Special Education Academy: The Importance of IEP Goals

ANDREA YU: Hello everyone, thank you so much for joining me tonight for this Part 5 of 10: The Importance of IEP Goals, Special Education Academy. My name is Andrea Yu; I will be your presenter tonight. I am waiting for one more minute, and then I will begin the training. If you haven’t had a chance or the opportunity to look at the previous trainings, I do encourage you to please look at our DREDF website.

And you will see in that link that we have our YouTube page, that is where you can have access to our recorded trainings. This training will also be recorded. So you will also have the opportunity to look at training as well, if there is something that you do not catch minor chance of you just want to review the information. The other thing I want to share with you all is that I will have a session for Q&A.

This session will be at the end of the trainings. So please hold your questions. You can put them in the Q&A if you think you’re going to forget. But I will not answer any questions until the end.

Sometimes the questions are answered throughout the training. Keep that in mind that I do want to go through all information. We have a lot to cover. At the end I will pause recording and get do the questions.

I do have a voice captioner. If you want to go ahead and check that out too, great. That we can follow along with the captions. That will be perfect.

And I do see Brianna. Brianna, I hope you are in the training. You do not have to unmute. You can put it in chat if you are in the training or not.

I see Connie. Thank you for joining us. Georgianna. Kashiev… Marlene.

Someone came in. Thank you all for joining us. I will go ahead and get started. The first thing I would do is I do have a short question.

It is just one question– that is the wrong one, I apologize. It is the first one. I am going to do one question, just one. If you could answer that, it would be perfect.

It helps us understand where you are at, at the moment. Okay. Thank you for answering those questions. I just need one more person to do so.

And while you answer that question I will end the poll in a little bit. Let’s get started we are in Part 5 of 10: The Importance of IEP Goals, Special Education Academy. Since you have been joining me to the beginning thank you for being here all the way. We are halfway there.

We are going to talk about the importance of IEP goals. Who I am, I am Andrea Yu, one of the bilingual advocates for DREDF, and a little background about myself, I used to be a special education preschool teacher. Before that I was a GenEd preschool teacher. Before that I used to work in the afterschool program ages 6, 7 and 8.

Art preference has always been the younger kiddos. But I everybody. But that is something that I did in my past life. Today’s agenda: We will discuss all the areas of need, identify areas of need and how you can turn those needs into SMART goals, an argument which stands for specific, measurable, appropriate, and actually–it is attainable–and related.

The last is time sensitive. And how these goals are the goals you are looking for when it comes to your student’s IEP goals. At the end I said we’ll talk about questions. Throughout that information of the IEP goals we will also have some advocacy strategies for you to take.

First of all, who are we at DREDF. We are unique alliance of people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities. Our vision is to have a just world word people live full and independent life free of discrimination. Disability rights are civil rights.

We intend to educate the people. The parents we serve are in 30 counties, specifically the Parent Information Center. We also try to educate policy stakeholders, legislative members. And all the information to society.

What I do specifically at the Parent Training and Information Centers, we’ve provided free technical information to families. For example we do trainings this one, also provide one-on-one support. We will not tell you what to do. We are not lawyers.

We will not give you any advice. But we can definitely discuss your situation and help you understand your rights and your options. What I would say is that the one-on-one support, you have to belong in the 30 counties that we serve. But any training you want to join through Zoom does not matter what county you are.

Anybody can join. Does not matter what state you are in the US. There is a PTI or Parent Training and Information Center in every state of the US. Here’s our number if you want to give us a call you can do the 800 number or the 510.

or you can go ahead and email us if you prefer. One other thing that I will do is I will be sending these training slides to you. You will receive no later than Wednesday. And in those training slides you will also get the link of a YouTube channel that we have where you can take a look at our previous trainings.

I do not know when this particular training will go on. Just be aware that eventually it will be on the website. What are the expectations? We’ll talk about the IDEA, the education law that protects students with disabilities.

