Advocacy, Autism/Special Needs, Daily Life, My Little Guy 
12 Comments Reasonable Expectations?
The events of the last two days have brought up questions in my mind about what are reasonable expectations regarding the implementation of an IEP, especially at the start of a school year. (Keep in mind that the effective date of the IEP was 4/29/10.)
- Is it reasonable for me to expect that the staff would be familiar with the IEP and especially the behavior plan?
- Is it reasonable for me to expect that all the supports identified in the IEP would be ready to go on the first day of school?
- Is it reasonable for me to expect that I would be informed if there would be things that aren’t implemented right away and given a time frame for when they would be started?
- Is it reasonable for me to be frustrated that, despite the fact that we had a meeting during which we discussed all of these expectations, there were staff who weren’t familiar with the plan and there were also supports that weren’t ready and hadn’t been identified as needing more time to implement?
- Is it reasonable for me to be annoyed when some of the team members’ response is, “Well, the first week of school is tough.”?
I am really curious as to what others’ experiences with this have been and decided to “poll the audience,” so to speak. I’d love if you would take the poll (click here to take the poll if you are viewing this in a feed reader). Or you can leave a comment with your thoughts, or do both!
Note: Technically, this is three separate one-question polls, since I couldn’t figure out a survey option that would actually be in the post instead of as a separate window. Anyway, I look forward to seeing what everybody thinks about the subject!
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Please feel free to share any additional comments or other answers that you think should have been there!
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Tags: Autism/Special Needs, expectations, IEPs, implementation, polls
Trish – This blog is so rich in content and my readers (the church children’s ministry audience) can learn much from posts like these. I am anxious to see the results of this poll!
The IEP is so frustrating. What is it? Lack of funding? Understaffed? Poor administration? I have had many battles with the district concerning the IEP, and their lack of enforcement. In fact, in my son, Gabe’s IEP, they referred to him as “Jonathan”, TWICE!!! Many other issues, and I am concerned..however, my son is only 3 and is attending an intensive day treatment program 5 days a week, so the district has become secondary. I am extremly worried what is going to happen when that is our main support! I’m interested to hear from other followers as well.
Thanks, I am hoping a good number of people participate. I’ll have to post the results once I get a good sampling.
I hear you – especially with the cut and paste method of creating the documents! I make the team send me their draft at least 2-3 days before a meeting so I can prepare my questions and comments. And even with a good IEP, you are faced with the issue of whether it is actually followed.
I tend to cut the school a lot of slack the first week or two because I know they’re doing assessments and such. However, after two or three weeks, if they haven’t gotten their act together, I start making a lot of noise.
One thing that has helped is making sure that the primary teacher for the next year attends the IEP meeting that we have in spring. That way, she/he knows what we expect of them and they can’t claim they weren’t told of the various accommodations. We’ve done this since my daughter was in 1st grade (she’s now in 4th) and it has helped smooth things out at the beginning of the year.
As a former special ed teacher I made sure that I was well versed in all of my students’ behavior plans BEFORE the first day of school. I went to the behavior therapist or social worker who wrote the plan and asked questions if I did not understand. You bet I wanted to know what I should do to make everyone’s life easier right from the start.
I had to do all that stuff at home or after inservice meetings so why couldn’t they? It seems the norm in most schools that support services aren’t in place right away. But don’t get me wrong, I loved my therapists and they helped me a lot.
I was frustrated that my support services (OT, PT and speech) didn’t really get into full swing until the 2nd week of school. They said they needed time to plan their schedules and get things organized. I didn’t have that luxury as a teacher. I needed to have my act together the first day or else!
Reviewing the draft a few days before the meeting is a great idea, thanks! Like Cari, my daughter attends a year-round, private day school and thankfully I have not had to be concerned about supports being in place.
I wish our school would do that. They won’t make teacher assignments until the summer, so that’s why we had our meeting in August. I just have to refine the questions I ask so we are all clear on what will and won’t be there on the first day. Thanks for sharing your perspective and experience!
Wow, I really appreciate your input on this topic – and thank you for all you do!
At this point, I am just trying to learn from each experience so I can be more prepared and communicate more effectively next time.
This is a hard one. I think all the components were there for my son on day one, but did they get to everything, no. But as a former teacher I really do understand. There is a LOT to do and prepare for during those first few days. But at the same time, my son does not need too much accommodation, just some really kick ass teachers (pardon my language, but the teachers make all the difference in my opinion, they have to be top notch, or at least good, if my son had some other teachers that he could have this year I would be flipping out.)
I agree that it comes down to the people. When the right person is there, they can make up for a lot of the missing accommodations. Unfortunately, a teacher who is due with her first child in two weeks’ time doesn’t really have her head in the game, in my opinion.
At least if the supports had all been there, he would have had a fighting change to get through the week without so much turmoil!
[...] by Trish on September 8, 2010 · View Comments [...]