At last, SA+ and IEPs

[rebl]

Its taken years and a change in school and ToD but today I asked the HT at my ds's school if they would consider putting him on SA+ and start formal IEPs for the 100th time of asking. I was met with no resistance what so ever . We have a CAF review meeting next week and it was agreed that the 1st targets would be set at the meeting with the input from all his professionals there.

Now I've got this far, what am I looking at for a good IEP? What should be on it? How many targets should there be? How hard should these targets be (should they be things he's already working towards or things that are the next step from where he is?)? How often should I expect the IEP to be reviewed? Should I expect to always be involved in setting the IEP?

targets are the things your ds struggles with, when i have done iep's they have about 5 targets, some schools will do iep's every 6 months some every year it depends if he reaches the targets in 6 months (iep should be reviewed yearly) if he reaches his targets in 6months you don't want him to keep on these targets for a year iyswim

Have you applied for a statement rebl? A good iep will have smart targets, Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant and Time bound, good practice is to review an iep each term so you'd be looking for what he can achieve during that time. As a start what he is working towards now will probably be what is on there just, set out in a way by where you can see what he will learn, how this will be achieved ie what materials/programs/games and support is required, monitored and by when.

Dd3 generally had about 4 targets in her old school, haven't seen one for new school as she's not been there long enough but they included alsorts, not just academic stuff. You should be fully involved with setting targets each time although I've always found myself presented with a prewritten one and then asked if I'm happy/want to change anything which to be fair they always did.

having a good iep isn't everything though, hence why it's often refered to on here as an individual empty promise! It's important that school is supporting him as it's entirely possible to have a rubbish iep but sill get fantastic support and vice versa. Have a read of the sen cop, that can help explain a lot.

Thank you Ninja. No we've not applied for a statement yet because we've been trying to get written evidence which without SA+ and IEP's its hard, although we do have a school / home communication book with a lot of evidence. We're getting there slowly. We're trying very hard not to antagonise the school and so are currently playing the slowly slowly game but working very hard with professionals and hoping that very soon one of them will ask school to apply for a statement (looks like that will be forth coming soon from OT). Currently at the moment we feel that school are supporting as best they can with the information they have so far from professionals. The problem is that not all advise and reports are in. I think that the OT report is going to be a tipping factor though and that is due to be delivered at the next caf review next week. The OT has already said to me that she will be speaking with the school about resources and how her recommendations can be delivered in school and where the extra funding is coming from.

that sounds really positive rebl, will keep fingers crossed for you. We've played the waiting game before, the wheels seem to move so slowly!