Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) are critical in obtaining services for an Autistic or Neurodiverse child with needs not met in the typical school setting.
IEP--An Individualized Education Plan is a document created by a public school's special education department that summarizes the progress, challenges, and supports needed for a student to succeed in school. The process of creating an IEP can be initiated by the school or parent, but it must include the parents of the student in the process. This document falls under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) law.
The desire or need for more support usually comes after certain red flags for a parent, teacher, or caregiver such as changes in grades, an increase in emotional response, truancy, lack of skill growth, or lack of reaching developmental milestones at a certain age. Parents begin this process by contacting their public school's special education department and requesting an IEP eligibility meeting.
4 Key Parts of the IEP Process:
A. Eligibility for Special Ed. Services--This first step is about testing. It often includes formal assessments as well as feedback from teachers, assistants, specialists (OT, SLP), and outside service providers (MD, PhD, PsyD) to identify challenges in the student's ability to access the general curriculum. Tests/evaluations can include a: psycho-educational evaluation, neuropsychological evaluation, teacher rating scales, and other inventories (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Behavior Assessment System for Children, Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Children's Depression Inventory, Conners Rating Scales, Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, to name a few).
There are 13 categories that IDEA/special ed. law covers:
Autism
Deaf/Blindness
Deafness
Emotional Disturbance
Hearing Impairment
Intellectual Disability (IQ)
Multiple Disabilities
Orthopedic Impairment
Other Health Impairment (ADD, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome)
Specific Learning Disability (dyslexia, dysgraphia)
Speech and Language Impairment
Traumatic Brain Injury
Visual Impairment
B. Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance--This part of the IEP is specifically written in terms that are understandable by the general public. This summarizes the student's interests, preferences, strengths, and areas of need. It can summarize where the student is in terms of grades, participation, academic habits specific to a certain class, and challenges in specific classes. It can also share what strategies have been tried that work well and strategies that have not been successful that the teacher/school has tried.
C. Goals--This part of the IEP is where the school and parents discuss goals for the student. Goals need to be measurable, have a start and end date (usually the school year), share which school staff is responsible for the goal implementation, and be achievable within 12 months. Goals need to specifically address the needs of the student either in an academic subject or in social, behavioral, or emotional issues. An example of a goal is "By March 7, 2024, when in distress, Carl will recognize symptoms of irritability and distress and implement healthy coping strategies such as distress tolerance and emotional regulation skills 70% of the time with up to two prompts, over an 8 week period as measured by the teacher and paraprofessional."
D. Accommodations and Modifications--Accommodations are a mix of tools, strategies, and variations to meet the needs of the learner that do not alter the content, instructional level, or performance criteria of the assignment or assessment. Common examples of accommodations are: extended time on an assignment/test, books on tape/iPod, speech-to-text word processing, preferential seating closer to the board, noise-canceling headphones, and extra breaks during assessments.
Modifications are adjustments to assignments that alter the size, depth, or intensity of requirements for a student. Examples of modifications are: pass/no pass grading options (instead of a letter grade), shortened assignments, taking tests one section at a time with breaks in between, and projects instead of a written report.
There are other parts of an IEP that are important, but we wanted to highlight the 4 key parts that are critical in obtaining services specific for the individual student. Reach out if you have some solutions of your own or any questions.