IEP targets for social, emotional, communication & life skills. Any advice please?

[sazale]

Hi
I've got an IEP review tomorrow for my DD who is in year 8. This will be her second term on school action plus and it's been a steep learning curve for me so I've been preparing for this and want to have a productive meeting. CAMHS are also going to be there.

Most of her struggles are non academic so I think the IEP needs to concentrate mainly on this. Her last IEP stated she would have a 1to 1 hour long session each week to concentrate on social skills of which she has been working on emotions. Her target was to be able to identify emotions from looking at pictures which my daughter now tells me she can do. The 2nd target was for DD to be able to rate her feelings on a scale of 1 to 10 on a particular day (not sure how they were gonna measure that since when asked if ok at school she automatically replies yes even if not). I'm guessing she won't have passed that anyway as have been several incidences of her telling key worker she was fine and then meltdowns at home/school refusing due to issues at school. Her last target was to attend all sessions unprompted. I'm guessing she'll have passed that as she loves 1 to 1!

Her sessions have been upped to twice a week now so I'm guessing school felt she needed more input. She has, from today, been removed from all lessons where she doesn't have support in class and will be taught in the inclusion unit temporarily until her anxiety levels reduce as she has had a rough start to the new school year. I personally don't think she's able to cope socially, emotionally and be organised enough unsupported.

I know all children are different but wondered if any of you chaps had any experience of an effective IEP for non academic issues? She really needs support in independence and organisation but for us as a family, independent travel as she is total reliant on us to take her anywhere. She has difficulty crossing roads and it's not road safety training she needs as she used to be the road safety officer in primary school!

This probably doesn't make much sense and if you've read this far thank you so much and if you understand the ramblings of a mad woman then you deserve a drink

Thanks guys

Hi sazale,

I think the learning curve you are on is going to get steeper.

IEPs are all very well but on here they're also known as "Individual Empty Promise". Also such things tend to be a paper exercise and are certainly not legally binding. School Action Plus is not legally binding either and support offered on it can be limited in scope.

It sounds like her additional needs to date are simply not being met by school hence all the meltdowns at home.

Have the school previously talked about applying for a Statement for your DD?. If not I would ask them why that is. Does she have a diagnosis; has she seen a developmental paed to date?.

Did you know that you could actually apply for a statement yourself; statements can also be used to address social/communication difficulties as well as academic ones.

You sazale are her best - and only - advocate here. You are truly best placed to fight her corner for her and this is also because no-one else will do so.

These are what we want ds' targets to be.

1 DS to consistently sit on the carpet the right way round without being prompted

2 DD to keep his hands to himself for 3 consecutive whole carpet sessions

3 DS to say ?Hello X? 5 times a session, initiating and using their name.
4 To recount two activities he did at tome for news time (weekly).
5 To successfully wait 3 minutes for his preferred bike, each session that the bikes are available.

6 To use words, unprompted, to ask peers to move out of his way 3 times each session.

7 To participate in simple role play with partial prompting 2 times per session.

8 To sustain play/interaction with a peer for 3mins with minimum adult intervention, 4 times a week.

9 To answer ?How do you feel?? for both positive and negative emotions 3 out of 5 opportunities per day.

10 To ask a peer to play a familiar game twice per session 3 times a week.

These don't just happen. For each of the targets record whether it was a full prompt, a partial prompt or occurred independently.

Hope that gives you some ideas. The key to these targets is that they aren't just set and recorded at the end of term whether or not they happened, they are actively taught and prompted EVERY SINGLE day, and data taken EVERY SINGLE day on whether he acheived them and how much prompting was required.

Oops, see you dd is in year 8, not aged 8.

ANyway, you get the idea of how you can word them.

Thanks for the replies!

She only got put on school action plus in March after a heart breaking parents evening where 1 particular teacher referred to her as an attention seeker and when she sits pulling her hair and eating paper she ignores her and tells the other pupils to ignore her! Her English teacher had been accomodating her struggles and had asked for us to be notified but no one did. Other teachers had some difficulties, mainly around group work. I wrote to the SENCO and got a meeting immediately and she then put her on school action plus.

We don't have a diagnosis as yet and are on the waiting list for an ADOS. She saw. Paed earlier this month who said he doesn't have anything to do with "that" side of things he will be treating her for her weak bladder! He did take bloods to rule out prader willi as she has some markers although he thinks unlikely.

