Should IEP have academic goals?C is in 2nd grade and we have a mix of academic & non-academic goals. As an example of what that looks like for us, here are C's goals. The last 3 are the one's I'd label academic. I think it's a nice mix. 1 goal around social pragmatics 1 goal about explosive behavior (aka meltdowns) 1 goal about working independently 1 goal about consistently answering when and why questions 1 goal about articulation of /l/ sounds 1 goal about reading 90 words per minute with certain 80% of accuracy 1 goal about computing addition and subtraction facts up to 12 with 90% accuracy 1 goal about writing 4 sentences about a topic with no more than 4 misspelled words My son is in PreK and he hasn't had any real academic goals on his IEP sofar. However, he really needed to tackle some other goals before he could move on. We get progress reports every 9 weeks, the same time my 2nd grade daughter receives report cards. Most curriculum goals for NT Pre K kids are pretty minimal, so I'm not sure how many goals they would even be able to set for that age. An example of one of the goals for Louisiana is students listen to a story and then tell what the story was about. Another one is to carry on a conversation about an idea from the classroom, community, or home. Well those are already goals we would set for autistic kids since we are trying to teach them how to communicate. I guess I'm trying to say some academic goals for Pre K kids really don't seem academic at all. But for that age, those goals are important for all kids. Check out "reading readiness" requirements. That is one area where kids entering K need to have some skills. Oftentimes, local school districts will let parents know ahead of time the sorts of things kids need to know in order to be "kindergarten ready." Academically, this typically includes writing his/her first name reasonably legibly, knowing the alphabet and counting to at least 20 (many SD's expect counting to 100). Yes, a speech therapist should be present. The parent is allowed to request anyone to be at the IEP meeting (or bring anyone). The district is supposed to have at least one sped teacher/provider of the child and a gen. ed teacher/provider (ideally, of the child) present. And anyone else who might be "relevant." The academic goals that I would want at this point are the ones expected of children as they enter Kindergarten. My 4 year old NT daughter is in a traditional pre school and the curriculum is primarily play based with social skills and some very basic academics...colors letters ( one each week) counting up to 30 and writing the letters in name...the academics are not stressed as much as following directions and listening and playing nicely with others.
NOT let them underserve your child. I would ask for any age-appropriate academic goal. There is no reason why these should not be a priority for him just because he is getting supplemental services. A developmental delay does not automatically mean cognitive delay, so that needs to be addressed. If they set the bar low for him now, they will keep doing it year after year and his full potential may not be realized. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but schools have been known to do this and it's a real disservice to our kids. School districts are REQUIRED to present the grade level curriculum to all students, including those with IEPs. Academics only have to be on the IEP if the child has been shown to not be meeting grade level standards and will need specialized instruction in the particular academic area in which he is at least one standard deviation below the norm. Standardized, individual academic testing will show this. You can request such testing once a year and the District MUST do such testing at least every three years. The IEP should address any areas (academic, functional or behavioral) that your child's disability causes him to need "specialized instruction" in in order to "make progress." Since he'll only be in kindergarten, academic expectations coming in are pretty minimal. But as the children in his class are asked to do more (like learn to read), keep a very close eye on his progress. If he is not keeping up, call another IEP meeting and ask the Team to explain how they will help him. If he needs specialized instruction at that point, academic goals should definitely be included on the IEP. First of all, why wasn't she speech therapist there? Were you notified prior to the meeting that she would not be there? Did they have you sign an excusal excusing her from the meeting. If not, they are out of compliance. No, it's not best practices to carry over goals. I am a special education teacher, and if I feel a goal is important but the student did meet it, I will ask parent if it is okay to modify it and continue it on the next IEP. If the student didn't even come close to meeting the goal, I usually decide that goal was not appropriate for the student and create a new goal. They need to be able to document that the student has met the goals. I keep a binder and keep detailed notes about my students progress throughtout the year. You are also entitled to progress reports reports on your child's goals (although I don't teach preschool) I know in elementary school we must send out progress reports at the same time report cards go out. Now that I think about it, I don't recall getting any progress reports when my dd was in preschool...but my memory may just be failing me. If you do not agree with their speech evaluation you may request an Independent Educational Evaluation at public expense. This information should be in your Parental Rights, which they must offer to you at every IEP meeting.Is he in special education preschool, or just receiving speech services? My dd only received speech services when she was preschool age. I sent her to private preschool. She did not have any academic goals as she was only receiving speech services. She is still on an IEP and only has speech and OT goals, as she is on grade level academically (in most areas). On the 14th we had our annual IEP meeting for my son. He's 4 1/2 and in Pre-K special ed class. The new IEP goals they had written up had no academic goals. I asked about this and they said they didn't need academic goals. The IEP was just for special education issues. Well, I didn't know what was right, and I requested that we put in a few simple goals, since these goals will cover him through the first half of his kindergarten year. I thought it was reasonable for him to know his ABCs and how to count to 20 and a couple of others. They did put them in, but only put counting to 10. I know that here, kids are reading in Kindergarten. I know my son is delayed, but he already knows some of his ABCs and maybe all of them, if I could just find the right way to get him to express what he knows. Also, most of the goals were the same ones he had for this year since they weren't completely mastered. I thought that wasn't cool, because he needs higher goals than just the same piddly ones for two whole years of school. Am I wrong about that? Some of the goals that were basically the same were his speech goals, which were way too basic and in my working with him at home, I know he can already do those things. I felt like the speech therapist had put absolutely no effort or time into writing these new goals, and I told them so! The speech therapist was not at the meeting. I just feel like they are not taking his severe communication problems seriously. He's only right around the 2 year level in communication, if he's even that far. Not that they would know, since they haven't done a comprehensive speech evaluation in nearly 2 years. It makes me wonder why I'm bothering to send him there if they're not seriously working on his speech or academics. Could someone tell me what I should be expecting out of this school? |
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