was need help, now IEP goals

[Robin Hurd]

Denise and others who are looking for IEP goal ideas,    Denise, you have a 1st grader who just got a vantage.   Two things are very important in first grade: beginning to work on reading and writing, and using her device to communicate with others.    The really great thing is that the high frequency words, or sight words, that first graders generally work on are already on the vantage.  And these are the words that she'll need to know, in order to put words together and communicate with others.   So IEP goals can do 2 things at once: build her ability to communicate using the device AND build her literacy skills.  :)   here's an example:  The student will use her communication device to locate high frequency word wall words in order to participate in classroom discussions and  reading/writing activities with reduced levels of prompting and low tech supports(ex: an individual word wall) as needed. You will want to attach a prompting chart to this IEP goal, to demonstrate how they will monitor progress.   The chart will include a few ways of prompting your daugther, starting with either hand over hand help(if she' is OK with this) or modelling(staff shows her by doing it on the device for her).   Other kids of prompting would include verbal directions(press the bridge key and then the teasure chest to say "IN") or a general verbal prompt(It's your turn to say the word).  this goal is set up so that ANY progress away from staff help in finding the word is OK. Obviously, we would like her to be doing this independently by the end of the year.  However, writing it this way takes the pressure off her and the staff, so that they can show her as many times as she needs them to, in order to learn the words.  You will also notice that her ONLY foucs is on locating high frequency words.  When teachers do word families (mat, pat, cat,etc.) some of the words will NOT already be on the device.  Some of the words will also not be words we use very often. (ex: pat)   She doesn't need to add these to her device.  Just focus on using the device for high frequency words.  see the next examples for what she could do with these other words.    Example 2: word sorts:  Given 5 words, three of which are in the same word family and 2 that are not, the student will accurately sort the words based on similarities.  (use more words to choose form, if you think this is too easy) benchmark 1: the student will sort words accurately when the words are read aloud to her. Benchmark 2: the student will sort words accurately, having 2 words read aloud if requested. benchmark 3: the student will sort words accurately while reading them silently.   IEP goal example 3: Making words with letters: Given word endings (at, am, etc) and a choice of beginning consonants, the student will build the requested word with reduced levels of prompting. (use the same prompting chart from goal 1)  I picture doing this with words on laminated paper(maybe magnetized too) in a cookie tray to keep things from dropping. It can also be done with good old magnet letters.  If motor skills make it difficult to move the word pieces independently, the goal could be changed to have the student tell the staff person(on the device) if the staff person built the right word as one benchmark, and tell the staff person (on the device) what consonant to use for the final benchmark.    Writing IEP goal:    Given regular opportunities to write and a selection of interesting pictures, the student will select a picture to write about, and will make at least a 3 word comment about the chosen picture using the AAC device and word by word generation. Benchmark 1: the student selects a picture  with support and makes a 1 word comment about it. Benchmark 2: the student selects a picture  indpendently and makes a 2 word comment. Benchmark 3: the student selects a picture independently and makes a comment of 3 words or more.   This writing goal is meant to adapt something that normally developing kids do about every other day in first grade: draw a picture and write something about it.  At first, they just label their drawing(ex: my family).  Later on, they will will say more ( ex:my family is nice)   It is also worthwhile for her to write by using letters.  She will do this by chosing random letters at first, then begin to hear the sounds and spell the words closer to the right way as she develops her reading skills.   for now, though, I'd focus the IEP goals on writing using her words, and give her time at home to do the exploratory writing with letters. My reasoning is that having her use the device and having staff see that she can tell her own ideas with it is going have really big impact.  Staff will more quickly buy into device use and see her potential to learn when they see her using her words.   Others of you have kids at different places, and may need to adapt goals or have different goals depending on your childs' needs.   Merlie, I'd really build on what she's already been doing with her powerpoint presentations in class.   I think it's such a good chance for her to get some positive feedback from the other kids and it's so motivating.   It's the same thing her peers do in high school.  You would want to spell out how much writing (# of sentences) you think is her goal by the end of the year.  You might also want to talk over with the team making a rubric to grade her written work so everyone is doing it the same way(see more details below).   Amy, just remember that "inclusion" doens't mean that your child has to do everything the rest of the kids in the room do, just because she's in class with them.  One very common accommodation for students in inclusion is to reduce the nember of problems they have to do(ex: math assignments) or to have a differnt grading rubric for a written or oral assignment.   This makes sense when it takes longer to do your work.  a rubric is a chart that teachers use to grade things like written work or presentations.  The teacher will spell out things like how many sentences are needed for each grade(A-F), if she is counting proper punctuation as part of a grade, if she is looking for a topic sentence and supporting details(and if so, how many details).   An IEP team can add a rubric to the IEP if they want to, to give teachers reasonable ways to grade the student.  In the case of my guys, we ask that the rubric NOT grade them on capitalizing the beginning of the sentence, because the deivce does that automatically.  We focus their attention on main idea and supporting details, getting things in sequential order, etc.  We also dont' have them get too worried about some kinds of gramatical correctness.  If the guys forget to use a, an or the, it's less of a problem than working on their IEP goal of proper word order.      Robin

