IEP'S Tribunal Help ......

[nickminiink]

Hi,

Hoping someone who is an expert or has good knowledge concerning IEP's can help me. I am gathering evidence for our tribunal in June for refusing a statement for my 11 yr old son. There main reason is he is not far enough behind in all subjects and the current provision under SA+ is enough blah blah. Anyway I am trying to prove he has made little if any progress this via his end of year assessment levels but also his IEPS, which only over the last year and half we have been receiving feedback from his school (funny ever since we started on the statement route). So up to this point we were never informed of my son's progress, we have never never been involved in the process of drawing up his IEP, which are issued termly. The only feeback we are getting back now is 2 or 3 words against each target for example :
Against Success critieria it says : Use high frequency words with correct spelling in own independent writing : Teacher comment : Tick with Much better.
Another one : To be able to use methods accurately on 5 occasions : Teacher comment : Tick 24/5/11 (no comment just a date)
Another one : To be able to use correct strategy to solve a problem on 5 occasions : Teacher Comment : Continue.

What should be expect from his IEP's in terms of reporting back on his progress, is the above the norm or should it follow a more detailed response. The above comments really do not tell us his parents how much progress he really has made. All the other comments follow suit just like this, so can anyone advise what we should have been advised or like I said is this the norm and proabably will not help my tribunal case.

I feel I have failed my son by not being more involved in his IEPS but I wasn't aware we could have been part of drawing them up and our comments incorporated before issuing it as a final draft. I just trusted the professionals involved under SA+.

Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks
Nick

IEPs should be SMART and have a target that is either achieved or not achieved.

www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/education/primary-and-secondary-school/extra-help-for-your-child-in-school/extra-help-in-school-england-and-wales/individual-education-plans-england-wales.aspx

This explains it better than me

nick, I can assure you that if you were fully informed and desperate to contribute, it does not automatically follow that you will be listened to or that the IEPs would be any better.

Please don't beat yourself up about that.

Those targets are not SMART. What problems? What high frequency words? If they HF words are better, what were they when the IEP was drawn up and what are they now, and which ones has he learned and how do they know that he knows them? What methods did he have to use accuarately?

These are all questions, not to ask right now, but to ask in front of a tribunal or at least close to the tribunal date.

hth

Thanks wasuup3000 for your quick reply, like I said I am no expert so parndon my ignorance what is SMART and does the comments made by the teacher above follow SMART ?
I will of course look at the link provided, hoping for someone to explain in laymans terms and have experience in this area who can advise simply to me.

Thanks again.

Have you asked the school for details of any in school assessments he has done? All children will be monitored throughout their school life and records made of their level of acheivement. This should be on his school records and you are entitled to see these and copy them (though you may need to pay a fee for the copying) if you make a request to the school. Perhaps this may give you a better insight into the levels you are seeking?

With regard to the IEPs - I think you should take the information you have and make a clear point about how inadequate they are and how the school is failing your child in setting and carrying out these tasks in the IEP and use it as evidence that unless a statement is issued the systematic failure is going to continue. It sounds like you really need to emphasize how the school is sticking it's head in the sand and brushing over the problems he faces.

Have you spoken to IPSEA? If not they are very helpful - we are in the same situation appealing a NIL, tribunal date set for July. Wishing you luck!

Thanks starlightDicKenzie, SMART has never been mentioned or used by the SEN head teacher in any conversation we have had. Does it state anywhere in SEN COP this has to be followed that I could quote verbatim. Can you give me an idea or an example how an IEP should be reviewed correctly and progress monitored. This is going to be a big part of my failure to prgress/monitor arguement at the tribunal and want to go armed with a working example etc.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks very much
Nick

beautifulgirls, thnak you for your reply, it seems we are in exactly the same situation, good luck to you as well.
I have his end of year assessment levels to date which show little progress in reading and writing so I am using this also as evidence of failure to progress. It's the whole IEP that I am struggling to understand, I have never really got involved just trusted the proferssionals involved to get it right, but when I look into them in more depth (as per my examples), I realise how bad they are but I just want to make sure I have my facts right so I can challenge them at the tribunal without being bombarded back with questions from the Ed Phys and SEN head who are the LEA's witness's.
What is SMART, how can I prove they have not followed this, is there any SEN COP I can quote etc.

Thanks again
Nick

Yes, it's in the SEN COP.

A SMART target will be specific, measurable, acheivable, realistic and time-based.

So

Target: 'x will demonstrate ability to read with 90% accuracy, 20 high frequency words by Jan 2012.'

Provision: 'x will receive 10mins daily of dedicated TA support to practice reading of high frequency words. The TA will record accuracy of the selected 20 words each day and support additional practice of those words that are presenting difficulty'.

