Information on IEP's

[flossy2013]

I am new along the road of IEP's and related stuff. My daughter is 9 and on the start of the process for a dx of Aspergers. I recently spoke to one of the staff at her school about a meeting to be held with SENCo and Lead Professional and daughter's IEP was mentioned. Thing is, I am of the opinion that an IEP should be discussed and agreed with the parents before it's made final, this teacher gave the impression my daughter already had one?
Also if there is one in place am I within my rights to ask to see it?

Thanks for any input on this.

You should already have the IEP in your possession and it should have discussed with you further before being drawn up.

An IEP or Individual Education Plan is a plan or programme designed for children with SEN to help them to get the most out of their education. An IEP builds on the curriculum that a child with learning difficulties or disabilities is following and sets out the strategies being used to meet that child’s specific needs.

An IEP is a teaching and learning plan and should set out targets and actions for the child that are different from or additional to those that are in place for the rest of the class.

The IEP is not a legal document, which means that the LEA does not have to produce a plan or make sure that a child receives any support that is outlined in the plan.

The purpose of an IEP is to inform the teacher and others working with the child of specific targets for the child and how these will be reached. The IEP allows schools and staff to plan for progression, monitor the effectiveness of teaching, monitor the provision for additional support needs within the school, collaborate with parents and other members of staff and help the child become more involved in their own learning and work towards specific targets.

An IEP should contain "targets", "provisions" and "outcomes". It should note 3 or 4 short-term targets set for or by the child, the teaching strategies to be used to achieve those targets, the provision that will be put in place, say when the plan is to be reviewed and identify outcomes which show the child’s progress against his/her previous targets.

The IEP as well should also be discussed with you as the parent during a meeting before it is drawn up. Targets need to be SMART:-

Specific, so that it is clear what the child should be working towards
Measurable, so that it is clear when the target has been achieved
Achievable, for the individual child
Relevant, to the child’s needs and circumstances
Time-bound, so that the targets are to be achieved by a specified time

How else are school supporting your DD?. Is she on anything like School Action Plus?.

I would also now consider applying for a Statement for your DD from the LEA as you also need to think longer term i.e secondary school. Unlike an IEP this is legally binding.

IPSEA's website may be of some help to you www.ipsea.org.uk

I have been told by my friend ( teacher) that parents should see the iep and sign it before any work is done on the iep. So your child can not have additional help without parental agreement. From what's said above I guess my friend is wrong? Some ieps are better than others. You need to have smart targets to gain evidence for that statement

Thank you for your very informative reply Atilla.
I may have got the wrong end of the stick and there is no IEP set up yet, of course I'll be asking this at the meeting next week.

There is no official support set up for her at the moment. In the last school year she went to a 'nurture group' in the afternoons to help her with the 'issues' she had at school. The staff that run this group were great and were a big support to both me and my daughter while we looked into what was causing the upsets at school. This term, so far, the nurture group isn't running, I'm hoping that once it's set up again she'll be able to go back.

As far as statementing goes, I don't know if she has enough 'problems' at school for this to be a consideration. I've read on here about the long, difficult, drawn out process involved and TBH it frightens me a little, I'm not a very assertive person (to say the least) and I don't know where to begin! Again, I'll probably bring this up at the meeting, as I DO have concerns over how she'll cope in senior school.

You are within your rights to request to see an IEP, in fact you should see it before it is used. A diagnosis is not required for an IEP, only the identification of needs.

My own dd is 8.5 and has a very Asperger-like profile although has no formal diagnosis (her private report says she is significantly affected across the triad but not severely enough for a diagnosis ). dd2 is prone to anxiety, sensory issues (particularly auditory) has a short attention span, difficulty planning and executing work and dealing with abstract concepts. Her interaction with her peers can be repetitive, awkward, transient and revolves around dd2 (read: she is at risk of bullying). Progress in literacy and numeracy is slow. Her writing is microscopic neat but dd has an obsession with not removing pencil from page until the word is complete. This leads to anxiety, tears and meltdown during spelling tests when she is trying to multitask. Her IEP contains the following types of intervention:

Pre-teaching of words for spelling tests
Visual plans to help break tasks down into manageable chunks. (start with 'write your name', now 'write the date' etc.)
Ear defenders when dd is particularly anxious about completing self-directed work (this is another trigger for anxiety regarding noise in the classroom)
Social Skills group once a week to address self esteem and skills in asking for help plus conversational skills
2 sessions per week 1:1 with a TA to work on planning and comprehension of literacy work in class.
Use of visual cards for requesting help in class ie raise sad face card in the air=I need help
home-school communication book to try and make up for the fact that dd2 tells me precisely nothing about school. Ever.

If your daughter has a similar profile you might consider suggesting these sorts of ideas. Of course, all kids are different, including those with ASD/Aspergers.

If you are considering the long, slow route to statementing, the LEA will first expect to see evidence of a graduated response (meaning the school need to be showing they've tried everything already). If an IEP is drawn up quickly then great. If school start dragging their heels, do please apply for a statement yourself and you will probably find an IEP appears rather swiftly.

Don't set your heart on a Statement. Because my DS is managing to perform averagely over all (basically sometimes he's woeful but with 1-2-1, he's fine because he's quite bright), he won't get one where we are.

Mind you, I'm still waiting for his IEP which has been discussed since about Easter ...