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OLENA KYSELOVAParticipant
I believe Spencer can be a good candidate for Section 504 plan rather than special education services at this time. He is performing above grade level and on grade level academically and will continue to benefit from general education curriculum. Additionally, his was reported to be well-behaved most of the time at school.
It is very common for children with autism to have difficulty with transitions and change. Spencer’s refusals to go to school represent his wants. He does not want to go to school. He resists transitioning from home setting where he can play computer games all day, his highly preferred activity. At this time, school is his non-preferred academic setting where he is expected to follow teacher’s directions and participate in non-preferred activities.
As part of autism patterns of behaviors, Spencer’s social skills are his relative weakness. He does not need to have eye contact and “read” social cues while playing his favorite game (Minecraft) with others. He prefers to meet others in the gaming environment, not school environment, and it is his want, not need.I would like to have more information about his sensory needs. Is Spencer bothered by loud noises and large groups? Does he take a bus to school and if he does, how long does it take him to get there? Does Spencer is expected to wait outside (in a busy, crowed and unstructured setting) before the bell rings in the morning? If this is a case, I would ask school occupational therapist observe him and give his teacher suggestions how to help him be successful. In this case, Spencer may have a need, not a want, and he should be accommodated by school staff and allowed to enter the building earlier to help his transition and start his school day on a positive note.
Spencer would probably benefit from developing visual schedule and learning how to use it before classes start. Additionally, in the school setting, his teachers could reinforce his appropriate behaviors by providing him opportunity to play board games with peers of his choice. In Anchorage, we have a program Big Brothers Big Sisters when a student is matched with a Big Brother, a mentor, who comes to school at assigned times and spend time with students who require attention and support.
OLENA KYSELOVAParticipantDawn,
I agree with Ashley that your goal meets all 8 R-GORI criteria. I find the R-GORI team guide very useful and practical for writing IEP worthy goals. It helps to have consistency in teaching and practicing targeted skills during different activities, time of the day and across different settings. The instrument is easy to implement and it is written in a language that can be presented to non-special education professionals and parents.
OLENA KYSELOVAParticipantGoal: Given a group teacher directed-activity, Johnny will stay with group for the duration of the activity with no more than 2 cues on 4 of 5 opportunities over 5 days by May 18, 2018.
Measurability – yes
The target behavior has a beginning point and the end point (duration of the activity). The teacher or teacher assistant can gather data through observation of what they see and hear during group activity.
Functionality – yes. Being able to stay in the group during activities is a critical component of attending to teacher’s instructions, on –tasks behavior, following teacher’s directions and participation in activities. Circle time and group activities are an important part of daily schedule and routine in preschool classes.Generality – yes
The behavior targeted – staying in group during adult directed activities – represents generic process of participation in groups. This behavior is very important during different types of group activities (circle time, group projects, snack time, etc.) and across different settings (classroom, gym, transitions in the hall).Instructional context – yes
This behavior can be taught and reinforced by teacher and teacher assistant in the classroom during the day, and it can be addressed by speech therapist in the therapy room, PE teacher in gym and other professional.Overall, this goal meets all 8 R-GORI criteria.
OLENA KYSELOVAParticipantHi Dawn,
I am so glad that our school district invited Dr. K.P.F during the in-service days and she presented to different groups, including our special education administrators. We are all on the same page in terms of creating goals and objectives, and looking at academic goals as being functional and meaningful for students learning. I agree with you that students with similar needs sometimes will have similar goals. Classroom environment is a great place to work on student’s deficits or emerging skills and practice skills. It helps the teacher to set up environment and activities to target particular skills in the classroom setting, collect data and monitor students progress.OLENA KYSELOVAParticipantWhile listening to the lesson, I was thinking about correlation between functional skills, independence and adaptive behavior. I have a better picture now about how mastering a goal in one particular basic academic skills (early literacy skills) can lead to becoming an independent reader and then to a well-adapted lifelong learner. And as educators, we know that learning never stops. Though, there is not always a clear distinction between functional and academic goals. For example, practicing reading nonsense words may sound at first as having little functional application. Children will not find these words in the community and home setting. However, it is a great activity for struggling readers to practice blending sounds, and they can generalize the skill in future when reading real words.
