Help with 1st IEP plan meeting - New to all this?

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My 10 yr old (5th grade) son was recently found to have a LD after completing testing which his pediatrician strongly encouraged. He also has ADHD (attention part only and is on a low dose Ritalin patch) and struggles with reading - and in particular de-coding and sequencing. I have my first meeting with the school on Thurs and I honestly don't know what I should be looking for in an IEP plan - to make certain the school is offering what he needs - despite my research on this. (The school will not opine about whether he has dyslexia since that is a medical diagnosis) Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

As with many, I have had to push the school to do the proper testing which confirmed my suspicions. He is strong in math but reading is a constant struggle. Someone suggested I put his test scores here for feedback. I am not certain if the WJIII or the WISC-IV are appropriate so I will put both.

WISC-IV - Composite Scores,

Verbal Comprehension 106, (Similarities 12, Voc 11, Comphr 11)

Perceptual Reasoning 117, (Block 15, Picture 13, Matrix 10)

Working Memory 83, (Digit Span 5, Letter Number 9)

Processing Speed 88, (Coding 7, Symbol 9)

Full Scale 102, GLOBAL ABILITY INDEX 113 (The school used the Global Ability Index).

WoodcockJohnson-III - Norms based upon grade 5.1

Oral Lan (97), Oral Exp(103), Listening Comp(93)

Brief Achiev (86), Broad Reading (69), Broad Math (99), Written Lang (87)

Brief Reading(79), Basic Reading (85), Reading Comp(76), Brief Math (101), Math Calc (95), Math Reason(99), Brief Writing (86), Basic Writing (87), Written Exp (94)

Academic Skills (84), Academ Flue (70), Academic Apps (89), Academic Know (90), Phon/Graph (88)

Letter/Word Id (85), READING FLUENCY (44), Story Recall (104), Understanding Dir (87)

Cluster Test - Calculation (100), Math Flue(89), Spelling (84), Writing Flue (92), Passage Comp (77), Applied Problems (101), Writing Samples (97), Story Recall-Delay (101), Word Attack (88), Pict Voc (102), Oral Comp (99), Editing (93), Reading Voc (88), Qualitative Concepts (95), Academic Know (90), Spelling of Sounds (84), Sound Awareness (88) and Punctuation & Capitals (86).

He is a great kid and has come so far with his anxiety. He used to not be able to have a conversation with someone he didn't know. We would role play before a social setting and he is now doing fantastic in that regard.

Any suggestions are appreciated. I just want to be fully knowledgeable before I meet since I have had to push them. The school originally said there was nothing wrong with him because his grades are good (A's and high B's) but I see him struggling and know that in Jr High and High School things will be more difficult.

Thank you very, very much.

Jolee

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Parent Replies to "Help with 1st IEP plan meeting - New to all this?"

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In addition to the Essential Guide that Dhfl posted, I would recommend that you prepare written input to three sections of the IEP: The Parent/Student Concerns, The Vision Statement, and Student strengths and interests.

When you prepare input in advance, you will feel more confident, your perspective will be better considered and you gain the respect of the TEAM as an equal member.

For the concerns, ask your son what concerns, worries he has - what he wish he could change or improve about his school day, his skills, how he feels about school etc. You should do the same. Group the issues together and present them either in bullet or narrative form.

YOUR CONCERNS SHOULD DRIVE the IEP. The goal areas, accommodations and other supports should address the concerns.

The Vision statement is a 5 year goal for your child. If he is in 5th grade now, you should be thinking about where he'll be in HS. Do you want him to go to college? If so, in HS he needs to be able to access college prep and honors level course. How do you want him to fit in? Does he have special interests that you hope he can pursue (sports, music, art, drams?) If so, this should be part of your vision. Here is a nice source for examples: www.concordspedpac.org/IEPvision.htm

The last section to complete is the key strengths and interests. It is important that his strengths and interests be capitialized upon and recognized. I think it is important to remind the team that they are talking about a human being - with thoughts and feelings. This section helps put a face to student.

Your son's processing speed and working memory are low relative to his strong thinking skills. This most likely causes havoc in the classroom. He will most likely benefit from more time, study guides, class notes and specific instrution on study skills and note taking. He might need more time to respond to classroom discussions and is at risk to overload when the amount and complexity of new information is presented. He would benefit from previewing and reviewing of the main concepts.

As he heads to middleschool, multiple teachers, less structure and faster pace may be difficult. If he has problems keeping track of assignments, his materials and managing his time and long term projects, he may need more explicit guidelines from his teachers and support to help him get the work done.

I assume that the scores you posted for the Woodcock Johnson are the standard scores not the percentile ranks. If this is correct, he clearly struggles in all areas of literacy. His math is somewhat better - but low compared to his potential. Also - the woodcock johnson is untimed. For this reason - I would say that his scores represent his ability under optimal conditions - not necessarily how he'd perform in the classroom with time constraints and more complex assignments.

I would be interested in seeing how he scores on more complex tasks with a time limit. I would bet the scores would be lower.

That said, it appears he needs specialized instruction in reading - his word attack, sound awareness, spelling are all low. Reading fluency is extremely low . I'd want to see further tests in reading (CTOPP, GORT and TOWRE), but I'm willing to bet that he needs a multisensory explicit phonemic decoding reading program as well as fluency program.

I've thrown a lot at you. You have a bright boy that would benefit from more support. I am glad that he has an IEP. I hope that you are able to advocate for the accommodations and services he needs to move forward more easiliy.

Your child is very lucky to have you as such a strong advocate. The people gathered at this meeting are a team in every sense of the word, and everyone wants your child to succeed. You are all on the same side - your child's.

One thing that frustrates schools and it doesn't get readily explained to parents is the real purpose of an IEP. The parent's goal, understandably, is to improve the child to the best they can be. Sounds reasonable, right? Unfortunately, state mandates are often that the plan help the child to come up only to a specified minimum standard...which is often FAR from the child's best. It isn't the school's or the teacher's fault. This is mandated by state law.

Go to the IEP meeting with an open mind, but realizing the limitations of what schools are even allowed to provide. By working with your child's teachers, you may well be able to take him beyond the scope of the IEP, even once he is off of one.

Take a look at this handy guide all about preparing for your first IEP meeting:

www.greatschools.net/pdfs/e_guide_iep.pdf

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