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IEP Goals & Diagnostic Assessments
IEP Goals & Diagnostic Assessments
IEP Goals & Diagnostic Assessments
Diagnostic assessments of academic skills administered to ALL students …DIBELS, iReady, NWEA, etc…. are not appropriate measures for writing IEP goals. While general education diagnostic assessments provide valuable information about academic skills and should be a part of evaluation or present level data, the benchmarks or “goals” are not individualized or specific, making them inappropriate to be used as IEP goals.
🤔Consider this, you visit your doctor for an unexplained illness. The doctor collects blood and runs a variety of tests. The tests indicate a concern but that concern is still unclear so the doctor collects more blood and runs the same tests. The tests come back with different values but still indicates a concern. You question why the doctor ran the same tests and the doctor replies, “we run these tests on everyone. We now know there’s a concern and we will repeat these blood tests on a regular basis to monitor the concern. On your way out, please schedule a reoccurring weekly appointment for the next 12 weeks.” You know there’s a concern but you’re no closer to an answer than you were after the first assessment. 🤯
That’s what diagnostic assessments of academic skills offer us, an indication of concern.
So then what?…
❇️We must use that information to select comprehensive evaluations/assessment and identify skill deficits such as phonemic awareness, blending, decoding, wh-questions, place value, grouping and ungrouping, spelling patterns such as blends or silent letters, etc.
❇️Goals must be written based on skill deficits so that direct instruction targets skill deficits NOT diagnostic assessment benchmarks for ALL students.
When you see IEP goals that mirror the format of diagnostic assessments, ask questions.
These could look like…
❌Student will score 90 words read correctly per minute on a grade level passage …
❌Student will score 350 on an iReady math assessment …
Still not sure … Ask … ❓
✅How will you monitor progress toward this goal?
✅Is this goal a grade level benchmark or is it individualized to my student?
✅Is this assessment individualized to my student or is it administered to all students?
Still not sure… consult an advocate or parent center
Parent/Caregiver Guilt
IEP Goals & Diagnostic Assessments
IEP Goals & Diagnostic Assessments
Parent/Caregiver Guilt - let’s talk about it…
More than ever in this age of social media parents/caregivers are under intense pressure to get it “right” all the time without support from people outside their nuclear, or immediate family or they risk judgement and ridicule.
My $.02… Stop!!!
If you had a:
- medical challenge you’d consult a doctor
- legal challenge you’d consult a lawyer
- vehicle challenge you’d consult a mechanic
- computer or phone challenge you’d consult a technology specialist
If your student is experiencing an educational challenge CONSULT a SPECIALIST
- pediatrician
- speech language pathologist
- occupational therapist
- special education advocate
- and others
You and your student deserve the support of specialists without guilt for feeling like you need to know it all and/or understand it all.
Ask the SPECIALIST to…
- review the Evaluation and/or IEP
- suggest strategies for interventions
- validate what you’re feeling
- attend a meeting
- and more
IDEA requires a multidisciplinary team because it’s proven that teams are more effective than individuals alone.
Who’s on your student’s team?
IDEA is Federal Law
IEP Goals & Diagnostic Assessments
My Goal as an Advocate
Special Education policies, procedures, and practices in the United States are based on the FEDERAL law - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA.
That means each State Education Agency and Local Education Agency (school districts and schools) has to follow at least the minimum standard set by the FEDERAL law IDEA but may implement additional policies, procedures, or practices that are beneficial to students with disabilities.
What does that mean?
Any information I present will be relevant in YOUR STATE regardless if we reside in the same state.
My Goal as an Advocate
Interviewing an Advocate
My Goal as an Advocate
My goal, as an advocate, is to empower families and caregivers to advocate for their student(s).
At each step of the process, it’s about what helps YOU get what your student(s)
needs to access their FAPE in a way that allows them to make meaningful measurable educational progress.
Empowerment may look like:
- validation of your concerns
- suggestions on what to ask for
- document review and suggestions for revisions
- advocate presence at a meeting as either a silent presence or a voice
- and more
The process is driven by the needs of your student and dictated by what level of support that you communicate is best for you.
Interviewing an Advocate
Interviewing an Advocate
Interviewing an Advocate
Special Education Advocates (like me) are not lawyers. I do not provide legal advice.
When deciding whether to work with an advocate you should ask…
- what’s your experience with special education policy?
- what’s your experience with advocacy?
- what formal training do you have?
- will you/ can you help me create an communication plan or action plan for working with the school?
- what’s your experience with a student that has needs similar to my student?
- what are your expectations from parents/caregivers?
- what services do you offer?
- what are your fees/ can you provide and estimate of fees?
- what is the best way to communicate?
Legally, anyone can serve as a special education advocate…
you should work with someone you feel confident will represent the best interests of your student…
therefore, I recommend interviewing an advocate when making a decision who to work with.
IEP Progress Reports
Interviewing an Advocate
Interviewing an Advocate
It’s report card season. You should be receiving an IEP Progress Report at least as often as you receive a Report Card.
It is NOT a DIBELS, iReady, or NWEA, etc. report.
It IS a report that includes baseline and current data (NUMBERS) on progress toward each IEP goal. It may include provider notes on progress.
If your student is not making expected progress, this is a benchmark tool to reach out to the rest of IEP team and discuss why progress is not occurring.
If your student is making exceptional progress and has met their IEP Goal, this is a benchmark tool to reach out to the rest of the IEP Team and discuss updating the IEP with a new goal.
*this sample is not representative of all IEP progress reports and lacks data numbers.
Rest & Recharge
Rest & Recharge
Rest & Recharge
How do you rest and recharge? I’d love to hear how your family rests.
Caring for someone who has a disability and being a person with a disability impacts the way we navigate life including our relationship with rest.
Rest and recharge as a family as is important. That looks different for every family and includes knowing what works for your family and respecting limits.
Our family needs sensory and movement breaks. Our first few vacations we tried to do and see everything. The result was over stimulated children and parents. Rather than happy memories we aimed to create, it was lots of frustration.
Now, vacations include reminders to take breaks to decompress and limit sensory input and for each of us to take time alone to decompress rather than to take out over stimulation on each other.
It’s not perfect. As always, we are a work in progress.