How do IEPs work? Do you have to sign them?

[mamadadawahwah]

My boy will be going to school this year and i dread the IEP (He is on the autistic spectrum)

I have just finished re-writing the tissue paper, which was an excuse for his statement and am fast forwarding ahead to worrying about the IEP.

I assume that the IEP is written together between school and parents. If a parent does not agree with it, how do you make that known. Do you have to consent to it? or reject it?

Also, is it legal for the school to present you with your child's draft IEP before you are consulted with it?

How does it work?
thanks in advance

[peachygirl]

We send ours home to be singed but in fact I have very rarley had one that was signed. The teacher I do not consult with parents about the contents although future targets will be highlighted in the annual review and should tie into these. will usually ask if you agree and you can disagree. I've never had this happen before.
I would be happy to send you sample copies of the ones I write (without names obviously) if you would like to look at one) is your child going into maninstream or special? IEPs may vary in frequency and qualilty.

[Blandmum]

In our school the SENCO works on the IEP and then the parents and SENCO refine and agree it....with the childre present if appropriate. All parties agree to the IEP.

Sometimes it is done without parents present if they do not attend the review.

SMART tagets are the key. If you can measrue progress towards a target, they are pointless, and they have to be specific.

So we get ones like,
X will not shout out or disrupt the first 5 minutes of the lesson.
Y will use his doodle pad at the start of the lesson
z will copy the lesson aims at the start of each lesson
A will say one positive thing to another member of the class each lesson

[mamadadawahwah]

Oh dear, my fears are confirmed! I didnt know a draft could be drawn up by the teachers without the parents having full input first. Do teachers cut and paste a lot of the info from other children's IEPs or do they use the expensive IEP programs i have seen marketed on the net?

I am just writing about the IEP in my son's revised statement and have used all the SMART words and objectives, etc.

Do you have a right to call all professionals/adults who are working with your child to come to the meetings to initially discuss the IEP?
thanks

[peachygirl]

I'm in MLD and teach year 1
examples from this half term
To recognise numbers on a clock face and read time at 0 clock
To explore objects in relation to size and shape using sand and water
To recognise Ginn symbols – set three
To line up in the classroom ready to wait to go out of the new door in an orderly fashion
To print out a picture from the internet using the print command
(This is for an able child)

[mamadadawahwah]

Peachy girl, you are depressing me!
You are kidding though right?

[PanicPants]

In our school the teachers write the IEPs and then meet with parents and the child to discuss all the objectives, how to achieve them, what resources will be used, a target date and how we will know when they have been achieved.

We record parents thoughts and feelings, and the childs. Then we all sign it.

I've never had a parent disagree with anything I've written on an IEP but if they did, then that meeting is the time to do it.

Then IEPs are photocopied and sent home.

[cece]

In my school the parents are invited but rarely turn up, so how nice to have a parent so concerned for their child's education

[Blandmum]

The only reason a draft is used is, as Cristie says, to save on some time. Our SENCO is quite flexable. Please don't think that the IEP will be set in stone, because that is not my experience at all. We take things from a previous IEP, we also get feedback from members of staff who migh have seen trigger points etc.

So in a recent review I attended we had worked in some positive behaviour management issue for one child before we saw the parents. Parents were delighted and we could work on the next target.

[cece]

In my mainstream school the ed psych turns up for the annual review but not for the reviews inbetween. This is for staemented children only which I assume your child is. Fo school action and school action plus children it tends to be just classteacher, SENCO and parent (if they come)

[Blandmum]

we also get patents who do not attend Cece. when that happens the school writes the IEP (with imput from external sources if appropriate)

[cece]

Agree that targets quite often drafted out beforehand but this is a draft for discussion - not set in stone. It is to save time but often they are building on past targets so are often similar to old targets.

[cece]

sad isn't it MB? Everyone sat waiting and then a oh well we might as well get started!....

[Blandmum]

and sometimes targets will stay the same if they have not been met.

We run the identical process for all our students in review day...ieps are reviewd the same time. Parents child and school agree on the targets and all sign.

[cece]

sanp we do the same but very impressed that you have a day to review them all - must be secondary! we have to stagger them or we would be inundated!

[Blandmum]

we are a secondary, and we close the school for teaching that day. Every child and parent/s gets a 20 interview and review of progress. Very helpful for all parties. We have been running it for a few years and the only criticism we have had is that we didn't start it soon enough

[Blandmum]

we are a secondary, and we close the school for teaching that day. Every child and parent/s gets a 20 interview and review of progress. Very helpful for all parties. We have been running it for a few years and the only criticism we have had is that we didn't start it soon enough

[mamadadawahwah]

Pardon my naivete, but i find it hard to believe that parents, particularly of sn kids, dont take a full and active interest in the IEP. I cannot imagine not wanting to know every detail. I know that my boy is only the "schools" charge till he is 18, and then he is on his own. He HAS to get all he can from school. I hope that parents who dont take an active interest, i.e. not turning up to meetings, etc, is the minority.

[mamadadawahwah]

I already have my son's IEP written up for his nursery. Its 12 pages long. How long is a normal IEP, or does it depend on the child?

[Blandmum]

Oh I wish, I wish what you say was 100% true. Because without the support and backing of the parents what we can do in school is pissing in the wind . Sadly some parents do give a flying..... Sometimes they do care but are wildly dysfunctional/drug dependent/alcoholic and can't get their act together. Sometimes this is part of the reason the child needs an IEP

In our school they are in the minority, not sure what happens in all schools , obviously.

[Blandmum]

as for length...it depends on the child and the degree of complexity of the SEN.

Although the documentation is far longer the actual IEP that the classroom teachers use is one page long. Since it has to be a working document, longer thanthat wouldn't be practical. In one class of 18 that I teach I have 10 IEPs for example.

[Blandmum]

sorry that should have read, sadly some parents dont give a flying

[mamadadawahwah]

Its a pity, because lack of solidarity, particularly lack of solidarity between parents of SN kids is so damaging. If things are going to change, at least where i live, where it is quite dire for SN kids, then parents have to speak up, get interested and give a sh*t. Otherwise the rest of us are left holding the bag for all SN kids.

I despair at what you say about parents not attending meetings, etc. But i suppose i am not surprised. Some of us still have this belief that the "school", just like our "doctors" will take care of everything. It just isnt so. I sure intend to be a squeaky wheel, in light of such limited finances out there, you have to be.

[mamadadawahwah]

still going to push for my 12 page IEP too!

[Blandmum]

It is just that a teacher cannot , in a single lesson, work from 10x12 pages of IEP.

I have read the kids files, so I know the background stuff, but the whole point of an IEP is that it is referred to, on a lesson by lesson basis. For the teacher it has to be a working document.

I simply couldn't work from 10x 12 pages of IEP in a simgle lesson, it is totaly impossible.

The children thumbnail is present, targets, parental support and teacher stragies are all listed. This makes it practical, I also have a section where I can list stratagies I have used.

If I was working from 120 pages of IP, I couldn't teach a lesson.

It doesn't mean that this information isn't held on a child.

But for an IEP to best help a child porgress, it has to be something that a teacher can use on a day to day basis.