Stay put and/or Rejecting and Rewriting IEP goals

[Teo]

Hello, I'm not sure if this is allowed but I need help rewriting IEP goals for my daughter and in return, I am happy to provide help with interpreting neuropsych or school psych testing. It's a somewhat tricky situation in part because she's at a public Charter school. I do not want to hire an advocate nor can we afford one as we recently paid a $5k retainer for one and it was a disaster. I have a lot of background knowledge and just want someone (who isn't so emotionally involved to help me rewrite goals and give tips for dealing with a sped director who keeps trying to take my daughter off an IEP and reduce her goals and instructional time.  I am in NH. TIA 

[Teo]

It's  complicated so needs personal conversation.  

Edited December 4 by Teo

[Carolyn Rowlett]

What are the disabilities for which she is receiving services?

[Elemeno]

On 12/3/2024 at 12:01 PM, Teo said:

It's a somewhat tricky situation in part because she's at a public Charter school

What makes it tricky? At the end of the day they follow the exact same laws.

[Teo]

8 minutes ago, Elemeno said:

What makes it tricky? At the end of the day they follow the exact same laws.

Yes the law is the same but there has not been good communication or coordination between the district and the Charter (they are in different districts) and the Charter school hasn't been very compliant or willing and they keep trying to minimize services. The latest IEP academic goal was rewritten from a writing/EF goal to a "Self Help" goal that states "will independently start assignments within 5 (then 3 then 2) minutes of receiving instructions in ?  tasks with minimal prompting from the teacher." 

[Teo]

I rejected it and wrote that it makes no sense and I wanted a 'stay put' but I feel like the last goal wasn't specific enough either. And, I've never been shown any collected data. Standardized test results have in fact showed issues with paragraph writing (currently 7th grade).  She struggles in math too. The Charter sped person keeps saying their data shows no academic problems. I have trouble interacting with this sped chair because of her belligerence so I hired an advocate but the advocate was way off base and said practically nothing in the meeting except to try to make my daughter sound way worse than she actually is (there was a history school avoidance).  My daughter actually is doing relatively well at the small size school but she still needs support especially since she will be at our large size public HS after next year. 

[JSD24]

To independently start an assignment and with EF issues in mind, you need to hone skills where things aren't going to be a distraction.  For me personally (I have some autistic tendencies), I will get stuck if there are misspellings or inconsistencies.  If this was my goal, I would need to be given instructions w/o misspellings or have the teacher correct any misspellings and inconsistencies within the time frame in order to meet this goal.  (*)  Additionally, I tend to see too many options when it comes to starting a written assignment.  I tend to work best when I can draft things in my head (might take longer than 5 minutes) and then 'just do it'.  I'm taking a class & this is how I've approached the homework and it's working for me.  (I think I'd suck with meeting your child's goal.)  I agree that the goal doesn't make a lot of sense especially when you realize that a lot happens before putting pen to paper/fingers to keyboard.  (**)  I like a keyboard because I can make notes, write and delete and there's no paper trail since editing is virtual.  Is AT something that might help her speed up the process & meet a goal like this.

(*) What gets in your child's way where it takes longer than 5 minutes to start tasks?  Removing these barriers is what will get her to meet this goal.  If she has mental barriers, CBT might be needed and that's something that should be addressed by a clinician and not an educator.

(**) Has she tried writing things on a computer/word processor?  She might be thinking of the ending when she starts and with word processing, you can start at the end and be seamless with working backwards to the beginning - or starting anywhere and growing the assignment from this point.

IEP basic:  If you have a goal, there should be SDI provided by someone in the school that's going to remediate what's getting in the way so the goal can be met.  What is the SDI (specially designed instruction) that will get her from where she is now to "will independently start assignments within 5 (then 3 then 2) minutes of receiving instructions in"?  If there is no SDI she has the skills & doesn't need help/doesn't need a goal/doesn't need an IEP (for this issue).

This is a good/reasonable goal provided the SDI will make it possible for it to be attained.  Could it be that an accommodation for extra time makes more sense?  This would be if there isn't a disability or slow processing is looking like an issue with EF.

It might also be good for you to take a look at Lisa's IEP goal bank:  https://adayinourshoes.com/iep-goal-bank/  You might be able to come up with a better direction for this to go in given the goal in the IEP feels off to you.

[Teo]

18 minutes ago, JSD24 said:

To independently start an assignment and with EF issues in mind, you need to hone skills where things aren't going to be a distraction.  For me personally (I have some autistic tendencies), I will get stuck if there are misspellings or inconsistencies.  If this was my goal, I would need to be given instructions w/o misspellings or have the teacher correct any misspellings and inconsistencies within the time frame in order to meet this goal.  (*)  Additionally, I tend to see too many options when it comes to starting a written assignment.  I tend to work best when I can draft things in my head (might take longer than 5 minutes) and then 'just do it'.  I'm taking a class & this is how I've approached the homework and it's working for me.  (I think I'd suck with meeting your child's goal.)  I agree that the goal doesn't make a lot of sense especially when you realize that a lot happens before putting pen to paper/fingers to keyboard.  (**)  I like a keyboard because I can make notes, write and delete and there's no paper trail since editing is virtual.  Is AT something that might help her speed up the process & meet a goal like this.

(*) What gets in your child's way where it takes longer than 5 minutes to start tasks?  Removing these barriers is what will get her to meet this goal.  If she has mental barriers, CBT might be needed and that's something that should be addressed by a clinician and not an educator.

(**) Has she tried writing things on a computer/word processor?  She might be thinking of the ending when she starts and with word processing, you can start at the end and be seamless with working backwards to the beginning - or starting anywhere and growing the assignment from this point.

IEP basic:  If you have a goal, there should be SDI provided by someone in the school that's going to remediate what's getting in the way so the goal can be met.  What is the SDI (specially designed instruction) that will get her from where she is now to "will independently start assignments within 5 (then 3 then 2) minutes of receiving instructions in"?  If there is no SDI she has the skills & doesn't need help/doesn't need a goal/doesn't need an IEP (for this issue).

This is a good/reasonable goal provided the SDI will make it possible for it to be attained.  Could it be that an accommodation for extra time makes more sense?  This would be if there isn't a disability or slow processing is looking like an issue with EF.

It might also be good for you to take a look at Lisa's IEP goal bank:  https://adayinourshoes.com/iep-goal-bank/  You might be able to come up with a better direction for this to go in given the goal in the IEP feels off to you.

Thank you so much! This is very helpful. I am going to reread it when I'm not in middle of dinner prep, corralling  etc., but wanted to let you know I appreciate it! I was having trouble articulating what you said because the sped person keeps trying to gaslight me and she's so belligerent that I spend most of the meetings trying not to lose it on her and that takes up a lot of mental space and energy so I'm not as productive as I should be. I also feel like this is someone you need to try get around by going in the back door... I usually don't do that but she's not reasonable. She was brought in by the principal who was actually asked to leave at the end of last year because he was so ridiculous. I'm not sure why people aren't seeing her ridiculousness. Ok, sorry for my divergence. Thanks again!  

[JSD24]

Simple thought:  What's the SDI that's helping the student achieve the goal?  Is it evidenced/researched based?

The goal isn't all that bad provided the school is paving the way to meet the goal.