How does one show adverse educational impact?

[HighSchoolParent]

My son qualifies under OHI, but to get certain goals added to his IEP I need to show his disability has adverse impact on his performance in those areas. What kind of data is helpful for this? Classroom assessments? Standardized assessments? If he fails every test on a specific topic, but does well enough on other topics that he passes the class, can his passing grade be used to disprove educational impact?

Specifically I think he needs goals in mathematical problem solving and organization of essays and research papers. I can see that he cannot do either of these things well and his grades on any assignment containing them are very poor (D's and F's), but he has enough other math and language arts skills that he can pass those classes.

 

[JSD24]

If a student can pass a math test w/o word problems (because they can do calculations) but fail with word problems (because they can't read) that would be an adverse impact.  If they cannot do group work due to a lack of social skills, that's an adverse impact.  If your child can write an essay but it takes them 3X longer to get started because they don't know how to start/organize, that's an adverse impact.  If he has weakness & strengths that balance each other out where he's passing but if the weakness were supported, he could excel, I feel those weaknesses have an adverse impact.  There are lots of graphic organizers that can help with organizing writing.  He'll need an assortment so he has one that helps with the particular assignment.

I think giving examples to the IEP team would be helpful.

[Jenna]

I agree with all JSD24; I'm just curious what the school wrote in your son's most recent ETR because that document requires the district list the educational impact in each area evaluated. Double-check what they listed in this area and use that to support your arguments for the need for more goals/services/SDI in those areas. If there are areas that weren't evaluated, I'd write the IEP team and ask that those areas be evaluated.

[HighSchoolParent]

On the WIAT his arithmetic scores were solidly in the average range so they determined there was no educational impact on math performance. There was no achievement testing for any other kind of math besides arithmetic. Is there a standardized assessment that would measure the kind of math high school students do?

His WIAT essay score was was very low, but his overall language index score was average and they said they went by the overall score, not subscores. We pushed and they administered the TOWL-2, which his scored average to above average on. However, his actual writing in class is very disorganized and vague.

[HighSchoolParent]

On 1/31/2023 at 10:23 PM, Jenna said:

I agree with all JSD24; I'm just curious what the school wrote in your son's most recent ETR because that document requires the district list the educational impact in each area evaluated. Double-check what they listed in this area and use that to support your arguments for the need for more goals/services/SDI in those areas. If there are areas that weren't evaluated, I'd write the IEP team and ask that those areas be evaluated.

Just trying to get a little more information here, I am still not certain what data could be used to show a need for more support in  planning long writing assignments and mathematical problem solving. 

[HighSchoolParent]

On 1/31/2023 at 5:10 PM, JSD24 said:

If a student can pass a math test w/o word problems (because they can do calculations) but fail with word problems (because they can't read) that would be an adverse impact.  If they cannot do group work due to a lack of social skills, that's an adverse impact.  If your child can write an essay but it takes them 3X longer to get started because they don't know how to start/organize, that's an adverse impact.  If he has weakness & strengths that balance each other out where he's passing but if the weakness were supported, he could excel, I feel those weaknesses have an adverse impact.  There are lots of graphic organizers that can help with organizing writing.  He'll need an assortment so he has one that helps with the particular assignment.

I think giving examples to the IEP team would be helpful.

 

[Jenna]

I agree with JSD24's comment to save the concerning work samples and share them with the IEP team so they can see your areas of concern. Ask how those areas could be specifically targeted in their specially designed instruction.