my son has been given an IEP and although i know 'why' i do not know what it means for him?????

[NotanOtter]

Not sure if this should be in special needs or not

Can anyone help?

DS is 12 and we had sought 'help' with him because of a few ishoos we were having with him at home and socially

He displays some aspergers tendancies but only majorly (if there is such a word) in one area of the aspergers triad.....

so the team are writing to his school with an iep...no idea what this means...is he on the special needs register?
What will school do with it?

feel a bit dim for not asking - i did ask lots of stuff but overlooked iep

thanks

[Hassled]

Yes, it means he will be on a SN register. I think at secondary school the value of an IEP is questionable, because there are so many teachers, but it will set targets (ideally your DS should help set the targets himself) and then it will be reviewed, at the minimum termly, to see if he's meeting the targets. The targets could be something to do with the social issues, or academic - anything really.

THe main use of an IEP though is that it provides a paper trail. If, a year down the line you feel he needs more help or that not enough is being done, then the IEPs are your evidence. You can say - Target A was set Sept 09 but by Feb 10 he was still miles off and where was the support? What other strategies could be used?

[Crocky]

My ds has had an IEP since reception but he is not on any special needs register.
It is an individual education plan. It is a statement of either areas of difficulty for a child that is struggling or can also be used, i believe, as a statement of intent to stretch a more able child.
My ds has some problems with social interaction and communication as well as some learning difficulties and each term plans are put into place to help try to overcome these.

[NotanOtter]

thankyou both

He is at secondary school and academically very able..
the psychiatrist simply said that if there are issues at school with behaviour for example then the iep will almost 'excuse' it...

[piscesmoon]

They will have to tell you what is on it and you will have to sign it, it will then have regular reviews. It is a good thing because it will address issues personal to him. My DS2 had one at secondary level. He was dyslexic and it got him extra English lessons and some help in some lessons. He did a lot of tests and got extra time in exams.
They can't do anything without discussion with you. If you don't hear from them I would give the Head of year, or form tutor a ring and ask what is proposed and what will happen.

[Crocky]

Well the IEP should clearly state what the issues are and the plans that the school are putting into place to try and overcome these issues.
It should be a positive thing and should be reviewed termly.

[piscesmoon]

It will at least make teachers aware. Once my DS had his it stopped the French teacher expecting him to learn a list of spellings in French.

[southeastastra]

sen register not sn register though

pisces when did was your son taken off the iep?

[NotanOtter]

yes pisces I am really pleased about that in itself
all through primary i questionned things and they got shrugged off and indeed at his secondary school when the nhs contacted them they seemed astonished that there were issues even though ds dad and i had mooted them with school...

now they are sending the iep they may sit up and take note if nothing else

as ds issues are mainly 'social' i am wondering what a school can do ...but feel its a step in the right direction

[harrisonnnn]

An IEP is an Individual Education Plan. More children than you think have them, even ones without special needs.

Ask the school if you can see it. Work with them on the targets that the IEP will set for your DS. Talk to your school SENCO too, ime they are very helpful and more than happy to include a parent in what they are doing if they think the parent is interested.

Hassled explains it well.

[NotanOtter]

the schools ofsted (?) quotes o% on sn register

they really struggled when camhs sent them a questionnare and had no idea who should deal with it

not very au fait with these things methinks

[Hassled]

I think IEPs can tackle social issues quite effectively. When one of my DSs was much younger, one of his IEP targets was to "be able to lose at a game without getting cross" . And when he'd reached the target, everyone made a huge fuss and he was delighted with himself. So they can be tweaked to be as individual as you like.

[piscesmoon]

I'm not too sure, souteastastra. The best thing that it did for him was get him extra time in the GCSE exams. He really needed it because whereas most people read the question once or twice he had to read it 3 or 4 times. The extra help really paid off, he got all his GCSEs at grade C or B, only French was below-I don't think that he would have managed it without the IEP-it stopped him falling through the net.

[piscesmoon]

My DSs primary school was very good on social issues, I know that some had help with anger management and it seemed to work.

[NotanOtter]

piscesmum ans hassled thankyou for those comments - but very relevant to ds issues

i am really hopeful this may be the way forward

[NotanOtter]

sorry piscesmoon

[mumeeee]

If a child has an IEP then they are on the special needs register, The school should write and tell you that he's on the register and they should alsoshow and discuss his IEP with you.

[NotanOtter]

thanks mumeee

[primarymum]

My son has an IEP at secondary school for anger management issues, he has targets such as "I must count to ten before reacting" He also attends ( indeed he now leads!) anger management sessions for other boys in the school with similar problems. However his IEP does not mean that he escapes punishment when he is in trouble, he has been excluded more times than I can count But it does mean special attention is paid to his difficulties, he can leave classes if he is getting "stressed", has access to a quiet room if he needs to calm down, doesn't have to sit next to boys who wind him up etc. An IEP should automatically mean you are on the SEN register, this is not just for children who struggle academically!

[NotanOtter]

thankyou primary mum

ds does have anger management issues as well as self control issues. Needs to learn empathy and socially appropriate behaviours.

the psychiatrist who has been assessing him commented that from what she knows of his school there are likely to be a large number of boys with AS tendancies - so much so that ds would not 'stand out' as having issues

i hope the iep may make them at least sit up and take note

[Salsavita]

Notan - my Yr5 son has an IEP. He has had it since I think Yr2. I go in and see the teacher every quarter and go through the current IEP and see if he has made progress, see what else can be done to help him, set new targets etc. We work together with the school.

He goes out of class each day for a ybit to work one to one.

DS is a very very bright boy, but unable to concentrate for long periods and is always fiddling with things.

[primarymum]

Notanotter, your son sounds very similar to mine! He has BESD and "Asperger type" difficulties -although we've been unable to get an official AS diagnosis as he is too high functioning! I am amazed at the number of boys at his school who seem to have similar difficulties ( he is a bright boy in the top stream in a local grammar school) Are there any support strategies currently in place? As mentioned, my ds has some "concessions" in place which have been agreed with the school SENCO, who is very sympathetic, it's the Head who keeps excluding him! His IEP doesn't seem to change from year to year and I just receive a copy in the post. Not really good enough, but his school seem to be re-active rather than pro-active!

[NotanOtter]

primary mum -yes - allegedly some of the professionals on the panel were'impressed' with his language skils to the degree that he outperformed the expectations of 'normal' let alone an aspergers boy....

don't know whether to be pleased or not at the non diagnosis...

re the iep i am hoping i can slightly 'edit' it and add things that dp and i see to be particularly pertinent to ds behaviour ...

i am almost hoping basically that school will try to teach ds how to behave as he seems unable to learn from social cues!!!

[Salsavita]

Notan - what happened when he was in primary? Did he struggle?

[NotanOtter]

no he was fine salsavita...

he was big fish in small pond although he has always seemed 'different' to us...