IEP Investigation: Disability Education Training

You have successfully investigated the child's ability and the classroom in preparation for your child's next IEP. Now, it is time to check the disability education training for the providers on your child's Individualized Education Plan: Administration, professionals and paraprofessionals.

Each special need or disability requires a unique approach education. It is upon this premise IEP are designed. Each state has a disabilities board which educates providers of all levels how to effectively educate special needs children.

Administration

Depending on where you live, you will have up to two administrators involved in your child's Individualized Education Plan (IEP). All schools will have a principal. Most schools will also have a curriculum coach. Since both will need to be aware of the unique special needs capabilities/limitations' effect on creation of IEP goals, both will need to be trained in your child's disability.

The most direct route is to ask the principal to provide certification of the latest training each has had in your child's disability. If the principal is not forthcoming after a second request, proceed to the school district superintendent in a written request. Reference your need for the information for an IEP meeting. All requests should have an expected compliance date of thirty (30) days. You are entitled to this information.

Certain disabilities make major advances in the methodology used to teach children in short periods of time. Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, cerebral palsy, dysgraphia, dyslexia, hearing deficits, spina bifida and many other disorders drastically change teaching methods as more is discovered about the abilities of the children with these disorders.

Therefore, current training is necessary. Ideally, administrator training should be every four years, but every six years has become the industry norm. Contact the state disabilities board to find out when the next trainings are scheduled for your child's disability and whether there is a time requirement your administrator has to meet.

If more than five years has transpired since the last training, request in writing the administrators attend a state-approved disabilities training provided through the disabilities board before the end of the school year. If such training is unavailable before the end of the school year, request training prior to the next school year.

Professionals

The core professionals in your child's IEP provider team are the special education teacher and specific therapists (speech, occupational and/or physical). Your child spends the most time with the special education teacher. Find out from the principal when the latest training was completed.

Ideally, training should be every three years. Average training across the United States is every five years. Parents must push the school to get the training for the special education teacher. Changes to the classroom are immediately noticeable after the training, even before the IEP meeting.

Therapists are often well within the three year ideal for disability training. Their specialty field licensing often depends on continuing education. The school district special needs representative should provide information on therapists training upon written request. In the event such information is not granted by the second request, request it from the school district superintendent.

The school psychologist often plays a role in social streaming. For this reason, the psychologist needs to know how your child's disability inhibits social interactions. Information about the psychologist's training can be gathered from the prinicpal or school district special needs representative.

Paraprofessionals

Guidance counselors and aides in the classroom may not have been trained in your child's disability. If you feel your child is hindered through this lack of training, schedule a conference with the principal to discuss scheduling training for them.

Classroom aides fall into three categories: retired special education teachers, those who wanted to be in the classroom without the pressure of being a teacher and those who specifically wanted to work closely with disabled children.

The first group has plenty of history and will quickly pick up on new techniques introduced by the special education teacher after a training. The second and third may or may not be as interested in the methodology of teaching as they are in the socialization of the children in the classroom. As a parent, you need to gauge whether your child would benefit from these aides being trained.

Guidance counselors play a smaller role in children's education than any other paraprofessional. If your child has frequent interaction with the guidance counselor or has an IEP accommodation for sessions with the guidance counselor, training may be appropriate. Discuss this with the principal and the guidance counselor. Ultimately, you must decide whether you want to push to have the counselor to attend disability training.

This final phase of the Investigation is the School District.

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IEP Investigation: Classroom

After completing the child's ability investigation, the second part of the IEP investigation is the classroom. You will discover the resources, professionals and paraprofessionals available to the children and the amount of time in structured activities versus the individualized instruction time your child receives.

Resources

Each classroom is equipped with some standard items: desks or tables with child-sized chairs, chalk or dry erase boards, bulletin boards, calendars, globes, art supplies. Special education classrooms need other items as well:

• Tactile teaching aids
• Visual teaching aids
• Communication aids
• Physical accommodations
• Auditory aids
• Social skill teaching aids
• Disability specific curricula materials

While your child may not need all of these materials, the last one on the list is mandatory for a successful IEP. You already know what the grade level curriculum expects. Now, the IEP goals must use the curriculum which will educate your child to the grade level requirements and is best suited to your child's disability and abilities.

Self-contained Classrooms

Certain disabilities offer self-contained classrooms where all students have the same disability. Arguments for and against these classrooms are not equal.

Arguments for self-contained classrooms favor the instructors. The curriculum is applied to the class in more structured activities than individualized time with students. Resources are located centrally, thus costing the school district less money. This practice allows for more instruction time to be spent documenting the work done.

Arguments against self-contained classrooms favor the students. Mixing children with different disabilities of varying capabilities offers all students the chance to learn from one another. They will inadvertently observe the instruction of other children and learn in the process.

Segregating single disabilities can stymie progress in certain areas, particularly speech and social interaction. Children whose disabilities include poor socialization skills need the outgoing nature of children who are not equally or more gravely disabled.

Peer pressure in a mixed environment is a positive influence. Children will naturally emulate the more advanced students. More advanced students will often empathize with their more disabled counterparts, taking on leadership and helping roles. Overall, this is the most widely accepted argument for mainstreaming all special education children for at least some part of their day.

