PALS Meeting Minutes
September 28, 2016 9:30 a.m.
Market District Café | Waterworks Mall
910 Freeport Road Pittsburgh, PA 15238
What's In Your Child's IEP, 504 Plan, or BIP? Together we dove into those Individualized Eduction Program (IEP) Plans and took a look at what is in and what might be left out of these important documents. We helped each other understand what our individual strengths and weakness are in understanding our children's IEP Plans. Along the way we shared experiences, successes and failures and learned of new possibilities.
We also used the attached, downloadable Annotated IEP from PaTTAN.
We broke our conversation down into the eight sections of the IEP. Page Numbers below match the attached Annotated IEP.
Pages 1-7 of the Annotated IEP ultimately end up being about 4 pages long and contain specific information related to the students (name, age, grade, parents' information), other information (IEP Team time line of contact made or contact attempts to parents regarding the meeting), Team signature page, and Procedural Safeguards Notice with parents' signatures.
We were reminded:
Procedural Safeguards are given at every meeting.
Procedural Safeguards should be reviewed by the adult(s) responsible/representing the student each time.
The adult(s) responsible/representing the student at each meeting must sign the Procedural Safeguard Notice prior to the meeting.
MOST IMPORTANT: Keep each copy of the Procedural Safeguards you receive and a copy of the Procedural Safeguard Notice you signed!
Special Note: We did not discuss the following notation found in the middle of page 3, however during our meeting we did discuss a parent not realizing that a brief meeting she had with the team/team members resulted in a new IEP until months after it happened and therefore it should be noted as this is probably a section we frequently overlook.
The LEA is defined by the U.S. Department of Education as:
Local educational agency (LEA): As defined in ESEA, a public board of education or other public authority legally constituted within a State for either administrative control or direction of, or to perform a service function for, public elementary schools or secondary schools in a city, county, township, school district, or other political subdivision of a State, or for a combination of school districts or counties that is recognized in a State as an administrative agency for its public elementary schools or secondary schools.
I. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS THE IEP TEAM MUST CONSIDER BEFORE DEVELOPING THE IEP. ANY FACTORS CHECKED AS "YES" MUST BE ADDRESSED IN THE IEP. pages 8-13
II. PRESENT LEVELS OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE pages 13-16
We were reminded that this section is divided into multiple sections;
Present levels of academic achievement:
- Initial Evaluation Report or Re-Evaluation Report should be the first thing in this section in its entirety directly after the evaluation.
- Notations from the general education teacher
- Notations from the special education teacher
- Results of any formal assessments
- Progress Monitoring on Goals
- Notations from other service providers, i.e. Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist.
Present levels of functional performance:
- Notations from other service providers, i.e. Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist.
- Nurse
- Progress Monitoring on Goals Post-secondary transition goals (if applicable):
Parental Concerns:
We were reminded:
- THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO PUT IT IN WRITING!
- There is no limit to what the responsible adult(s) in the student's life can present.
- Think about breaking your concerns into academic subjects (ELA, Math, PE, Art, etc.), behavior, functional performance, and taking special consideration for specific areas, i.e. lunch, recess, classroom climate.
- This is a great opportunity to address things like school or assessment anxiety the student is expressing at home, a student's inability to sleep, or the amount of time spent on homework, etc...
- The responsible adult(s) should see aspects of their concerns addressed throughout the IEP as it relates to accommodations/modifications.
Needs related to student's disability:
III. TRANSITION SERVICES pages 17-20
Required for students 14 or younger if determined appropriate the the IEP team.
- Must happen not late than the first IEP to be in effect when the student turns 14.
- Must contain appropriate measurable postsecondary goals
- Must contain areas of study (subjects)
- Must contain any interagency responsibilities or links - Must document at least one measurable annual goal for postsecondary goal
- Must document at least one measurable annual goal for general education
- Services and activities to assist the student in meeting the postsecondary goal
IV. PARTICIPATION IN STATE AND LOCAL ASSESSMENTS pages 21-26
We are reminded:
- This is the section where accommodations to those assessments is outlined and must be followed.
- This is the section where opting out of testing (PSSAs, Keystones) is noted.
- We discussed people felling pressured to opt out testing, as well as opting out due to the anxiety and stress it causes the student.
- We discussed NOT opting out of these assessments and using the data to support parental concerns.
V. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES including academic and functional goals: pages 26-29
See notations made in the Annotated IEP
We are reminded:
- To ask for the goals to be explained in layman's terms when necessary.
- The professionals setting the goals do not always write them in a truly measurable way. DO NOT hesitate to question the measurement when you think it doesn't make sense.
VI. SPECIAL EDUCATION / RELATED SERVICES / SUPPLEMENTARY AIDS AND SERVICES / PROGRAM MODIFICATIONS pages 30-39
We are reminded:
- This is where we should see things like; special seating, verbal prompts, modeling, pairing stimuli, wait time, cueing, pictured stimuli, immediate feedback, extra response time, clear/concise directions, repeated directions, extra time to copy written, amount of homework, information, redirection, prompting during independent work time, tension release, etc...
- You should notice some of your concerns (written in Parental Concerns) addressed in this area.
- This is the section that Extended School Year (ESY) eligibility is addressed. For additional information on ESY please see our January 2016 Meeting Minutes.
VII. EDUCATIONAL PLACEMENT pages 40-45
See notations made in the Annotated IEP for questions the IEP Team must answer in this section.
Ultimately this is this section addresses how much time the student spends receiving special education supports and services per school day; 20% or less, more than 20% but less than 80%, and more than 80%.
VIII. PENN DATA REPORTING: Educational Environment pages 46-47
See notations made in the Annotated IEP for questions the IEP Team must answer in this section.
Ultimately this is this section addresses how much time the student spends in the general education classroom per school day; 80% or more, 79-40%, less than 40%.
Next Meeting: October 26, 2016, 6:30 p.m. Lauri Ann West Community Library 1212 Main Street Sharpsburg, PA 15215 TOPIC: You Are Not Alone; working through diagnosis, grief, anger, fear, denial, acceptance, stigma, and advocacy.