And the potential goal is for students who have an IEP or an Individual Education program. And lastly the advocacy strategies. I want to be honest this is a marathon, not a sprint. You will encounter some roadblocks, but we want you to be prepared for any situation.

And be aware that this may be something that you may have to go through for a bit. It will not be a quick fix. We will do the very best we can to support you and help you understand your rights, and what options are out there. We will definitely discuss your options I said, but we cannot tell you what to do.

As we are not attorneys. Any questions we will have the end. I am video recording this training. Therefore I do not want to discuss any questions because of the privacy of everybody.

And even if we do get to that point please only general questions. Do not provide any specifics of the students, or any specific detail because we do want to respect your privacy, even if you will put in the chat, in the Q&A, once I respond to those questions, that will be available for everybody to see. So please keep it general. Why do we use the term “disability” and not “special needs”?

The word disability is very strong when as it is defined in the law. And when you say “disability” it means certain specific rights. When you talk about special needs– I to think about it as, “oh, you are doing a favor to somebody.” But that is not really what this is. Right?

The way to think about it is, “well my kid has special needs.” And “oh, the district is supporting the student. Look how nice they are.” It gives you that sort of feeling. When you say disability that means there are laws that protect the students. And these laws into be applied in their education and outside their education.

The 504 anti-discrimination law. And the IDEA which is the education law. When you talk about disability you have all of these rights that you can definitely defend and advocate for. That is why we want to keep using the word “disability” as opposed to “special needs.” It does have that trigger of, “these are my rights and I will advocate for them.” Here is a quote that I’ve been using since the beginning.

I will skip that for now. So for this overview of the series, as I mentioned, we haven’t had the opportunity to look at the other previous trainings or if you want to refresh, you can go ahead and look at the YouTube channel. I will again send you the link. In Parts 1 and 2, we talked about the foundation of IDEA.

We will not talk about that now. But if you want to refresh we look at the video. Parts 3 and 4, we talked about the importance of evaluations, and the importance of evaluations creates a goals as the evaluations are what creates the needs or highlights the needs, and the present level of the students. And that is how we lead to goals.

Now we are going to look at the accountability in the IEP which is the goals. The reason why the goals are so important is it because it creates the data to understand if the student is reaching the progress year-to-year. Of course we might even have some short-term goals to decide if they are going to meet these goals. That is a perfect of these goals.

We want to understand and see if the student is meeting all their needs, and if they are making their progress. And what I will talk about the difference between a general goal and a SMART goal keep that in mind. The goal is important in that it provides data increase accountability when it comes to providing a free, appropriate public education for the student. If you were in my evaluation training, you will see this chart.

It will seem familiar. Let me scoot over a little bit more. When we look at evaluations, we have to look at all the data. That is the data that we have.

When the district conducts an evaluation for the Individual Education program or IEP have to go to different assessments. The assessment can be psychoeducational, occupational therapy, speech, and language, all of those things or all of those assessments they take if the student has needs in those areas. Those are not the only data. We can look at grades, test scores, parent reports, teacher reports, etc., and we can look at any recommendations from outside providers.

It can be a therapist outside that supports the student. It could be a doctor, etc. Do keep in mind that if the doctor prescribes a one-on-one aide, you have to understand that just because the doctor says the student needs a one-on-one aide, that is still at the discretion of the district to decided whether it is an educational need or not. At the end of the day the district is the one who makes that observation.

But there is a need. In the assessment indicates that the student needs a one-on-one aide, that is something the district has to consider so the student is able to make progress. But through all this data, it is how we create these goals. The areas of needs need to highlight– it could be academic, social emotional, behavioral, daily living skills, all of these areas are educational needs.

Through the needs of the students that we derive to the assessment, grades, etc., is how we come up with the goals. These goals have to be specific, measurable, or achievable– or ambitious– relevant or time sensitive. So for example, let’s say that the difference between a general goal and a SMART goal is, “I want to be fit.” Okay? My goal is to be fit.

