When we revised our son’s Individualized Education Plan for next year we tried to “fight” for a Teacher’s Assistant (TA) but they did not want to provide him with one because his IEP for next year is extensive and the classroom he will be in is much more conducive to his needs.

Harold Doherty of Facing Autism in New Brunswick has eight suggestions on how to secure a TA for your child.

Wrightslaw states that parents are often frustrated by the school districts response to a request for a TA. Rightly so, right? Most school districts will immediately deny a request for a TA suggesting that students can be successful during the day, especially in a small, self contained classroom with two aides and a teacher.

However, schools can assign TA’s for a variety of reasons; behavior management, instructional support, daily living (toileting, dressing, hygiene), social skills, task redirection, safety, etc. We requested a TA for behavior management, student safety, sensory occupational breaks, and task redirection.

When it comes down to it, most school districts will maintain the ruling that the self contained (aide enhanced classroom) is adequate and meeting the student’s needs because a TA costs them more money.

To state your case for an assistant:
1. Find a Special Education Advocate
2. Find Parents to help who already have or are in the process of getting TA’s
3. Use documentation from your team of specialists that specifically state that your child needs a TA to succeed. ie: our neuropsychologist recommended a TA so that AJ could take heavy work breaks at scheduled times without interrupting the rest of the classroom.
4. Safety is key for all students in school, not just special education students. However, this must be stressed especially if your child is a danger TO others or a danger at playgrounds, on the bus, or even is not physically capable of participating because he/she is not developmentally able.

This is cross posted from Discussing Autism.

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Post from: Blisstree

How to get an aide for your child

I am actually in a unique situation in that I AM a former teacher and I do understand the educational jargon. I understand how to evaluate student’s progress, I understand diagnoses, I understand testing, and I understand the process it takes to get to where the staff sits. What they don’t know is that I have the utmost respect for them because of the hard work they put into their jobs and into just one IEP.

What should an IEP do?
An IEP should be adequate, sufficient, subjective, and measurable.

What needs to be included:
Present Levels of Performance
Measurable Annual Goals, including Benchmarks or Short Term Objectives
Educational Progress
A statement of –

(i) How the child’s progress toward the annual goals will be measured; and
(ii) How the child’s parents will be regularly informed (by such means as periodic report cards), at least as often as parents are informed of their nondisabled children’s progress of –
(A) their child’s progress toward the annual goals; and
(B) The extent to which that progress is sufficient to enable the child to achieve the goals by the end of the year.”

Wrightslaw specifically states in the article, Smart IEPs that good IEPs are specific, are measurable, use action words, realistic and relevant goals, and are time-limited. SMART.

Specific goals target areas of academic achievement, performance, and behavior. Measurable goals mean that you can observe behavior or count/test the skill. Action words can be categorized into the following:

(a) direction of behavior (increase, decrease, maintain, etc.)
(b) area of need (i.e., reading, writing, social skills, transition, communication, etc.)
(c) level of attainment (i.e., to age level, without assistance, etc.)

SMART IEPs use action words like: “The child will be able to . . .”

Realistic IEPs set goals that the child can obtain and time-limited means that the child can obtain the goal within a specific amount of time.

I highly suggest that anyone heading into an IEP head to this site (I briefly summarized it here) and print the entire page to review before heading into your IEP.

Take the print-out with you and verify that everything is covered. Additionally, print out the checklists at the bottom of the page so that everything is covered, as many times teachers and staff will rush through IEP’s because they have several to get through in a day. Often times they also assume that you know what is going on (because they do) and will skip over things or will assume that you will agree.

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A Child Chosen: or Google Reader
One Book, Two Book or Google Reader
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Chicago Moms Blog

Post from: Blisstree

What Should an IEP Do?