriate and complete verbal answers to questions. This would impact his ability to understand pragmatic language and correctly use that knowledge within social situations occurring in the school environment (e.g. classroom, recess, lunch).” Per SLP report (page 12):” The Student has significant decreased intelligibility with unfamiliar listeners.” Per SLP report (page 12):” The Student has difficulty using language to navigate social situations occurring in school, including during interactions with both peers and adults.”
Support during recess	·         ensure safety ·         provide communication support	Per SLP report (page 8): “The Student demonstrated reduced knowledge and use of social situations. Showed difficulty providing appropriate and complete verbal answers to questions. This would impact his ability to understand pragmatic language and correctly use that knowledge within social situations occurring in the school environment (e.g. classroom, recess, lunch).” Per SLP report (page 12):” The Student has significant decreased intelligibility with unfamiliar listeners.” Per SLP report (page 12):” The Student has difficulty using language to navigate social situations occurring in school, including during interactions with both peers and adults.”
Support with toilet training	·         provide frequent, scheduled reminders ·         provide assistance during accidents	The Student is not completely potty trained. Parents and current teacher expect that transition to new environment will result in a temporary regression in this area.