That is the goal. Maybe my goal is specific, I want to be fit. But it does not tell me more. What is my goal instead is, “I will run 30 minutes, three times a week, for a month.” So now we are specific.

We are running 30 minutes, three times a week. Measurable for a month. Is it achievable? Yeah.

I am going to– that is something I can do at the time. I cannot run 30 minutes a day every day, but I can do three times a week. Is it relevant? Yes it is relevant to me.

My health need is I have to become more fit. Is it time bound? It is because I want to be fit within a month, or within a year. Or any to create smaller goals for myself.

That is something we can say time bound. That is a SMART goal, it tells me exactly how I’m going to meet my goals. And going back to the student– based on the area of needs– we create SMART goals and now we talk about the services. Needs derived goals; goals derive services.

The services can be based on the support the student needs. It can be certain accommodations, related services. It can be special academic instruction, etc. Think of it this way: if the student has a need because he is struggling in math, okay we do an assessment.

The assessment indicates there is quite a low level in math. They should be in third grade, but we are actually in first grade level. Now we need to create a goal in academics, which is math. We create a SMART goal.

And because we have this goal now we have services. The service is special academic instruction. And it is not just “okay the student will receive special academic instruction.” It has to say how often. 30 minutes five times a week.

Okay? And who will deliver the instruction. The special education teacher. What kind of curriculum we use?

Maybe I use I-READY or Lindemann Bell (phonetic), or something related to math. Any type of curriculum. Where will they receive the support? Then we talk about placement.

The support or services they will be receiving in the general education classroom, or in the special day class or nonpublic school. That is how we come to the placement. But first we need to data, number one. Okay?

Let me check on that poll. I want to make sure we are up to date. Thank you. Thanks everybody for doing that poll.

I will have one more at the end. Why are the goals so important? The goals indicate the student is making progress, specifically in the general education curriculum. They are aligned here in California with the common core standards.

Okay? If you’re not here in California, just be aware that they also need to be aligned you state standards. Whatever it is. The common core standards are available to all parents.

They can go online and check it out. I actually have a hyperlink that you will see in a few slides. But just be aware that these goals do need to be aligned with the Common Core. We are making sure the students are making progress to the same extent as a typical peers.

Okay? For example when I was a teacher I would have a student who may be social emotional not yet, they could be as a kindergartner. But– I forgot what it is called– but it is a Common Core for preschool kindergarten. Not called Common Core but it is essentially the same levels that we would have to measure.

It’s a pretty big acronym too. We look at that standard and I have to determine okay, we need to make sure the student is at kindergarten standard for social/ emotional. Maybe the kindergarten expectation at his age is that he will be able to share with other students. Right now he is not so let’s look at what is a standard below that one.

It looks maybe the next standard for him will be to be able to share with an adult. Right? Then we are aligning it. It might be one below, but we are still aligning it with the general education curriculum because we want the student to reach at the same level.

But it does have to be aligned. Specifically in the IEP document, when you check your goals page, they should be an area where it says, “does this goal align with the general education curriculum?” The box should say yes. And that it should indicate what standard. And that standard, you can google it.

You can type it, Google it, and it will tell you what standard it is. I do highly suggest that so that way you can check if the standard is aligned with the current goal. They also address the educational need of the student of course. From the suspected disability or disability, we want to make sure this is meeting the kid’s unique needs for that specific grade.

The way I think about it is, if your student is a highschooler and we are thinking about transitioning and being able to count monies that way they can go to the supermarket. And they’re able to buy whatever they , that sounds a reasonable goal because we want them to be independent. But maybe not an adequate goal to be able to fold laundry. Maybe for that specific sure.

But if the student does not need that support on how to fold laundry, we do not have to included as one of their goal things. It has to be based on the student’s needs, and what we want them to achieve. Because at the end of the day, IDEA is preparing students– no matter what grade they are– looking ahead at the future. Making sure students are able to be as independent as possible as their definition of independence is.