Most poignantly, in mixed classes, instructors must spend more individual time with each student in order to meet IEP goals. Special needs parents use this argument most often.

Professionals

All of the great tools on the list are useless if there is not an instructor trained to teach your child how to use them. The professionals are the special needs teacher, speech therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist and psychologist.

Each school should have at least one of each of these professionals available to your child. If you are unsure if your child would benefit from one of these professionals in the school setting, ask your pediatrician to prescribe an evaluation to the school district. The school's professional will conduct an assessment to determine if your child meets the criteria for his grade level.

If he does, you will receive a report stating he does. This report may contain suggestions for you to pursue outside the school environment to help your child advance to stay on par with his peers. Discuss these suggestions with your pediatrician and a related, certified professional in the field who holds a minimum of a master's degree.

If he does not, you will receive a report stating he needs to be served by the school to address the areas in which he is deficit. When your child is receiving a school service, he should also be receiving a supplementary service from the private sector either in your home or in a clinical setting. The private therapist will create goals which will help him reach his IEP goals faster and/or will help you promulgate appropriate IEP goals.

Paraprofessionals

Paraprofessionals are the intermediaries between you and the professionals. Aides, curriculum coaches and guidance counselors are paraprofessionals.

Aides are the most important element to your child because they lower the student-teacher ratio. They can help your child with classroom activities, self-help skills and especially social skills. An aide is often your child's favorite person in the classroom. The aide will tend to place less pressure on your child, encouraging better results.

Curriculum coaches help keep you on track. By comparing IEP goals to grade level goals, the coach will keep your IEP goals high in your child's strength areas and reasonable where weaknesses arise. If this position does not exist in your school, employ the principal to play the role. As the school's administrator, she should have the complete knowledge of what is required.

Guidance counselors help both you and your child. Whether smoothing transitions, helping with social streaming or counseling you on behaviors which manifest during puberty or the IEP journey, the guidance counselor can give you information on how to help your child emotionally handle the changes.

Structured Activities

All classrooms have certain daily or weekly activities which all of the children do together. If the majority of the day is spent in structured group activity, begin asking important questions.

• Which IEP goal does this activity pursue?
• What progress toward my child's IEP goal has been made with this activity?
• How long will this activity remain in the daily/weekly schedule before it is exchanged for another activity?
• Can my child be scheduled for individual therapy during this activity, since it does not pursue an IEP goal?

Structured activities are a necessary part of the school day. They teach skills like sitting still, paying attention, being quiet, turn-taking and group participation. They do not provide the "I" of the Individualized Education Plan.

Individualized Time

Individualized time includes both therapies and instructional time in the classroom. How much time is being spent directly on the IEP goals for your child? Even though the only child you truly care about may be your own, there are other children in the class.

• Of the time not spent in structured activity, is the remaining time split equally among the students?
• Is the time productively pursuing IEP goals for your child?
• Is time being wasted on goals already mastered?
• Is the curriculum being followed?

Only the third question should be answered "no". If more than one "no" is answered, an IEP meeting is in order after a conference with the principal and the special education teacher.

The next portion of the Investigation is Disability Education Training.

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IEP Investigation: Child's Ability

The most important person to consider when building an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is the child. Whether the special need is a physical, mental or learning disability or a combination, an IEP which actually provides an education for him needs to be based on his abilities, capabilities and potential.

Personal Observation

You know more about your child than his doctor, his teacher, his therapist...anyone else. By now you know what is expected of him at school. It is up to you to give your insight to everyone else on the team as to what he can accomplish.

Gather Resources

Buy a composition book. The pages do not tear from the book. Each time you write in the book, date the entry. While you may be tempted to video tape some activities, a written record can be reproduced to become part of his permanent school records. Tapes can easily be lost, damaged or erased.

For one week, write down all of the things you child accomplishes. Did he climb the kitchen cabinet to get a treat from on top of the refrigerator? (motor and cognitive skills) Did he ask you for chocolate cake for lunch? (language and social skills) Did he let you have a turn kicking the soccer ball? (social and motor skills)

Over the next week, try out some of the activities you foresee putting into the IEP. Did he name two of the colors correctly? Did he match five? Did he spontaneously point out a color in a book you were reading?

All of these accomplishments show readiness for the skills he needs to master. Staple the page where he matched the colors into the book. You will need to show your child is prepared to be challenged rather than coddled.

Audit a Class

Take a day to go to school to see what he does in school. Write your observations in the book.

• How is he interacting with other students?
• How much individual time is he getting with the teacher?
• Are the group activities aimed at satisfying his current (and/or future) IEP goals?

Your child will act differently in the school setting than he will at home. Be as unintrusive as possible in your observation of the class. You will see different strengths and weaknesses which present themselves only in the classroom.

Take a Day Off

Whether it is a day at the park, a trip to the zoo or simply a day care visit, being out of "his natural habitat" will produce a child you may not see that often. You will observe interests which can help you determine the best avenues for teachers to approach subjects to hold his attention. He may also excel in certain areas strictly by being exposed to a new environment.