The most important word in SMART is 'measurable'.

Thanks StarlightDicKenzie, I shall read through the SEN COP this evening.

Thanks very much

Hi Nick,
don't beat yourself up about it. I also wasn't involved or aware of my dd's IEP's for 5 years. I requested school records (or lack of) and was surprised how little was there. Do get in touch with IPSEA they are helping me with my tribunal in June. And they have found lots of negligence from my child's school. Keep in touch on mn and they will certainly hold your hand on your journey. You go through many emotional stages..shock, anger, upset and so on. But knowing the school is at fault is very worthwhile. Best Wishes xx

Hi Madprest,
Thanks for your reply, I try not to beat myself up but when you go down the tribunal route gathering information and evidence you realise how lapse you have been in not picking up on things at the time. I phoned IPSEA yesterday after trying to get hold of them for a week, he was very helpful and gave some good advice. What route did you go down in requesting school records, did you forward these to IPSEA to review, what kind of negligence have you found. It's hard finding evidence to support my case, don't think I am going to win based on gut feelings.
Thanks
Nick

Nick,
You are going through and feeling exactly what i was. I wrote to the chair of govenors to request records as months previously I requested through school and headteacher was there and no records was present. You do need them (IPSEA advised to get them) because if things turn up (like it as with me) they are covering up their failings. I had not much evidence and I started with gut feeling and also took school's word as gospil (what a laugh). Negligence mainly with IEP's as in not reviewed as often have they should have been, not filled in correctly (evaluations left blank), identical targets for 2 yrs (6 IEP's), no input from us as showed on top of IEP as teacher only present. School records only had reports, IEP's and attendance. Discrepancies with results. Nothing on SEN as in assessments, observations and so on. You rely on school to tell you of any problems and that is what angers and upsets you. You will be very surprised when you start your process what evidence you gather. IPSEA have discovered where they have failed my daughter and I have just sent off the evidence to go on case file at tribunal. My childs school have tripped themselves up and I am now awaiting for response from LEA after my IPSEA volunteer drafted me up a letter pointing allsorts of contradictions. Mothers gut feeling is best and I myself wish I followed this many years ago. But what's done is done, fight now for the future and don't give up (even though I have thought it sometimes). But if I can't fight for my child she's no chance..it is my duty. Best of luck and follow and get help from IPSEA (they are brilliant and they know their stuff).Also many people on here are excellent with advice and are always there to help.

Madprest, thank you again. When I read what you write it's exactly how I feel and exactly what I am trying to prove, his IEP's are a joke, only got reviewed over a year ago when I started the SA route, which means nearly 4 years of no comments or input from us, still we do not get involved or asked. We gget his IEP with a letter saying please find enclosed xxx IEP, please feel to conact me if you have any questions etc. His last IEP ended Feb 2012, normally I would be chasing it up but now I am leaving it to see when eventually they will amend and re-issue, as the later they leave it the better it will help my case I guess.
So IPSEA can draft up letters for you, I am at the point of gathering evidence and then I am going to try and put it in some sort of order and a report, without giving too much away (if you know what I mean). Do you at this point show your hand telling them where you think they have failed with regards say IEP's versus SMART targets / progress / provision or leave all of that to the tribunal. My take was to provide all the reports / evidence send into SENDIST to include in my case file for evidence ready for the tribunal and leave explanations for the actual day. IPSEA never really gave me any advice in this area other than the angle to go in at.
I thought about giving up many times and to be honest I still do as I try to juggle a very demanding stressful job and try and prepare for a tribunal in 3 months time, but as you say it's our duty to fight for our children, it's a shame we live a country where we have to because of lack of funding and resource.
Thanks again
Nick

How can anyone feel bad for not knowing that professionals PAID to help their children are failing them?

Ticks don't tell you anything
Our IEPs usually say absent (can't do the skill) emerging (can do it independently sometimes) or mastered
Mastered is defined as doing the skill completely independently (no prompts) 80% of the time. They would sometimes put the actual % so if for eg he was at 70% by the time IEP was due to be renewed might put in 70% to show he had made progress but not mastered it

5 occasions tells you nothing - is it 5 out of 5 or 5 out of 50? They need to use % attempts that were successful

Five occasions indeed tells you nothing.Moreover, the concept of percentage correct is lacking to.
80% in what time? A day? A term? Five minutes?
Without a timer dimension it is limited in value.

Thanks everyone for your comments, it's clear my son's IEP are not worth the paper they are written on, let any SMART targets. Hoping this will help with my tribunal as clearly they do not have an understanding of my son's difficulties let alone know how to measure them for progress.

Thanks again
Nick

Nick, don't expect the tribunal to know what a SMART target is either. Make sure you are explicit in your explanation of what is wrong with them.