So they are able to get out there in the world and be independent. Okay? All right, so what specifically does the IDEA say about IEP goals? This as you see here, the (§300.320(a)(3)), that is the education code.

you can type that out in Google, and it will appear. The goals must include immeasurable, annual goal. Including academic and functional goals, or any area of need that is able to satisfy the needs of the students, based on their disability. And of course make progress in the general and core curriculum.

If it is not possible to make progress in the general curriculum, maybe in the physical GenEd, maybe in a special day class, still those guilty to be aligned to the general curriculum. And we look at all the areas of disability. Not just academic. It could be any other area: speech, OT, adaptive technology, what have you.

Right? For children with disabilities who take alternative assessments to align with alternate academic achievement standards, for students in first grade and up. Those of you want to take the standards testing every year, which is usually in the spring which is coming. As a teacher in preschool, that wasn’t something that was required we look at all the areas of need of the student.

Specific in preschool was the academic– preacademic skills learning how to count, brow count, quantity; is the understand what the concept is of one. Social/emotional was a big thing. Vocational and advocacy– a big one because I want students to have the advocacy skills. And as a student you want to have this goal to be able to advocate for themselves so we can start early on.

Those are just some examples. But for students who are up in any standard, it should also be part of the goals on how they can meet the standards. The IEP must include a description of the child’s progress towards meeting the goals. And indicate when you are receiving this progress report.

As a teacher, I would tell you that when I used to be a teacher, I would get the reports the same time that GenEd would receive reports. If it was every quarter, then that was when reports were sent out. But if there was a progress report, then I would send it out too. It also dependent as well when the student needed to meet the annual goals.

May be some other kids were little bit earlier; their IEP goals or IEP meetings had to be sooner throughout the year, I would send out report sooner. But that should be indicated in the IEP document, with what frequency you should be receiving the progress report or the report. Which ideally falls with the time that GenEd usually receives of reports that it can also be different. Why is it tied to general education?

Student regards of their disability are GenEd first. The law requires it, but this is why GenEd teachers should be present in the IEP meeting; we want to discuss whether the student is able to meet these goals. How can we meet these needs, so they are able to achieve these goals? And how can we change these goals, so they are able to be met?

Maybe the goals are good, but they need to be modified in a way that is attainable. Or they have to be time sensitive. So that is a concept that is very important. And the teacher of GenEd should be there.

Unless a student spends 100% of the time away from GenEd, maybe they are in a special ed class all the time, we can assume the GenEd teacher will not be there. Maybe we can have a talk with the GenEd teachers we can have these conversations. What are the applications of a kindergarten kid? Johnny cannot meet those expectations.

Or maybe they can. Can you help me expand why the student is in a special class instead of the GenEd? Maybe we need to have that IEP member in the IEP meeting. Here some hyperlinks you can have access to the California Common Core standards.

This is all California because I am in California. And so , if you’re outside the state, be aware that this is available any state. You may have to say– that Texas Common Core math standards and that should appear. These are usually quite long to be completely honest with you.

But I think it is very well looking at the Common Core standards in a truly aligned with your student’s goals. An example that I will get his I did check out an IEP meeting with a parent. There is a math goal that indicated it was aligned with third-grade. When we checked up the math Common Core standard for third grade, that goal was actually not aligned to third grade.

It was more aligned to first grade. So we want to know what happened? Was it a typo? Is it just something that is typed in the IEP?

Who is in charge of creating this IEP document? Was it told to the parent that it was third-grade standard, known it was first-grade? We want to know why that is so. And then we want to have a conversation because we are more aware of what is the expectation.

Right? The California dyslexia guidelines– I love reading this one is quite hefty but not quite hefty as the California Common Core. Because in Common Core they throw out most of the grades, candy through eighth grade. But the California Common Core guidelines has great tips on question to ask if your student has dyslexia.

