IEP help please

[claw3]

Ds has come home with an IEP in his book bag today!

It says present at this review (this is his 1st IEP) SENCO and his class teacher from last year.

Im a bit surprised as i knew nothing about this and hadnt been consulted and the IEP basically reflects the schools lack of understanding of ds.

Should he have been evaluated?
What is it based on?

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

IEP should be written in consultation with you as the parent & you should eb included in the review meeting.
There is a section for you to sign.
I would arange to meet with his teacher & SENCO.

Is there a date on the IEP?

Thanks Anon, that is what i thought. I wont be signing. I suppose i should read it and perhaps suggest what i think is missing etc?

Also he is on Action Plus and for example yesterday he came home with an SALT report stating he needs 1:1 twice a week, should that have not been included?

Hi Corn, it states IEP October 2009

Sorry have to go, will check back later. Thanks very much in advance.

He's on school action plus and this is the first IEP you've seen then?

Hi Claw
The IEP should be 'SMART' i.e. it should set targets for improvements that are:
SPECIFIC
MEASURABLE
ACCURATE
REALISTIC
TIMELY

If you test each intervention to see if it meets all the above criteria then you have a good IEP. Too pften an IEP is vague and not monitored appropraitely.

A good target would be:

To improve reading age from 7.2 to 7.4 within 6 months by providing help consisting of n hours per day / week etc to be reviewed after 6 months.

That sort of thing.

Best wishes

Hi claw,

"Also he is on Action Plus and for example yesterday he came home with an SALT report stating he needs 1:1 twice a week, should that have not been included?"

That should have been included in his IEP but School Action plus can generally only offer limited support in school.

If a SALT report is stating he needs 1:1 twice a week, the surest way this would be achieved would be through a Statement document. Obtaining one to one SALT twice a week will take a lot of fighting to actually get anything near that. A Statement, unlike SA plus, is legally binding.

The IEP should always be drawn up with the parent/s present.

Have you considered applying personally for a Statement from your LEA?.

Corn - This is the 1st IEP he has ever been given! He was placed on action+ in October 2008. He left nursery in Dec 2008 and started school in January 2009.

The school 'needed to find out what his needs were first' before writing an IEP.

Attila - It stated 1:1 with LA/TA twice a week for 15 minutes each time, so the SALT would be with a TA, not SALT. Does that make a difference? (Also included with the report was a big pack of activities for me to do at home with him every day)

I have considered applying for a Statement, but dont know the first thing about it!

Wetaugust - The IEP isnt worth the paper its written on!

For example: section strengths and how these have been used to support learning - X produces very detailed drawings and intricate models using Lego. He responds well to praise and stickers.

It gets better claw doesn't it? I can't believe they have just put it in your bag without discussion.

Regarding SALT, the one we saw has discharged DS on the basis that school follow her recommendations for intervention. This seems to be standard practice as SALTS say they are too overstretched to tackle social communication and that schools have resources, 'toolkits' etc for it.

I just don't understand why these things need to be so frustrating.

I would definitely give IPSEA a ring if you haven't already. I found them really helpful

Hi claw,

Your son's IEP (thanks to MN it is now known to me as the Individual Empty Promise) is clearly not worth the paper it is written on.

Times to bring out the big guns now.
This is a good site re statementing:-

www.ipsea.org.uk

There are model letters on there you can use. You will need to write to the Chief Education Officer at your LEA and give them six weeks to reply.

Debs40 - It cant get much worse, I live in hope, Debs, I live in hope!

What time is your meeting? my tribunal is at 11.40, im a bag of nerves, my mind has gone blank!

Thank you very much Attila, i will have a look at the website this afternoon.

Here is IEP, sorry to bore you all, but i have no experience of what a good IEP should be, i have never even seen an IEP before, so any help would be greatly appreciated. What should i expect from the school?

Summary of concerns:- Independence, concentration and attitude. X can follow class routines, however at times he separates himself, often physically from the rest of the class. On these occasions he becomes non-communicative when addressed.

Emotional/social develop: X finds it difficult to build positive relationships with peers and often misinterprets emotions or actions causing him to feel rejected and isolated.

Strengths and how these have been used to support learning: X produces very detailed drawing and Lego models. Responds well to praise and stickers.

Any new areas of concern: X appears to find it difficult to 'read' other peoples emotions and actions and confuses reality with his imagination.

HELP RECEIVED:
X is supported by an adult in his group for literacy and math 4 times a week.

Home/school liasion chart

Cards to use to ask for help, toilet and to go in at playtime.

Referred to TAMHS

New Targets: X will count, read, write and order numbers to 20.

X will apply his phonic knowledge to his writing and spell 10 words.

X will tell adults if he feels hurt or upset and not blame other children.

ACTION: Follow up advice from TAMHS

Liaise with parents

SENCO to contact ASD outreach to ask for advice regarding inability to read and interpret other peoples emotions and actions.

The concerns seem to be mainly linked to his social and communication skills yet the targets don't really reflect that. How are the school going to help him with that?
'X will tell adults if he feels hurt or upset and not blame other children.'
I,m not sure I like the 'not blame other children' part. It implies it's always his fault that he's upset. It also puts the onus on ds. What are the school going to do to help him to build positive relationships?

Claw

That's not an IEP. It's a wish list.

As I said in my earlier post it should meet the 'SMART' test.

The problem is that many teachers and SENCOs don't know this - this simply have no idea of how an IEP should be written - sad but true.