Professional Observation

When negotiating IEP goals, therapists and paraprofessionals will give added weight to the opinions of professionals in their fields. Have your child seen by his speech pathologist, neurologist, gastroenterologist, orthopedic, audiologist and any other doctor or specialist treating him.

Bring your book when you go to the professional assessment. Your observations will be vital to the professional in accurately assessing your child beyond just the clinical observation which can be done during a regular appointment. Again, you are the primary resource the professional has in assessing your child.

Ask the professional to prepare a report with both progress and recommendations for integration of current therapy techniques into the educational classroom setting.

Assessments provided to the IEP team should be no more than six months old. Ideally, assessments should be one to three months old at the time of the IEP meeting.

Recommendations should be followed as closely as possible methods used to reach the goals. Often, recommendations from professionals will cross segments of the IEP presenting the possibility for more than one provider to help your child reach his goals.

You need to read the recommendations as well. Many of the recommendations can be implemented in your everyday experiences with your child. He will be no more the wiser you are helping him reach his goals!

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IEP: Special Ed. vs. Regular Ed.

Did you do the homework?

WOW! Did you notice something immediately? OK, I am going to give you a break if you did not do the homework...

Regular Education
When you look at the curriculum for the regular education for your child's grade level, you will notice a few things. The first of which is the length.

The goals are broken into categories of language, science, social science and mathematics.

On average, there are between 300 and 500 goals for elementary school children and 1,200 to 1,500 goals for high school children.

Special Education
Individualized Education Plans (IEP) are divided into four major categories: Cognitive (intellectual skills), Social (adaptive and self-help skills), Motor (physical ability) and Language (speech and communication).

Based on where you live, IEP average ten (10) goals per section, with many children having no goals in areas where they need no special attention.

A-B=Where is the "education"?
If you are holding your child's IEP in one hand (A) and the grade curriculum in the other (B), a good IEP will be balanced. The IEP will have the same goals adapted to suit your child's disability.

When A-B is less than a desirable balance, it is time for you to do some investigating.

Areas of investigation
In order to give credit where it is justly deserved, most especially in your child, your investigation must include all of the following areas.

Child's ability

• Personal observation at home, school and outside settings
  
• Assessments and meetings with doctors, therapists and paraprofessionals

Classroom setting

• Availability of resources
• Availability of professionals and paraprofessionals
• Structured activities vs. individualized education time
  

Level of disability education training

• Administration (principal, curriculum coach)
• Professionals (therapists, teachers, school psychologist)
• Paraprofessionals (aides, guidance counselor)

School District

• Availability and location of resources
• Disability education training and/or awareness of board member serving school
• Performance of supporting services (transportation, meal services)
  

We will tackle the investigation one step at a time over the next few posts to eliminate the majority of stumbling blocks to the successful IEP.

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IEP: It really is a team effort.

Over the next few posts, we are going to look in depth into the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Process.

Today, we begin with the IEP Team.

The bare minimum for an IEP is:

• Parent(s)
  
• Principal
  
• Special needs teacher
• "Regular education" teacher
• Special needs representative from the school district
  
• Specialist(s) (Speech, occupation and/or physical therapist, psychologist)

Optional team members are:

• Advocates (from state or county/parish agencies, disability organizations or charities)
• Service Coordinator
• Personal or in-home therapists

Each person should have input toward goals, progress and accommodations in his/her specific area of expertise.

When certain goals have been met and need to be changed, parents have the right to waive the presence of certain team members who are not involved in the particular goal. (**Personal note** I do not recommend this at any time. Keep reading to find out why.)

The Team Leader:
Despite what the onlooker without a special needs child may think, the team leader is the parent. Even though the specialists may have more education in a certain area, no one knows more about your child than you do.

By the time a child is five years old, parents have spent more time with him than a specialist will spend with special needs children in the entirety of her career, even if that career spans 45 years.

Your advocate may know more about "the process", but without your information, there is no "process". Think of the IEP as a blank computer program. Until you put in your child's information, progress, strengths and weaknesses, the program does nothing.

There is no "I" in "TEAM".
All members of the team need to be working toward the goals of your special needs child: not standardized tests scores to get school funds (NCLB), not number of special needs children seen (IDEA), not personal career statistics.

All members of the team should be pursuing all of the goals on the IEP. While some specialists will focus on certain parts of the IEP, they should not ignore the remaining goals on the IEP. All activities for special needs children can be adapted to satisfy two or more areas of the IEP (i.e. cognitive and social, social and language, cognitive, social and occupational, etc.).

This is why all members of the team should be present every time a goal is changed on the IEP. A change to one portion of the IEP may open a world of possibilities for another service provider for your special needs child.

IEP is not just for school.
Yes, the IEP is educational. After all, the "E" stands for "education". Do not leave the IEP in the hands of the school.

As a parent, you have taught your child all he knows. Nothing changes when he goes to school. YOU are still his first and best teacher. Ask your service coordinator, advocate and teachers for activities which you can do at home to help your child meet IEP goals.

Next post, we will explore the first stage of preparation for the IEP meeting.

For homework, check out your state's Department of Education website. Find the requirements for the "regular education" grade level for your child.

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