The parent can check out different types of expectations for the teacher to teach a student with dyslexia. And what questions to ask. It has hyperlinks. It is a pretty good guideline.

And here again we see the different kinds of models and the Rand (phonetic) language production for language and typing. I will send these out so you can have access to them. Progress report must send out to parents. That is part of meaningful parent participation.

You have the right to check if your student is making progress. In this progress report, you also indicate with specific data whether your student is truly making progress. If your progress report states, “they are doing great.” “They are doing great progress.” That is not telling the parent anything. But if the goal is, “Johnny will be able to route-count up to 10 by February 2, 2026, with very limited support from the pair educator or special education teacher.” That is very specific.

The progress report I am reading from the teacher says, “Johnny is able to route-count up to five with moderate support. The parent or the teacher need to remind Johnny, 1, 2, 3.” That gives me more information on where the progress really is at. If I am looking at okay Johnny can route-count to five, but he needs moderate support and it is January, I wonder if you will me to go. Maybe he has less than a month.

Maybe he will meet it. Maybe he won’t. But at least this is me an idea of where he is making progress, instead of him just making progress. In California there should be three progress reports sent to the parents each school year.

Which is essentially it will look at the IEP document, it should say sometimes it will say short-term objectives. And there should be three short-term objectives. Not always. Not mandatory.

But it is nice if it is. Right? It breaks down the goal a little bit more. Regardless of whether that information is in the IEP document in the goal section or not, as the parent you still be receiving a progress report indicating whether the student is making progress.

And I think it is always great to receive these progress reports. Because he we have progress reports that have clear indication, whether the student is maybe not making progress, you as a parent can say, “wait a minute. By February they should be able to route-count to 10. Now it is January and they can only route-count up to two.

Something is happening.” I as a parent am going to call an IEP in writing, everything in writing henceforth. I want to discuss what is happening with my kiddo, or what is getting in the way for him to learn to route-count to 10. You can only route-count to two. Then we can have meaningful conversation, and you can participate as a parent.

In summation the IDEA requires measurable goals in the IEP in each area of educational need. The magic word is “education.” Education means not just academics; it means education, socioemotional, speech, occupational therapy, health, all of those words encompass education. Not only must there be measurable goals in all the areas of need. They also have to be SMART.

But these goals have to indicate how they are able to support the student get access to their education, and how those goals are linked to the Common Core standard. Okay? And of course you should be receiving these progress reports, preferably three times a year. Sometimes maybe even more.

I used to give the parents a pre-progress reports sometimes, when I didn’t have a lot going on. But I definitely would send out a lease those three times a year. That way the parent is able to understand what is happening in the current time. And also, we want to know what specific data is indicating whether he is making progress or not.

We want that tracking data to also be specific. And again, there is no limit to the number of goals in the IEP. The number of goals is determined by the student’s needs. And with that I mean for example, if the district says, “we only provide three math goals per student.” I want to remind you that this is an Individual Education program.

If there is a generalized policy for students, that there’s only three math goals per student who has an IEP I would want to ask for the policy in writing that indicates that there is only three math goals per student. Who has an IEP. Okay? That does not sound an individualized IEP to me.

It sounds we are creating this general guideline. And again that does not sound individualized. Be aware that there are students who have 10 goals in different areas. Or four goals.

It depends on the needs of the student. Okay? Here are some examples of some academic and functional goals. The IDEA requires school districts to offer goals in all the areas of education.

It could be academic, comprehension, coding conventions different when it comes to student’s reading comprehension. If yes the student, “what did you read?” That could be a different comprehension. Handwriting (spacing and placement), writing follows the line. These are some functional goals that support student educational access, which is in the area of speech and language.

Occupational therapy which is fine motor or gross motor. Or sensory. All of those things are conventional therapy. Fine motor is usually writing, typing, and picking up little things.

