Before we get to the bulk of what we want to talk about today, we really need to recap the amazing time we had at AZTASH last week. While we were on the road, it is hard to appreciate the immense task of preparing and reaching out to so many advocates, educators, and self-advocates at this event set up for hundreds. But we had a really wonderful time. The last time we were at AZWINS, it was six years ago, and some folks, we recognized from that first visit.
Unfortunately, because of the nature of this AZWINS, Renay did not visit any sessions, but she also knew that Nicole Eredics and Adiba Nelson Segal hit their presentations out of the park. Adiba spoke about Rebellion as an act for providing her daughter the life she deserved as an eventual self-advocate. And Nicole introduced quality modifications and inclusive directions. The stage was clear, we were going to build up all our folks, meet new people, and exchange ideas.
Different Sorts of Hoops
Renay has been dealing with the paperwork associated with pending triennial IEPs. Every three years, a student with an IEP goes through a series of evaluations with all the members of their IEP team. During this time, work samples are especially important. But more important that the work samples are the notes that accompany the work samples.
Notes on work samples should talk about things like, how much help did a student receive? Did you talk line through line on the essay? Did you spend time reteaching each math concept during the test? Did the student copy from their notes or the textbook? Did the student use the glossary in the textbook independently? Did you provide the student with a chance to edit their work? Does the student provide information about how to revise their written work?
All of these stories help give the IEP team a clearer picture of the student through their day as academic demands are asked of them. We strongly suggest using sticky notes to share with the General Education Teacher and the Special Education teacher. We also use copies of the final graded effort by the student as samples to share with the IEP team instead of originals. The evaluations that the different members of the IEP team gave–this is in class in comparison to their peers even with modified or adapted instructions for the student’s performance on a task or series of tasks.
If the student is working on behaviors, how long did the student engage in behaviors? Survey the class, are other students as off task as the student with an IEP? How about their disruption of the entire class? Does the student use their sensory breaks? Can a student ask for their breaks appropriately?
What strategies do teachers use to get students prepared to learn? Does it engage the student or prepare that student to learn?
A triennial IEP is a pretty major chunk of IEP. The Team uses this information to determine what the next steps for the student might be, compared to just little steps that happen at other IEPs for the student.
One More Hoop
We’re now gearing up for CalTASH 2019! Once again Adiba Segal will be there, and we can’t wait to share with other educators from all over the state of California. Find Renay there. She’ll be tweeting and documenting her connections for us.
Do you have any comments about this week’s blog? Do you have a question for us? Would you like to be a guest blogger? Would you like to have an opportunity to pilot some materials at your campus? Find ParaEducate online here, here, here, here,and on our website. Paraeducate is a company interested in providing materials, information, and strategies for people working in special education inclusion settings for grades K-12. ParaEducate, the blog, is published weekly during the academic school year on Thursdays, unless a holiday. ParaEducate shares their findings at conferences, through their books, and their academic adaptations.
