So what is the accepted way of saying to a teacher

[asdx2]

this IEP is tosh are you going to rewrite it or shall I?
Got dd's IEP yesterday,three targets, one suggested by dd that she can do anyway.One that feels to me that they put in because they were struggling for ideas and the only worthwhile one (because I suggested that we need to address her social use of language) is so broad you can drive a tank through it and there are no strategies and no outcomes
So this morning put on my nicest and respectfully and tactfully suggested that the IEP wasn't really up to scratch.
Had a message saying teacher wants to meet after school today (I can't because of ds's taxi) to discuss IEP seeing as I am so particular
So any ideas for how to address such issues without managing to offend because I really was on my best behaviour today and even managed not to when given it yesterday

What is wrong with you dd suggesting one? She should be involved with her own learning targets

What I wrote made no sense but you know what I mean (I hope)

Totally agree but it's one that she does effortlessly and reliably every time and has done for a year or more (which the teacher acknowledged) and I don't think she has the ability or the insight to come up with her own targets tbh

No, you are right, she should be involved but with guidence.

What is it that you don't like about the IEP? Is it that the targets are too easy/difficult? Do you feel she needs and IEP or has this come from the school

It was to tell the time o'clock, quarter past, half past and quarter to. But she reliably tells the time with all the minutes in between and converts decimal to analogue if she is asked.

Erm, what about something along the lines of, "We'd all agree that the IEP needs to be a useful document; I'd like to look at making it more specific so that it can be used to measure DD's progress"?

Maybe something about it including exactly what will be happening, so that you won't have to keep asking the teacher???

Don't let them make you feel bad about it, they're probably squirming a bit at having produced something so woolly.

I'd go for 3 targets with clear success criteria for each.

How old is you DD?

It sounds like the teacher isn't using the IEP correctly. They are surpose to be used when a child has certain areas of learning that they are struggling with. Your DD's teacher needs to identify exactly which areas of her learning need to be worked on so the IEP can be very specific

Dd has a statement so will have an IEP as a result.She needs an IEP not so much for academic targets because she is well above average anyway across the board but I'd like targets as I suggested to address her inability to ask for help and and to help her learn to alert her TA when she is finding something stressful instead of resorting to self harm. But putting dd will ask for help when needed and the strategy will chat to TA for five minutes daily doesn't cut it with me I'm afraid and then there were no outcome not surprising when there were no strategies I suppose but still.
I don't think I am particular, I have been waiting four weeks since the meeting to discuss and the IEP looks like it was thrown together without thought in a hurry.

There should be targets on there, and the IEP should be subject to regular planned review - is there a plan for this? (Used to be 3 times a year as policy, may be different now). Would be good to ask for the SENCO to be there too to introduce some objectivity, some teachers can feel attacked in situations like this.
How about 'this target has now been achieved, please could it be replaced with the next one?' Or something like that. And have some suggestions ready? I'm sure you've got loads

Ok so they shouldn't have struggled too much to come up with an IEP then - if the statement is reasonably recent, they should be prioritising the longer term objectives from the statement and breaking the most important/relevant ones down into shorter term specific targets. With clear success criteria. And a date for a review.....

Should they be like appraisals i.e. SMART
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Timescaled

So improve reading is useless. But
Specific - Get to level X or the ORT
Measurable - Only need help with 3 words in the book
Achievable - eg If cannot read at all this is a bit silly.
Realistic - usually a bit of a combination of achievable & timescale
Timescaled - By half-term / end of term

It sounds like a very ineffective strategy. I worked with a child who had problems approaching teaching staff and his peers. It was really simple to work on in class. I would engineer situations where he needed to approach his teacher or a friend and guided him through it verbally. We built it up gradually over a long period and the improvement was huge.

There were targets to tell the time (that she can do) learn her times tables (she's on par with the top group so not sure it's a target that needs setting) to be confident about discussing her problems and to ask for help when needed (she needs this one but it needs breaking down firstly because it's huge and because she doesn't recognise that the TA could help and doesn't recognise when she is struggling)

I was going to suggest "SMART" too, that's how we goal set with clients (I'm an OT). It you tell the teacher you'd like the targets to be in this kind of format then they have to much more specific etc than what you have now.
It's a pretty well know way of goal setting so the teacher should know what you're taking about!

Clearly school are not confident with writing targets that are not directly related to academic learning.

maryz - did you bother to read thread or just dive straight in with your comments?

Just a thought.....

Mrz have I offended you? Do you think I shouldn't question the IEP? If she has a statement isn't there a legal duty to fulfil the terms of the statemnet and provide an IEP suitable and appropriate to her needs?

asdx - please note it was maryz who contributed that hugely relevant and informed post, not mrz - similar names, but I know mrz posts on education matters a lot and definitely does seem to know what she's talking about!

sorry misread should look at the posters name more closely Sorry Mrz

asdx2, is this headteacher difficult in general?

The only reason I ask is that you are supposed to check the IEP and comment.

I did this when DS2 had one, as one or two of the goals they set were ridiculous -'increase eye contact' . I even corrected the spelling on it . And I never got the reaction you did (not to my face, anyway).

Good luck

Not spoke to the headteacher just the teacher and TA which has obviously gone down like a lead balloon. Didn't want to take it to the head because I hoped we could just thrash it out together without anyone taking offence. I'll make an appointment and try and sort it with the teacher but I can't be "summoned" (which is the message I got) tonight.
I think it's difficult for the teacher dd has her statement when she is quite unlike any child with a statement that the school have had before.I have a ds with autism too so have done my time to so speak and probably know more than the average parent with a statemented child.
I really try to stay on good terms, I bite my tongue sometimes because the stereotypical view of a statemented child with autism bears no relation to dd.Dd is happy and doing well academically I'd just like school to see and address her difficulties with strategies that have a chance of success.

Sorry, read the OP as receiving an e-mail from the headteacher.

I totally agree about approching the teacher in proactive way. Must admit that DS2's teacher was a bit defensive to my face and I had to grit my teeth to maintain a relationship. And it paid off - DS2 no longer on IEP, has no problem with eye-contact (was established that he was just very overwhelmed and shy) and I know I can go to the school if I have the smallest of concerns .

Those targets do sound ridiculous, I hope that you get something sorted out. As a teacher, I would always be very pleased to have greater input from parents on a child's IEP- after all you know your DD better than anyone. The teacher's message doesn't sound very well put, but hopefully she will be happy to hear (and act on) your ideas.

Is the teacher particularly new or lacking in confidence? I have to admit that I sometimes struggle to think of suitable targets (and almost never have parental input) but to put things that she is already confident in is incredibly lazy.