Sensory could be noises. Maybe the sound of the classroom, sensations; maybe the tag or hygiene that creates some sensations. Gross, motion by pulling, jumping, etc. And of course there is PT.

These are examples. Again every student has different needs. We are just giving you brief examples. Again, how is the student able to receive support or services in those areas of needs?

That has to come from the assessment. Right? Because if there is no service, or if there is no goal, then there is no service. Okay?

And I want to give an example of that before I get into the slide. I had a parent who told me, “well, my team and I we are aware that my student will definitely benefit from spending more time in the GenEd curriculum. He is in kindergarten. And we want more time in circle time.” There is that need.

He needs support in circle time. Right? But they are telling me they are going to try and help him sit for at least 10 minutes in circle time, with the help of an aide. But they say they can’t do it.

They tried, and they can’t. They are not going to do it anymore. My question is, was there a goal? Was the goal ever created?

There was no goal. There was an acknowledgment of need, but goal was never created. The parent said they tried it but never follow through. There is an expectation of services.

There was never a goal addressing this area of need. Needs derives the goals, derive the service. The goal was circle time for 10 minutes. Is that GenEd?

The goal has to be SMART. Now we have this goal. We have this expectation and the service. Where is the service going to be?

The DA is going to go with the student and support them in sitting and circle time for 10 minutes. Right? And now we have the placement. Where are they going to do that?

Going to do that in GenEd. How many times? Monday through Friday every day, that creates a service. I want to indicate that example because again just the needs derives the goals derives the service, has to come from the needs.

We can manage this ourselves. We can sit down and pay attention but of course the student need support with a one-on-one aide. Okay? These are areas that could be created as a goal.

Again there are no limits to what can be created. It could be task initiation, goalsetting, self-monitoring, stamina, and perseverance. It could also be able to put their things in their cubby. They are able to request support or support a break.

That could be executive functioning or also self advocacy. The self advocacy could be the coping strategies such as requesting a break. Or “I need to step out and take a breather for five minutes and then come back in.” Other areas are emotional health. Through that there is a very specific assessment that is called “educationally- related mental health assessment” or ERMS, for the acronym.

Other areas are self-care, toileting, etc. Or any technology use which could be using an iPad or learning how to use their iPad to communicate. Learning how to access audiobooks, because they need that sensory input along with reading. Maybe reading comprehension is not quite there yet, but when they’re listening to it, “oh I can imagine pictures in my mind.” And that creates comprehension, etc.

Here examples of potential preschool and elementary areas of need: navigating the school, such as knowing where to go. Where is the library? Where is the playground? Etc.

Organization you mentioned before, putting things in their copy; taking things out. Able to line up. Able to do their homework, pay attention, keep up with their task as rest of the students. We are able to ask questions, sit quietly.

They are also able to handle their person. And also request help we needed. Whether verbal or nonverbal. There’s different ways of communicating.

Very big in preschool is able to retain that attention, of course, in a reasonable time because their preschoolers. We also want them to socialize with the rest of their peers. If they are not able to do that just yet, we will start with adults. And then later we will do one paretal (phonetic) play, able to play in one area and slowly play with each other.

And be able to share and vocalize their needs or communicate their needs in whatever communication preference they have. Here potential middle school areas of need: executive functioning is a big one, especially because we have more classes. We have more teachers, different subjects that we need to take in account of. Right?

That can be very overwhelming as opposed to being in one class. And all of the subject were in one class. Now we have to be able to manage time. Being able to know how to get from one class to the other efficiently.

Am I able to remember what do I have to do for math? How can I keep a planner? Am I able to stay organized? How do I create the time management?

Not have project that are suddenly due. How can I manage my time and know how to break it into chunks that way I can turn in my project without feeling flustered that is due, and I only have three days to do it when I had two weeks. Right? All of those things are part of executive functioning.

It may be a very big area of need for students. Yes we can create a goal for that. Now, here is another one. Sorry I am skipping one more.

