IEP accommodations

[Beez]

Hello, my son’s IEP is coming up in less than two weeks. Unfortunately my support person/advocate will not make it to the meeting due to my son getting sick and the original iep meeting date getting pushed back by the school. I don’t want to push the meeting even further back by changing the date again, which is another 3 weeks from then.

We are doing this iep process because my son struggles with delays in development and mild autism. His struggles to complete his work within the given timeframe in class, although he is intelligent. According to the OT a part of the problem is praxis, the ability to organize and execute what he needs to do in the classroom. He struggles with this greatly at home as well. In addition, he struggles with sensory and anxiety. He does a ton of masking at school and then falls apart at home. Most recently they had a short holiday parade at school and while most kids were having fun waving and blowing kisses to the parents in the audience, he was covering his ears from the loud music and visibly uncomfortable/upset.

What kind of accommodations could I ask for? Especially, when it comes to the sensory/anxiety aspect. The school is more focused on getting him academic support which is good but I also want to also get him social/sensory support. I feel like a support person would be helpful on days where things are out of the normal routine or when he is feeling overwhelmed, but I don’t know how realistic of a request that is. The teacher in my opinion seems a bit oblivious to this type of child’s needs.

Thank you 

[Carolyn Rowlett]

A couple of questions first, because all accommodations have to be based on a need.  Did the OT evaluation include sensory processing?  Did the behavioral evaluation find any anxiety?  If so, has it been more than a year since those were conducted and so you could ask for a re-evaluation in those areas in which you see him struggling?  If not, you might consider asking for an IEE in those areas because you disagree with the school's evaluations.

If you have the data and/or diagnoses to support them, here are some ideas for accommodations.  I'm sure others will have more ideas and you can also check this website for accommodation suggestions for each of the areas.  I also don't know the age of your son, so some may not be applicable.

For the praxis:

1.  Check-in's for starting, staying on, and completing tasks.

2. Check-in's for understanding instructions.

3. Time set aside for and help with organization of planner, assignments, and materials.  This could be at the end of each class period, the beginning of the day, and/or the end of the day.

4. Chunking of assignments.

5. Visual planer.

6. Instructions written out step by step.

For sensory (you only mentioned loud noises):

1. Access to noise-cancelling headphones.

2. Ability to step away from activities that involve loud noises.

Developmental delay/autism:

1. Extra time on assignments and tests.

2. No punishment or withholding of rewards, recess, etc., for not finishing classwork on time.

3. Advance notice and explanation of changes to schedule.

Anxiety:

1. Ability to request a break, leave the classroom, and speak with someone.

 

As far as an aide in the classroom, you can definitely ask, but the school district will probably not want to start there, but instead try accommodations first.  If those don't work, you can reconvene and ask for an aide.  Unless, there is already an aide in the classroom that could assist him?

Keep track of "data" on your own:

1. Ask his teacher(s) to let you know of any incidents where he appears overwhelmed, anxious, or shuts down.  Also, any times that he does not finish the work within the prescribed timeframe.

2. Try to have a gentle "debriefing" with him at the end of every day and keep a log of what struggles, anxiety, etc., he may have experienced during the day and what may have triggered it.

Good luck at the meeting!!