[R. D. Robinson]

THANKS!  I wanted to write you back, but just couldn't force myself.  I'm going to print this out and take it to the SLP.  We actually had her meeting yesterday, but I can change/add/take away if needed.  This is really very helpful, even though some of it may be over my head.  :/  Thanks again!
Denise
...Callie and Emma's mom

--
peace
d

[Robin Hurd]

Feel free to write back and ask questions about the part that was over your head.  It's tough to get a comfort level with IEPs.   It sure took me a long time :)   Robin --- On Thu, 10/22/09, R. D. Robinson <momma...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Ebunny59]

Robin,

I understand this, but how can I word it so the school understands
this? It is back to getting Ds and Fs on spelling tests again. When
they gave her the EXACT sentences that would be at the end of the
spelling tests, we practiced spelling all words in them correctly .
When you just give them words in the sentence, using words from a list
of 200 Dolch/site words, then expect her to know how to spell al of
them, she can't. She always capitalizes and punctuates correctly,
even with the Eco, it is an OCD thing with her. And with the word
list being back up to 16 words (different teacher), we cant really
concentrate on any one word very long. If a kid has an attention span
of 15 minutes, that is less than one minute a word, for studying. She
really did best with 10 words, even if they were harder words. Now,
she will get one or 2 of the harder words correct, but miss a lot of
the easy words, like then and what. It doesn't help that her special
ed teacher is the one that use to tell the old principal that I was
intimidating her, or that I didn't like the way she taught the class.
I really don't care how she teaches the rest of the class, just my
kid. And what I want her to do, isn't all that much different. I
want fewer words, with not so many word blends in them, I want a
reduced number of sentences that have been given to us ahead of time.
So, how should I word it, to ask for these things, and what reasons
should I give? This teacher scares me, she really does. She
intimidates me, not the other way around. It's just an air about her,
like I know what I am doing, and you are ignorant.

Now, her homeroom teacher and aide I love. The other day, on
grandparent's day, the kids were raising their hands and answering
questions. To me, this would seem like the perfect time to have the
Eco sitting onthe desk, ready to answer. When she called on Kendra
though, Kendra answered "newspaper" correctly, when asked when would
you need t interview or be interviewed, the teacher didn't hear her,
and I told her what she said. Another one, she correctly answered
WEATHER VANE, again,b ecause of Kendra's quiet voice, I had to tell
her what she said. Now, Kendra knows very well how to say NEWSPAPER
on her device. Ture, she wouldn't have been able to answer weather
vane on her device, without typing i out, but If I had had 1 day to
program those 6 words in, they were talking about, she could have.
THEN, as I listen to Kendra tell me every day that they use the Eco in
every class, I noticed when they went to the special ed room/comptuer
room, her Eco was sitting in the hall. She only goes to special ed
for language, which is where I want her to use her Eco the most, for
writing purposes. I know I can get in the LAM, and start quoting how
much and for what she is using the Eco for, and I will before the IEP,
but how do I just gently suggest that if they are speaking or writing,
they Eco should be in front of her?

I am ok with them continuing with her answering, and the aide
clarifying or writing. But I shouldn't have to settle for that,
because I KNOW she can do so much more, on her own. She does it at
home almost every day now. Good news is, I did get a web camera
finally, the bad news is I can't seem to make it work yet, LOL If I
can just show her doing this stuff, they might beleive me.

Amy

On Oct 23, 11:43 am, Robin Hurd <hurd4k...@verizon.net> wrote:
> Feel free to write back and ask questions about the part that was over your head.  It's tough to get a comfort level with IEPs.   It sure took me a long time :)
>  
> Robin
>

> --- On Thu, 10/22/09, R. D. Robinson <mommane...@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> From: R. D. Robinson <mommane...@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: was need help, now IEP goals
> To: aacpa...@googlegroups.com
> Date: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 6:18 PM
>
> THANKS!  I wanted to write you back, but just couldn't force myself.  I'm going to print this out and take it to the SLP.  We actually had her meeting yesterday, but I can change/add/take away if needed.  This is really very helpful, even though some of it may be over my head.  :/  Thanks again!
> Denise
> ...Callie and Emma's mom
>