This is another report middle school. Work completion. We want to make sure we are able to complete the homework. That we are able to participate in the classroom and also with our peers.

And also self advocacy. I would say for all of these times of the students from preschool to 12 years old or until 22 if they choose to stay until 22, we do want to promote self advocacy, so they are able to advocate for themselves. And their able to request any supports they need. And at this time they can start to become aware of what accommodations are part of their IEP document that feels comfortable for you as a parent and also the student.

Because if they are aware of their accommodations, they can advocate. This is my accommodation; this is what I need to be successful in this educational setting. Here are some potential high school needs: Metacognition, understanding their disability, understanding their disability and accommodations. When they are 16 and older they are able to go to their own IEP meeting.

If they do not feel comfortable going to their IEP meetings because they are hearing about themselves, the good, the not so good, it can be very overwhelming. If they can stay for really 10 minutes, say what they and what they don’t and get out of the meeting that is fine. That is part of advocacy. If they just want to write a poem of what works and what doesn’t, that is part of self advocacy.

That is part of the student being able to be in the IEP meeting. And that is the expectation. Student 16 years and older are now more involved with their IEP document, and how they are receiving this education. But here in California it could even start the transition IEP which is essentially going to adulthood.

It can be at 14 years old. And discussion of self-efficacy can start even sooner. So if they want to write a letter, write a poem about the need even better. Once we have the transition assessment, that is when we know– and by “we” I mean parents, educators– what is it that the student need to be successful when they reach adulthood?

Once they graduate from high school there are no IEPs anymore. If they choose to stay until 22, that is something the student can do. But once the 22 years are up, there is no IEP anymore. Therefore we have this transition document that is embedded in the IEP document to understand how is the student going to be independent based on their definition of independent?

What skills do they need to learn? Now we’re not just talking about the academics and vocational skills that they will have in high school. But also what do we have for transitioning? Do they need a goal on interviews, so they are able to Confidently go into an interview?

Are they going to have a goal and understanding how to use the public transportation system? Because they to go out and go to different places. Are we going to have a goal on learning how to be a cashier? Maybe that is something they are looking forward to.

Maybe that is too big of a goal. How can we break it down? What skills do we need to be a cashier? We need social skills.

Let’s have a goal on that. We need certain math skills. Let’s have a goal on that. That is how we create these goals to support students to become independent.

And of course college is part of it. How is a student going to research colleges? We don’t expect the student to do it on their own. That should not be an expectation at all.

How can the IEP support them to reach their colleges? Are they going to visit colleges? Maybe the goal could be the student will visit three community colleges within this year. Who will do that?

We create these goals now we can indicate how that is even going to be done. Right? And where will this take place? Again, self advocacy: ability to self monitor.

And again all of these areas of needs are by the age of 16. It can start sooner, 14 years old. Now we are going to talk about advocacy skills. These are skills you can take away now but please join us for part six, which will happen on February 9.

We will talk about the formula on how to write very strong goals in the IEP document. And what happens when the goals are not met. Please bring your student’s IEP document if you wish. You can always request a fresh, new beautiful document.

But to have one handy where you can circle, write, highlight, whatever you to do it your heart’s content. Let’s talk about some strategies. So I do want you to know that the most important skill, the most important advocacy skills I will likely to take away, everything in writing. Get a copy of whatever it is the district said.

It we had a phone conversation, I’m going to send an email saying, “hey teacher Andrea, you told me in the phone at 5 PM, that my students is unable to access the GenEd curriculum. I agree with you. Let’s have an IEP to discuss how he can have access to the GenEd curriculum.” And then we can have a discussion. Okay?

Of course you also want to know who to contact. Right? The chain of command is always the teacher, who is usually the case manager, a fancy way to say “teacher.” That specifically could be the special education teacher who is supporting your student but not always. You also want to know who is that person of course.

