I'm glad that it was an overall positive experience. That was nice of you to bring food for the school staff. Teachers love any gesture of appreciation!
Here's a link to a list of what is required to be in an IEP: http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/%2Croot%2Cdynamic%2CTopica lBrief%2C10%2C
More general information about the federal special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act can be found here: http://idea.ed.gov/
Take care,
Nicole
Positively Autism
~A Free, Online Magazine for Parents, Teachers, and Individuals with Autism!~
http://www.PositivelyAutism.com
Well, I know several kids who don't qualify for ESY. My ds never has because they have never documented a regression in learning after a break.
That being said, I agree that it would definitely be beneficial. But I think that would fall under "best practices" and not "free, appropriate" education as that is all the school is required to do. Although, at least for my ds, having the summer off has been really good for him so far. I don't know what it will be like now that he is doing "real" academics in kindergarten. Last summer was great in terms of working with him on social skills and tons of gross motor skills (swimming and riding a bike). He got to be a kid this summer and just play for most of it. For him, that is just what he needed this summer! But, I worry that this next summer we will have to be working on school stuff most days for at least a little bit...
We have the same thing in our IEP - that ds will do a certain percentage by a certain date. The goals definitely need to be measureable - or else how will they know if he's progressing?
Goals need to be specific and measurable. My sons IEP basically states this is the goal by this date he will comply 30% of the time by this date he will comply 50% of the time etc. As far as ESY I think it is a MUST for any child with an ASD.
Good luck!
Becky
I work with IEP's and we always have goals for the teacher. Some even have goals for aides and 1:1's. As an OT we give each student approx. 3 goals depending on frequency of service.
I would photocopy the IEP, read over the goals and mark it up where ever you don't agree, and write in goals that you want addressed. I would definitely address why the teacher has no goals, since most of the child's time is spent in the classroom.
I do have some goals written down that I want to discuss with my case manager(this is her first year...daughter of a principal!). I wrote them down and then never got to discuss them. Partly my fault. It is clearly a form paper that lists ways that they could be judged although they don't apply to all areas(ie artistic expression---that won't really help him to catch a ball) and they are all annual goals that have measurements ranging from 75% to 100% of the time. I guess they don't do increments. I guess he would definately get socialization over the summer at home since we have 5 kids, and we are planning to build a pool, so perhaps even more will be around...Well....
I can't say that it went bad. Everyone was great and nice and think that my son is going to do great in school, he will start on Dec 3rd. I brought food to make things nice and also wanted them to be able to eat in case it ran past their lunch.
Well, everyone read their evals and said they submitted their goals. There was so much jovial inference about 'the law' or the 'regs', I think that they obviously think alot of it is overkill...maybe some is.
Well, I swear, all of a sudden it was time for me to sign and go. I asked if I could wait and take it home to read and she said of course, but please remember to bring it back. So, I left, and we never ever discussed one goal. I didn't even see them til I got home.
He will be in a self contained class of 8 with a 2:1 ratio, 3x per week speech, 2x OT and 1x PT with some objectives on each of their pages.
However, my question is, there were no goals or objectives for just the teacher. And the form I got didn't break down how each would be measured specifically. It listed the 6 core ways but didn't identify them according to PT OT ST.
I have a call in to my case manager, however she won't be in til Tues due to holidays. Can I add to my IEP without another meeting? Should I request the measurment to be more specific? And there was no mention of ESY. I really thought that we would discuss this but I was so shell shocked, it was like a time clock suddenly went off, and my time was up. There were 6 people waiting outside when I left. I guess they only alot one hour.
I just thought there would be more goals and more of a clear way written on how they would be measured.
My son's IEP is very specific. It's about 15 pages long! He is also in a simliar placement to your child. 6 other children, 3 full time therapists (OT, ST, PT) and 2 full time aids.
I live in NY where services are excellent though, and I brought a service coordinator with me.