OLENA KYSELOVAParticipantHi Daniel,
I agree with you that the Four Filters help clarify and determine student’s need for specially designed instructions. Filter 1 is crucial in determining if the child has disability. Working with preschool children and evaluating them for special education services, my team members and I are always hesitant to qualify preschool children in the area social skills as the only area of educational needs. Many of them have never had opportunity to be in a social setting with same age peers. We always encourage parents to try general education preschool first. We explain to them that children learn from peers. Sometimes, parents have only one child and they do not know what behaviors are developmentally appropriate. Working with families and educating them about child development is a very important component of the assessment process.
OLENA KYSELOVAParticipant“During a variety of daily activities, (insert child’s name) will correctly pair a label/name, a symbol, and/or an action of one object, person, and/or event to another. The child will correctly pair five different labels, symbols, or actions each day for two consecutive weeks. For example, the child will correctly pair number tags with corresponding objects by counting, child will select a buddy to read with when directed to “find a friend”, child will pair matching letter tags with letter sounds, child will name each animal in a story, child will give each child a napkin during snack, child will hang their backpack on a hook).”
Filter 1: I think that this IEP goal is very broad and does not meet the filter. The information is not sufficient to determine if it is a child’s educational need or common age delay. We do not know the age of the child and what specific deficits were identified as the area of his educational needs. Expectations for students are different for ages 3, 4 and 5. We will need more information about the student’s cultural background, primary language and access to instructions.
Filter 2: This goal addresses several needs – student’s literacy skills, math skills, and social skills (working cooperatively with a peer and following teacher’s directions). These skills are critical to student’s successful performance in the classroom setting. Student’s delays in these foundational skills aversively impact his learning. This goal meets filter 2.
Filter 3: The goal above addresses student’s deficits in basic literacy, social and math skills. I would separate all these areas into different goals in the areas of reading, writing and math. I will gather more information and data for baselines and be more specific about the setting and activities (general education classroom or special education classroom, and independent work or group work).
Filter 4: I think the IEP goal meets the filter. It is functional and measurable and achievable in a one year period of time. I would be more specific in what setting it will be addressed and who will be responsible for data collection.
OLENA KYSELOVAParticipantHi Daniel,
I agree with you that information about Damien’s attention problems is a fully green statement. It gives a reader a clear impression of this aspect of this student. I also agree with you that it should be expanded to complete the statement section, it might be expanded to include the last portion of Dr. K. P-F’s “Formula for Success” by describing how this “affects access, participation and/or progress.” In the classroom setting students are involved in a lot of activities and transitions. I would like to have more information in what activities Daniel is more successful. Is he more successful during independent work or small groups? Does he have favorites subject and tasks? Does he respond to incentives/ positive reinforcement system? Is his behavior different during structured vs non-structured settings? The additional information is needed to prioritize the student’s needs and address them on IEP.OLENA KYSELOVAParticipantDayton prefers to play in isolation and becomes upset (e.g., cries and hits others) when another child comes too close. As a result, his peer interactions at playtime are limited. Green
The statements indicate that the child prefers to play by himself and it can be used as a baseline for working on responding to peer interaction appropriately (i.e., eye contact, smile, saying “Hi”, etc)As measured on the EOWPVT-R, Carmen’s (48 months) expressive vocabulary is at 19 months and as measured by the ROWPVT-R her receptive vocabulary is at 26 months. Red
The statement provides limited information about child’s functional communication skills and his ability to utilize non-verbal communication system (gestures and signs).Elise is essentially non-verbal and uses many ways to communicate including: gestures, facial expression, eye gaze, vocalizations, word approximations, head nods for yes, head shakes for no, and use of a Dynavox 3100 augmentative communication device which she accesses with a head switch. Green
This is a good example about child’s strengths and weaknesses, and her to communicate her needs and wants.Damien’s attention problems result in failure to follow the teacher’s directions, talking out of turn and responding inappropriately during group activities. Green/Red.
The statement indicates that the student’s inattention affect his performance in the classroom. I would like more information and examples about “responding inappropriately” and what looks like in the classroom setting.Zung understands and remembers what he hears about a subject. Learning by reading or looking at pictures is difficult for him and doesn’t work as well. Green
Zung is an auditory learner and performs better when information presented orally/ verbally.Mark doesn’t know his colors. He can count to 3 but doesn’t always remember the number 2. He can stack 3 blocks. Red
I would like to know more about Mark’s strengths. I also find some inconsistency of reporting his ability to count to 3.Olena Kyselova
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