You want to know the special education program. The program specialist, specifically. That is the person who oversees the special education teachers. They do have more knowledge on special education.

Above them will be the special education director of your school district. And above that will be your SELPA, or special education, local plan area special education director. Okay? They are at the top.

Every district has a SELPA. We have the SELPA director and under them will be the special education director. You do want to know who to contact when there are any issues. We do not want to skip the chain of command.

We want to follow the chain of command. If things just don’t get better, we go up one more. Or if there is some difficulty, we go one more. But we do want to follow the chain of command.

There’s also ADR, alternative dispute resolution. If the district or the parents are not coming to terms, or there is no agreement, we can use the alternative this could resolution to come to an agreement. That could be facilitated IEP; or it could be conference with the special education director to discuss what is happening with the child and what is getting in the way. And we want to list intentions.

The way I see it is a partnership with the district. Making sure the student is getting there needs met and they are able to access their education. But of course if there are any issues, let’s have an IEP meeting. You can always audio record the IEP meeting.

You can also use Otter.ai to transcribe the IEP meetings. If you’re going to do either of these things, that the subject know at least one four hours in advance in writing. You also know the policies of the California education code. You don’t have to know all of them.

We are here to support you with that. We wanted to know your rights and your options. But you want to be aware of IDEA, at least a little bit. ADA section 504.

Those are your rights and that is how you can advocate for your kid and of course this is what you are here. These laws supersede any state or local code. Okay? So if IDEA states that a student has to be assessed in all areas of suspected disability, and your district says, “we have a policy that says we will only assess on medical diagnosis of disabilities,” sorry district but ADA supersedes you.

No matter what you say, you have to follow IDEA, because it is a federal law. Okay? Again it is a marathon, not a sprint. We want to be prepared.

It does take patience. Takes a lot of documentation and communication. This is how you document it. You create a binder to indicate what happened throughout the week, and any exchange of fumigation you can have it in your binder.

The way I organize my binder is from oldest to newest. That includes any assessments in the past. That way I am able to see if there any patterns or trends. And if I want all the education records of the student, I can definitely request them in writing of course.

And the district has five business days to give me these records. They can either email it to me, they can mail it to me physically. Or I can pick it up in the office. However I want to do it.

Let’s not wait if there any concerns. The reason why I am saying this is because when you request an IEP meeting, the district has 30 calendar days to have an IEP meeting. If I have a concern right now, and I am going to schedule an IEP meeting, at least I know that the IEP meeting will happen within those 30 days. But if I wait for the situation to maybe get worse, now I am very desperate and I want an IEP meeting as soon as possible.

There is no such thing as an emergency IEP meetings. Be aware it may take some time. One way to may be advanced the IEP meetings is to say, “hey I am available these days, these times.” That we have an expectation of when we are going to meet. We already discussed about audio recordings, having copies and having a binder.

Here’s some questions that you can ask the school staff to have more effective commute expectations such as help me understand, or I would to know how this specific goal is going to support my student in their math skills. I would to know if you can please provide me information about the policy where you indicated that students cannot chew gum. But my child has a sensory need, and chewing gum allows my student to focus. Please give me a copy of the policy.

Oh, okay we don’t have a copy of the policy, but we just don’t do that here in this district. Okay, if you’re saying “no” to my request because this sounds a reasonable accommodation, I would for you to provide a prior, written notice, PWN. Indicating what you’re refusing the accommodation we are discussing all the goal that I want to be included in my student’s IEP document. Okay, and have everything in writing.

Again please send me a timely, prior written notice in response to my request. Anything you are refusing, please provide such notice. Again because it is in writing, the prior written notice or PWN for the acronym indicates what they are rejecting. And why it is being rejected, and what is the district doing at the moment?

Because it must be a reason why they are rejecting it. Okay? Great. We are now at the end of this training.

I’m going to go ahead and do two things: I’m going to stop the recording, which I will do now.

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