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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

My daughter is on an IEP, what exactly is this, and how will it help?

24 replies

mummyloveslucy · 10/10/2010 15:17

Hi, my daughter is in year 1 and has some SEN's. At parents evening her teacher mentioned that she's either on, or will be on an IEP. I know it stands for indevidual education plan, but how will that work and how will it benefit my daughter?

Will she still learn the same as the other children in the class, or will she be set different work? I don't want her to feel as if she's different and not capable of keeping up with the others. (Although this is the case)

Her teacher is fantastic and I do trust her to do the best for my daughter, I'd just like to know more about this IEP.

OP posts:

OnionBhaji · 10/10/2010 15:20

It will have targets on it for her and you to work on.

Maybe counting to 10 or working on initial sounds.

No one else will know about it and she will learn the same as the others in her class.

TeamEdward · 10/10/2010 15:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

mummyloveslucy · 10/10/2010 15:23

So it won't effect what she learns in class? I thought it ment she'd be set different work.

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CarGirl · 10/10/2010 15:23

I thought they were great.

Very specific measurable targets are set with a timescale written down, meet once a term to review them and agree them.

Was helpful because we could both agree to work on the same thing.

Original poster

mummyloveslucy · 10/10/2010 15:25

Yes, it sounds good. That way I'll be more involved in her education and know if she's meeting her targets.

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RatherBeOnThePiste · 10/10/2010 15:26

An IEP needs to be shared with parents, so you should have had a meeting to discuss exactly what specific targets or information is in it.

It should have been agreed and signed by you before being put in place with your child!

pagwatch · 10/10/2010 15:27

an IEP is not a bad thing
It means that those most closely involved with your child agree specific targets and try and find ways to wotk wityh the childs sen to help them achieve

For example of one of my sons meetings last year we realsied thathe was unable to ask for help if he eeded it. So we discussed ways to help him realise that he could ask adults and teachers for help if he didn't understand the work ( he would otherwise just sit there until someone noticed).
we all discussed ways to help him with this and came up with a stragtegy that worked at school that I could also support at home.
We all are aware of his difficulties re language etc so this included visual prompts and reminders on his schedule.

We meet once a year at the least. DS2 didn't know about it but now he is older he is invited to attend if he wishes.

But your DD , and her peers , need not have any idea at all.

It is a very good thing

Original poster

mummyloveslucy · 10/10/2010 15:28

We have had a meeting recently with the educational psychologyst and he's written a report and list of measures to help her.

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Original poster

mummyloveslucy · 10/10/2010 15:32

I'm glad that the other chil;dren won't know about it. I know what children can be like to each other.

It does sound very positive.

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Faaamily · 10/10/2010 15:34

IEps are as good as the people involved.

A good IEP will set out specific, measurable targets for your child, and the school staff - in collaboration with you - will review and update these (usually termly, but can be more or less often).

What are your child's SEN, if you don't mind me asking? And is she on School Action/SA+, do you know?

CarGirl · 10/10/2010 15:35

Have you kept her at indi or moved her to state?

Original poster

mummyloveslucy · 10/10/2010 15:39

She has speech problems and a developmental delay of about two years.
Her test results are always very sipky and I don't think they are sure of a diognosis yet. The EP said that it's safe to say she has some degree of moderate learning difficulties.

I think she might have an auditory processing disorder and the EP agreed that this could be a possibility and would explain a lot but they can't test for that until she's at least 7.

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Original poster

mummyloveslucy · 10/10/2010 15:42

She hasn't changed schools, and is making very good progress. She seems to love year 1 and the change in her attitude is fantastic. She really wants to please her teacher and has turned into a bit of an Hermionie Granger.

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cat64 · 10/10/2010 15:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

CarGirl · 10/10/2010 15:48

dd4 had treatment for ADP it improved her hearing and therefore speech loads - she came off her IEP at the end of reception, when she started the teacher couldn't understand her!

She had ADP treatment at 3.5 although it was all paid for privately, worth every penny.

Info here www.johansenias.com/

They did a hearing test, we did 6 weeks of listening to the cds, tested again, the improvement was massive! We then carried on for a further 6 months and she now has pretty much "perfect" hearing - it was all ADP related.

