I'm just full of questions tonight . . . Title I

1. Some Title I programs end at 3rd grade. Ask about yours.
2. I know I sound like a broken record, but goals and objectives drive an IEP. Make sure (older son, or younger one if IEP’s later) that the Present Level of Performance (PLEP) and the GnO’s are tight and measurable. Unless trust for teacher(s) is/are high, avoid teacher-made tests unless you can get copies of the results and verify.

I have some V & V goals from 1997 or so that one of the LmB clinics wrote for a client’s IEP. :-) I’d be happy to email them. They are not measurable, though, so that piece will need to be developed or discovered. My phonemic awareness and phonics sequence of goals are measurable, but that may not be your child’s problem. Is it comprehension only?

What does your Present Level say about drawing conclusions/inferencing? making predictions? grammar/syntax? comprehension of pragmatics, like idioms?

I hear that State Dept’s of Education are cracking down on vague GnO’s and PLEP’s. Child complaints cost nothing and can, if not overused, be like a chronic cough for a district. They won’t keel over, but they don’t like the negative press. Too many child complaints also generally trigger an OSERS inspection.

What is an OSERS inspection?

If I had educated myself before allowing my son to be put in sped I would not have done it. In 5 years he hasn’t had a teacher that tried to remediate him they just keep doing whole word, easy books over and over again.

I had him tutored all year last year in 4th grade the tutor got him to read at 2+ level. The sped class did not.

This summer I had a tutor do intensive remediation with him and found he didn’t know the difference between long and short vowels. I also am using a good program for fluency. He is doing much better now I don’t know what level.

I think remediation is the answer if at all possible. In our schools if you are in sped class you can’t go to remedial reading????????

I guess I am sounding rather bitter but the sped here is nothing like I thought it would be the low level teaching is awful.

Susan,

Could I please get a copy of your goals and measures also. That is alot of the problem here an IEP doesn’t say will read at any particular grade level or gain.

Thanks

Marion,

I hear you. I will be working to get my son out of sped this year. He reads well now but has other issues. I just don’t think the sped teacher that we dealt with did anything but lower the expectations. That was just not what he needed.
I guess I will see what this years teacher brings before I decide.

I guess not unlike students all teachers can’t be average. I just don’t want the below average one for my child.

Linda

If you don’t mind I’d like to bouce this off of you. Here is a 1 goal out of the 4 we have. We have been working on the same goals for three years now. Is this a well written goal?

PRESENT LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE: His willingness to take on more difficult reading challenges has helped to increase his comprehension this year. As the year has progressed, he is more willing to rely on his comprehension to complete assignments. He has cut back on his need for teacher input in order to begin and complete assignments. Aaron still has difficulty determining from context the meaning of new vocabulary words. He also has trouble using examples and details to support predictions, make inferences or explain cause and effect.

ANNUAL GOAL: He will use strategies to improve reading comprehension.

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES:

1. He will use the context to understand the meaning of new vocabulary words/ 80% accuracy/Daily work

2. He will use details and examples from the story when making predictions and inferences. /80% accurate/ Daily work.

3. He will use details and examples from the reading selection when explaining cause and effect relationships. /80% accuracy / Daily work

* Just a point: We had to burst their bubble on the comments of him willing to take on reading challenges. All of the reading last year was completed by us (his parents). With the amount of reading required, we had to read everything to him before he went to bed every night. He would have never completed the work otherwise.

But the way this is written there is no objective data used to measure progress. Our entire IEP is based on teacher observation.

What do you think about the way they write goals? Any comments appreciated.

Why is this, that once you enter SPED, you cannot get remediation. I thought that’s what it was all about. Boy was I wrong. What is wrong with this picture. It’s all messed up.

Do you know if its possible to remove the label and get them back into the remediation programs at school?

I am so sorry that you and especially your son (like most others) learned the hard (and wrong) way. But I’m right along with you. Hopefully I can spare my younger one from this fate, though.

.

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services at the U.S. Department of Education. They oversee, by regions, the State Dept’s of Education and their special education state plan for serving IEP students. It used to be called OSEP—Office of Special Education Programs.

This team reviews the state’s documents including how many child complaints they have and what they are regarding.

I always liked child complaints because they are free—no lawyer needed. Now, the schools have so much time to correct the deficit without any penalty, so there is really no big harm done. But, if no one ever complains, how will State Ed or U.S. Ed ever know where the problems arise?

Do you mean the child is literally the one who files the complaint? This might be a stupid question, I’m sorry.

GnO’s can only be written based on what the student’s diagnosed disability category indicates. In what areas does your child qualify for services: reading word identification? reading comprehension? written language? math calculation? math comprehension? listening comprehension? oral expression?

Where is his reading currently? Writing a good present level is the beginning step in developing GnO’s.

