IEP goals, how they are tracked and not receiving adequate support

[leanna.wiggins]

My son is in 5th grade and his whole IEP team from the SPED teacher, regular teacher and school psych changed this year.  He is in a b-based program and has ADHD and SLD (dyslexia).  He made great progress last year and this year I feel like his SPED teacher is too overwhelmed with her caseload because they are short staffed.  She is an A-base teacher but has training in B-base and is his case manager.  They are hoping to get a b-based teacher at the school but haven't been able to find someone to hire yet.  She has repeatedly told me that she is too busy.  She was letting another 5th grader help my son with his long division work (which he told me she was actually just doing his work for him) and said that she decided to sit back and just let the student help him out instead of instructing him, which he has 150 mins of math instruction each week with her.

I finally just met with his sped and 5th grade teacher yesterday and realized that they have been teaching him 5th grade content and not really paying attention to his IEP goals set at the end of last school year.  According to them, he's actually ahead of reading (his annual goal is 90 words cpm on a 4th grade reading probe) and they said that he will pass this and that they've only been giving him 5th grade assessments.  For math, his fifth grade class is learning long division and they aren't understanding why he isn't comprehending it like he did with all the other previous math subjects.  I realized today that he was never taught simple division last year - but they wouldn't know that because they are only teaching him 5th grade content and not following the IEP.  As of last April he was at the 5oth % for spring of 3rd grade in Math and his annual goal is 50% for spring of 4th grade, but his SPED teacher has only been working with him on what his 5th grade teacher has been teaching him.  Now I'm worried that he hasn't been taught what he needs for 4th grade, which can be problematic with Math because you have to learn simple math before moving on.  

The end of the first 9 weeks was last week.  My concern is that his SPED teacher is not giving him his probes every nine weeks and it didn't seem like she had plans to do it.  I asked her about his behavioral goal and how she was tracking it and she couldn't give me a straight answer.  Is it required for them to do the probes/goal assessments before or at the end of every nine weeks.  I have always gotten an update on his annual IEP goals every nine weeks showing where he's at with his goal and if he's made improvements or not.  But this SPED teacher didn't even seem to know that long division would be too complicated for my son because he's on a 3rd grade math level!  I'm really concerned he is not getting the support academically or behaviorally this year because they are short staffed and she may not be equipped to teach him.  Do you think I should be concerned and if so, what can I do here?

[D.W.]

Does his school have an observation policy? Can you observe to make sure the IEP is being followed? 

I keep seeing online that most kids with dyslexia have an IEP to around 4th grade and then transition to a 504 only with accomodations. 

I don't know if that's better or worse for your situation because IEP legally they have to follow, but maybe 504 accomodations would be more easily enforced? 

Would assistive technology better help him when teachers aren't available? 

[Dori02]

I would send an email requesting the raw data collection from each of your son's goals. If in 48 hours there is no reply I would send a second email changing the subject line to "2nd request", after 48 hours if no reply from that email. I would send a third email changing the subject line to "3rd request" and include the principal or assistant principal whomever sits in "LEA" on your IEP meetings. Your request in the emails should be polite and that you are requesting data so that you can be an equal participating IEP team member and that you are wanting to follow along with the progress of your child's goals. You want to know how the intervention is working and how your child is doing with progress ups and downs. Without data you are unable to know if anything is working and if changes need to be made and if a meeting needs to be called to collaborate those changes as an equal team member. Something along those lines, good luck!  

[Lisa Lightner]

Read the progress monitoring section of your IEP, it should define how this is being done and how often.

If you need a change to this, it's a change to the IEP like any other.

https://adayinourshoes.com/how-to-monitor-iep-progress-for-parents/