No ones mentioned a statement but over the summer I've been reading all I can and I'm considering applying. I've managed to speak to the Ed Psych recently who is going to go into school to discuss her with them.
My gut tells me she's not able to deal with school as emotionally and socially she functions lower than my 4 year old when she's at home. I then wonder if it's me that makes her that way and if I'm not there does she manage better? She is so reliant on me for everything and doesn't like leaving me, to be honest. For me it feels like I'm sending my 4 year old to comprehensive and there's no way I could do that! CAMHS said she needs smaller school but is too academic for special school.

She currently has 8 hours of support a week as well as a laptop for English. She leaves class 5 mins early to avoid the busy corridors. She spends her free time in the library and after school as she finds the noise and hustle and bustle too much. Although since last week accesses a lunch time and break club in the inclusion unit as she wasn't eating at school (big deal for her as is obsessed with food)!

They have an autism worker as well as the SENCO and support staff. It is a school of 1300 pupils and they are really trying to accommodate her.

I try to find out what it is that stresses her but she doesn't like talking about it. I think it's multiple issues including changing classes, different teachers and different pupils.

sazale

If these problems still exist in year 8 then they are part of some form of disability which will require life long support. So part of the learning curve is for your family to begin to live with these issues and provide the support your DD requires both at home and at School, and later in the work environment.

So the school need to understand the full time levels of support your DD will always need so that she will be able to make the best academic progress possible. Living with an invisible disability is not easy, for those who have it, or those who live with them. But it is possible with the understanding and support from others.

dolfrog, what you say is what I've come to realise over the past 13 months we've been going through the diagnosis process but for some reason I tell myself that it is me that exaggerates her difficulties even though I know I don't! As demands on her increase her difficulties become more and more apparent. She is becoming socially isolated I do fear what the future holds for her. I also have 2 other children who appear to be NT and I haven't done anything different so I try to remind myself that if it was my parenting they'd have similar difficulties. Is it common for parents to go into denial?

I'm unsure what the solution is for school and I think that I probably need to apply for assessment rather than waiting to see what happens. I was going to wait till the Ed Psych saw her but I think I may pay for a private one as I would really like her IQ and functional IQ testing. I just wish there was more support rather than having to search for answers and figure it out myself. I don't know what I'd do without the support on here!

i wrote you such a long post and it got lost grr.. so briefly! here what I was trying to say..
Whether or not your dd is Asd if she's having social, communication problems and obsessive types of behaviours then she would benefit from some autism resources!
my dd is 14yrs and asd, mod/severe
Have you been on National Autistic society website? They held a conference in the summer discussing girls on the spectrum and how they present differently from boys. Also how the diagnostic criteria is more appropriate for boys than girls, meaning that many girls get 'missed' in the current assessment process. www.autism.org.uk/News-and-events/NAS-conferences/Our-previous-conferences/Women-and-Girls-on-the-Autism-Spectrum-2011/About-the-event.aspx I found it really interesting!
Also they run a program called Social Eyes, developing social skills in higher functioning (eg more able) asd. www.autism.org.uk/en-gb/our-services/services-for-professionals/socialeyes.aspx Havent used it but looks worth a look..
Not much help with your IEP targets I know, but would have to know your dd to know whats appropriate for her. BUT do make sure they're SMART! Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Good taechers make sure they are, but many others are not worth the paper they're written on (and then shoved in a drawer for rest of term..) And dont be afraid to keep in constant contact with school staff, email, home school diary, phone, half termly meetings etc- you can make a difference!x

It's sounds like the school are trying but as your daughter is still very anxious when she gets home then what they are trying is not working. Time to apply for that statement I think?

Thanks chaps for all your advice! The meeting went really well and I didn't need to request a thing!!! They're now thinking same as me and are going to discuss applying for a statutory assessment for her at our next meeting in a weeks time. They're also going to try incorporating breaks in the day for her to destress and have access to hug balls, weighted blankets etc. Going to incorporate destressing time at the end of the day as well so she's not saving it all up for when she gets home and have offered me and DP a weekly session for just us to support us!! She also has 8 hours of in class support as well as 2 x 1 hour social skills sessions!! They are trying so hard but are realising that she prob needs more than they can accommodate without a statement. they also said they have 2 newly qualified OT's in school who are providing free services as part of their training so are going to request their input!! I feel relieved and happy that they are trying so hard I just hope it works!!