I’m emailing you my decoding goals just so you can see an example. They may not fit your child’s needs at all…

The only diagnosis that we got from the school is specific learning disability.

Under inclusionary criteria it says that he demonstrates a significant discrepency between ability and achievement in the areas of reading comp., written expression.

Then it says he demonstrates a processing deficit that is chronic, intrinsic, across settings and determined by multiple measures in memory, organization and visual perception.

Now that I look at this (in relation to what you just said) I see where the pieces may be falling apart. They have not acknowledged the auditory processing problems, the basic reading skills deificts, math calculations, automaticity/speed. All of these items are on the form but have not been checked off as him fitting criteria.

We do have a goal for decoding. Would that not fall under the category of basic reading skills. He cannot decode effectively. His spelling is atrocious, no specific goal for spelling, it is thrown in with the written expression goal as he will check for accuracy in spelling and grammar.

Recent reading scores: (He is 10 yrs. old going into 5th grade)

WIAT
Basic reading: 95 (SS) / GE= 3.8
Spelling: 89 / GE= 3.1
Reading comp.: 91 / GE= 3.1
Written expression: 97 / GE= 3.9

GORT
Rate: 8 / GE= 3.2
Accuracy: 6 / GE= 2.4
Fluency: 6 / GE= 2.7
Comprehension: 10 / GE=4.2
SR Quo: 88

No, you file as guardian…children cannot represent selves, yet.

his scores didn’t meet criteria to write GnO’s for them. Not saying is right, but that’s how the law goes in most states. That may also be one advantage for other models, like CBA. Child may show need compared to community norms.

Could write more but must be at school for meetings at 7:00 tomorrow…

I agree with Marion. I thought getting my son placed in LD would get him the help he needed. WRONG! I feel like more than anything I just gave him a label. After years of being in LD, he is so far behind he could never catch up. It might have been the same in regular ed, but I wish I would have given it a chance. I say if the kid can stay in regular ed and keep his head above water…..leave him there.

I agree. I am so sorry that I ever subjected him to all of this. But who knew. I was under the assumption that they knew what was best for my child and that they had his best interest at heart.

What I really feel is happening (and I know its cynical) but I think they categorized and label these kids so that they do not blemish the school report card. If they can remove these kids by SPED label, they will not affect the schools overall achievement performance.

Our school prides itself on its “outstanding” scores. If my kid (and others like him) were included into that average, it certainly would bring it down.

I think maybe its time to remove him from the situation and do it myself. He can’t be any worse for wear without their “assistance,” right?

I’m sorry, of course parents would be the one’s to file. I just thought maybe the child had to make a statement and that’s why it was called a child complaint.

Never heard of this.

Could you please elaborate on CBA (not sure what that stands for) and the showing need compared to community norms?

Our district is very score and school report card conscious. We pride ourselves in how many “gifted and talented” students we have, especially in math.

On the Stanfords, locally my son does not come above the 8th percentile in anything other than science and social studies.

Maybe you can tell me this, what professional do I seek out to take a look at everything that has been done so far and give me a profile of my son and what are the list of priorities for his needs.

I’m just plain worn out and feel I’m chasing my tail because I am NOT a professional.

Everyone so far wants to do their own set of tests before they give me any answer. I just cannot put him through any more testing.

Who can give me the big picture? The neuropscyh only clouded the issues more.

Any suggestions appreciated.

and the difference between Title One and resource was explained to me this way.

Title One tended to be kids who were thought to have all the abilities in place necessary to achieve school success BUT they were not utilizing them. Bluntly, the assumption was these kids were not being stimulated or encouraged at home(more likely to come from low income, single moms, OR two high profile career families who couldnt attend a 10 min conference without their cells ringing)

Resource was for those kids who had a specific diagnosed reason like a LD that explained their not achieving.

Now, from your posts on this board I KNOW youre not an uninvolved, unable, ‘no-time for my kids’ type parent so this may have been specific to our school but…..FYI, thats the way it was addressed by the teachers in that building

And oddly enough, it fits what you said. They would work hard to remediate the Title one kids because there was reason to expect results-“were just giving them what they should be getting at home” and then they will be fine. Resource kids are seen as having REAL problems and expectations are lowered.

just my personal experience and opinion :)

You can reject sped services. At least that is what I was told someone here did.

I believe they wrote Parent refuses services at this time on the IEP.

I may do it this year if I feel we get a repeat of last years problems.

CBA stands for Curriculum-Based Assessment. Instead of using tests like the WISC, WJ series, TOWL, Key Math, CELF-III, and others that are normed nationally, districts use assessments normed in their region of the country. They might compliment with some nationally-normed tests, too. Some districts that are large enough use their own assessments. My district doesn’t do this at all and I’m just now learning about it. I’ll post on Teaching LD for Ruelle and others to dialog.

Knowledge is power.