If I were you i would take it straight back to them telling them that it's not SMART and that you would like to sit down with them and compile an IEP that is SMART.

If you need to know more about IEPs take a look at the SEN Toolkit available of the Dept for Education website (or whatever they are calling themselves this month).

Unfortunately we get rubbish like this IEP to deal with constantly as ignorant SENCOs etc have no idea of what constitutes even adequate SEN monitoring.

Best wishes

lol at wish list!

Corn - The school seem to feel they are doing a lot by referring to TAMHS and given him 'help' cards.

My problem is i know what ds's needs are, but im not sure what i can ask for?

I would say most of his problems are social and communication. Although he has a speech delay and cant pronounce certain letters or blends, so his reading and spelling do suffer. He knows all his letters and phonics, due to me working on phonics from the age of 2, because of his speech delay.

SALT report pointed out cannot understand concepts before or after (which might impact on following instructions) Doesnt know days of the week (says them backwards) Couldnt order a set of 3 pictures in a logical manner to create a story. His ability to tell a short story is immature. Has a limited vocabulary or mild word-finding difficulties. Cannot interpret basic emotions. Cannot explain cause-effect, opposites or identify differences between 2 objects. Poor eye contact.

This is what he has been given 1:1 for 15 minutes, twice a week.

So academic implications i suppose!

Thanks Wetaugust, will have a look for SEN toolkit, i need as much info as i can get, so im not fobbed.

I am in the same boat as you once again claw3.

We got an IEP today out of the blue to sign and one of the targets was to encourage 1:1 communication with adults and this would be measurable by eye contact and no licking of hands.

I can't even remember seeing a section for strategies to achieve this.

The problem for parents is that we are in the hands of people we assume know what they are doing. Yet, often they don't. Then you are forced to reject these strategies on the basis that they don't know what they're doing (politely of course) which inevitably causes offence at a time when you need to keep these people on side.

Also, while you are awaiting assessment, there might be a general acknowledgement that there will be an ASD diagnosis at some point, but every child is different so you cannot make blanket claims for assistance. They have to be specific to the child. Who knows the child best? The parent. Is the school going to accept what the parent says if they don't see the issue and without intervention from outside agencies? No.

Where does that leave the parent?

Do they have a nurture group?

not a very impressive IEP is it, for the reasons Attila and WetAugust have said. A pity that they don't even seen prepared to incorporate the SALT report identifed areas of weakness, but just make blanket wish-list suggestions.

Since they held the IEP without you I would thank them for letting you know their thoughts and preliminary suggestions and ask when the date of the actual IEP meeting is, so that you can sit down together and formulate the definate goals.

i would express astonishment if they say that this the result of the meeting as obviously they cant have had the actual meeting to form this years goals without your sons primary carer present, since the goals would not be valid without your input.

It is not appropriate, permitted or beneficial for your child to exclude their parent/s from their IEP. They are missing the most valuable source of information about your child if they do not include you.

We had a similar sitaution and I kept repeating "is there any way in which my input and attendance at this meeting will not benefit my child?" to everything they said until they gave in.

I feel for you. Its one of those uneccesary obstacles you should not have to get past, you should be free to focus on the goals for your child. But unfortunately if they decide they can get away with not bothering to include the parents the goals the school form can be those that suit them, not so much your child.

I find the problem is that you are so frequently as a parent pitted against teachers and I'm not sure how this benefits the child.

We, too, were confronted with an IEP drawn up without us being present but it was discussed with us for comment before signing.

I think that teachers are busy and generally clueless about SEN and that there is generally no malicious intent in this practice. They just get used to working in a way that suits their busy scehdules best and frequently have many other children with problems to deal with too.

It is hard to handle this firmly with out completely p*ing everyone off and I think you have to pick your battles and be reasonable and measured.

Focus on what you think is missing and write a letter suggesting what could be added to the plan and why. If there is anything that shouldn't be there, do likewise. Offer a meeting to discuss.

That is all perfectly reasonable. If their response is negative, then get difficult!

At present, it has probably been given to you for comment and not necessarily as a fait accompli.

As a general point the from the emails above the SEN COP instructs schools and the LEA to work in partnership with parents as a central tenet.

If schools / LEA ignore this then the parent should remind them of that responsibility - which includes not drawing up IEPs unilaterally!

To Debs "Then you are forced to reject these strategies on the basis that they don't know what they're doing (politely of course) which inevitably causes offence at a time when you need to keep these people on side".
Yes - it would be nice to keep them on-side but there comes a time when obtaining adequate support for your child means they either work with you or they are against you - in hich case the relationship will break down - but the child's needs should be paramount and override the need to keep a poorly performing teacher / SENCO "on-side".

To Claw "My problem is i know what ds's needs are, but im not sure what i can ask for?
You know your child better than any teacher so you know in general terms what works with him and what doesn't. OK the teachers know what the academic milestones are at any particular age etc but an IEP is more than that. You can ask for anything at all that you think is necessary to address a specific difficulty - anything. They then have 2 options - they can agree or they can give you the reasons for refusing. The key test is that your demand must be reasonable - i.e. help comensurate with the difficulties he experiences. Should one of those reasons be 'funding' than it's definitely time to apply to the LEA for a Statement that will deliver the level of help he requires.

There comes a time when you just have to get tough. No one likes having to do this as we all shy away from confrontation but when it's support that could make a huge difference to your child's outcome depending on how much and how early it's delivered failing to confront ignorant teachers / SENCOs is not in the best interests of your child. It's difficult I know - I've been there.

Best wishes