IEPs

In The Brownsville Herald, special ed teacher Pam G. Downing continues her excellent discussion of IEPs. She tells of a discussion with a mother named Abby. An excerpt:

"Well, Abby, let’s look at this together. For example, this section tells us that Ian will be taking the TAKS-Alt. All students will receive a state test, but ones that they can succeed at. Your daughter is taking the TAKS-A, which means we need to look at the accommodations section. "Cindy" is allowed to read out loud to herself during the TAKS-A test. Plus, she is allowed the oral administration of the exam for words or phrases that Cindy asks for."

"Now Ian, when he goes out to PE, is allowed to have foods of minimal nutritional value (FMNV). This way, he has a reward for completing an activity. Ian will always work for a red gummy bear." Abby laughed. She knew her son would do almost anything for those bears. Abby then pulled out a bunch of papers, one called the Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA). "What’s this about?"

"Well, that paper helps us figure out if Ian needs a BIP. I know it’s a lot. The BIP is a behavioral intervention plan. The nice thing is Ian no longer needs that. The FBA shows that he still needs to be working on issues. For this year it will be that constant "eeeee" he makes when he doesn’t understand the work in front of him. The classroom management plan is fine to take care of that behavior. That means one less document to do."

See earlier post here.