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Autism and IEP help
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Navigating your way through the public school process for individualized education plans (IEPs) can be a frustrating process, and one that parents can easily feel overwhelmed in addressing. For those children with autism spectrum disorder – because the needs can be so varied – the “individual” aspect of an IEP is particularly important.
IEPs are designed around “appropriateness” of education for the student. When addressing your child’s plan, whether in team meetings or PPTs, ensure that that this is kept in the spotlight. Taking the position of “I want such-and-such service for my child” is better positioned as “based upon my child’s needs, he can best be assisted by such-and-such service.” Another important part of appropriateness is that it does not necessarily mean “equivalent.” In some cases the curriculum may be facilitated or modified. If facilitated, a student may need to be given more time than other students to complete a task, for example. If modified, this would mean an actual change in the curriculum requirements for that child. For example, if the baseline requirement for the class being addition of three-digit numbers, one student may have a modified curriculum where he only needs to understand addition by single digits.
There are several sites and groups that can provide detailed IEP information such as:
• Lisa Jo Rudy on About.com
• What to do if IEP goals are not being addressed
• IEP information from Wrightslaw
• IEP grouplist on Yahoo
Remember to keep detailed records of when your child’s services are scheduled to take place, a communication notebook or written record between that teacher/therapist and you on a per-session basis, and carefully note when services are missed so that any occurring teacher/therapist absences can be addressed before becoming problematic.
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