Original poster

mummyloveslucy · 10/10/2010 17:44

That is interesting, as everything I've read on APD has said that they need to be at least 7 to test for it.
She's been for a standard hearing test and it's always o.k, but that dosn't test for APD. It would make sence of so many things.

I'll have a look at the link now.

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CarGirl · 10/10/2010 18:35

Dd passed two NHS hearing tests but she her hearing "curve" was flat, she was too sensitive to low frequencies and not sensitive enough to high frequencies.

I suppose I'd take the approach of what is there to loose by trying it out?

Original poster

mummyloveslucy · 10/10/2010 18:36

How much does it cost CarGirl? There isn't a provider neer us either, we'd have to travel quite a distance for it. How often would we need to see the specialist?

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CarGirl · 10/10/2010 18:40

It was £120 per session we probably had 5 lots of treatments - went every 6-8 weeks, you could probably stretch it 8-10 weeks perhaps.

That may not be a comprehensive list of practioners though - perhaps worth googling in your area too?

Original poster

mummyloveslucy · 10/10/2010 18:45

It's definatly worth thinking about. Thanks.

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LIZS · 10/10/2010 18:45

Agree with below, re. targets, review and defined strategies to help her achieve them. It might mean she is expected to write less than others, so work could be differentiated, or is given visual prompts to keep her on task for example.

emptyshell · 11/10/2010 12:00

Basically, laid out in a variety of ways, it's a sheet of paper which you all get to work together on:

What we want her to be able to do next - how we're going to help her do there - what the school/home are going to put in place to help her do this and when we want it done by. That's basically it in laymans terms... where we want her to get to next and how we're going to make sure she gets there.

Anything the school's doing specifically for her should be on there - so if she's getting TA time on a specific programme or whatever.

By the review date you might find some targets haven't been met and carry on, and some need changing - so you gradually crank the bar up on what she's able to do basically! Sometimes the targets can be done quite discreetly - we had one child who struggled with verbal instructions and one of the things suggested from the County bods was to set her a target of relaying messages - so, she got sent on an awful lot of errands to other classes with first one part, then two part and so on messages to relay (she absolutely loved this job anyway) - they don't always have to be formal "academic" type targets.

They're really not a massive thing - but they do lay a trail of accountability in that - this is what we're saying we're going to be doing and putting in place and it'll be reviewed at this date.

Kids rarely know about it - there'll be an assortment of kids going in and out of the room for different things over the course of a school day - and not just "work" but things like musical instruments and what-not.

sweetie66 · 11/10/2010 13:42

My DD has been on an IEP since reception and is still on it in year 2.

I had no idea what one was when we were first called in by the teacher to discuss her learning. DD was a prem baby with some development delay and on going health issues. Also recently discovered she had glue ear in both ears so had problems with phonetics. Teacher told us about the IEP programme she was going to be on.

About once a term we have a meeting with the teacher and he goes over what they aim to do with her during that term. He shows a box chart which has different sections in it and lists where she needs the additional help.

He tells what the national "average" is and where she is currently sitting. He then shows us where he is aiming for her to reach.

During reception and year 1 she had a "5 minute box" session with the teacher every day. This was when she was sat with the teacher one on one to work on an area from her IEP. Was done at time when the other children were all doing individual things so she wasn't singled out. We were given some things to do at home with her to work along side the teacher.

Now in year 2 she still needs the IEP but is now working more indipendantly with the teacher watching her rather than telling her. The aim is she will be off the IEP by the end of year 2.

If I am honest I was unhappy when I first heard about it as I felt my DD would be singled out by her peers as having to have special help in class. The teacher was adamant that it was done in such a way that the class would not know. Also I felt we had failed her as I was never one to do lots of learning with her at home and I thought this was the result. I can only praise the teachers we have dealt with who put my mind at rest and stopped me being so completely PFB!!! I can see now what a positive thing this is and I am happy for it to continue while she needs it.

Original poster

mummyloveslucy · 11/10/2010 19:22

Thank you everyone for explaining it too me. It does sound really positive and should help her a lot.

Her teacher was really pleased with her today, she did some maths independantly and won a marble for the class pot. (When the pot is full of marbles, the class has a treat).

She then left her coat upstairs at home time, so the teacher asked her to go and get it. I heared her chatting at the top of the stairs, then she came down again empty handed. The teacher said "Where is it?" and she said "where's what?" so still a long way to go but I'm sure she'll get there.

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