Our fifth grader has had an IEP for 3 years for LD reading and ADHD. We recently received an alarming e-mail from the special ed teacher, which generated a meeting, which generated another meeting with the principal, based on which we are trying to amend her IEP.
“Just a note to let you know that ______ has missed 28 writing assignments and will get a U in Reading for the first test. Sorry this had to happen.”
Anyway, after an IEP review meeting and discussion with the principal, we all realized that the IEP contains ONLY writing and spelling goals and absolutely NOTHING addressing organizational skills needs relating to the ADHD. Suddenly the special ed teacher is telling us all kinds of things about what our child is not doing to organize to complete assignments, do long term projects, etc. (“______ gets overwhelmed by long-term assignments.”) However, her proposed IEP objectives seem very general, with no specific strategies, e.g., “_______ will maintain an assignment book to record short-term class assignments and long-term assignments with due dates._______ will turn in assignments when due.” Any suggestions on more precise objectives and how to achieve them?
Re: Need help with IEP on ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS! Thanks!
Not only can you contact the school to help with organizational goals but there is more that you can do. Do you have a private tutor for your child that specializes in behavior modification. Medication is a good thing but may not get rid of a lot of the symptoms. I have ADHD and am now 21 but even with medication I needed that little bit of extra help. My tutor helped me with changing my horrible organization skills and also helped me with those long term assignments and proper study skills. One thing that helped me with my organizational skills is somthing that my middle school guidance councelor and my aunt made up for me and that was a daily progress report. I recomend this for anyone who has a student as well as a child with ADHD with problems with organization as well as problems with turning things in time. I know that was one of the hardest things that I had to overcome. Let me explain this daily progress report. On it, it had the date, the class, if i turned in all classwork on time, if i was attentive during class, and if I turned in all homework. The last column was for comments and the teachers signature. I had to get this signed every class and checked off. My teachers were more than willing to participate since it took all of two seconds to fill out. If I got a bad report or did not get it signed for one class I would get something that I liked taken away, for me it was the phone for a day. I have made a daily progress report so that those that I post a reply to I can send it to them by email. I believe that it can be modified to fit your child’s specific needs.Children with ADHD [u][b]are [/b][/u]capable of doing the same work as the rest of the children. It just takes a little bit of extra work but it can be done and should be expected of them. So that you dont think that I am just talking out of experience I want to let you know that I am currently in college and majoring in education and psychology and that I am trying to specialize in teaching children with ADHD. If you have any questions feel free to email me at [email protected]
Re: Need help with IEP on ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS! Thanks!
Perhaps the school would evaluate your child’s executive functions. Executive functions are often overlooked when trying to plan for a child with poor organizational skills. These functions help us plan ahead, make good use of time, enable us to complete tasks, etc. The level of these functions can be easily evaluated by a psychologist, and measureable terms established for goals.
If the level in some area is very weak, stepping stones can be established by the IEP team. Sometimes it is necessary to start out a goal “with teacher assistance” student will. Then when that is successful, the next step would be “with teacher prompt”, and then finally “student will initiate”. By addressing all of these stepping stones a child is more likely to learn compensatory skills to overcome a weakness in organizational skills.
Been there, done that with my own kid.
Ok, call the teacher and tell her you want goals for organization, share some of your thoughts with her. She should be able to create some from a goal bank. Then ask to see the goals prior to the IEP meeting so that you can know what is up and save time at the meeting creating new goals.
Remember the goals for organization need to be measureable. and created for him to be responsible and establish a habit for success. Here are a few just off the top of my head.
Student will be responsible to keep a daily planner and record class aassignment in it on a daily basis with 80% accuracy in 3 out of 5 trials to be measured by work samples, passing grades.
Student will check with his teachers and parents about his grades and assignnments that are due on a daily basis as measured by initials of the teacher and parents in the planner daily with 80% accuracy over a month.