IEP

IEP’s are the main focus here in the DLP this time of year.  Of the 7 students in my class, 5 of them have IEP meetings coming up within the next 4 weeks.  My teacher has been working all day on writing various goals for the students and fulfilling all the requirements in “Easy IEP.”  Outside of this, I have been continuing to teach the students about Lewis and Clark, have experimented with ways to teach them about the upcoming Veteran’s day, and have experienced Halloween learning and partying in a new way.  While this week was very busy for me, I was really hoping I would be able to find a way to slip out of the classroom with my teacher to experience an IEP meeting firsthand.

                So on Thursday I was given the opportunity to attend my first IEP meeting.  This was also an eligibility meeting, so I was able to see the whole process happen.  My teacher and I left as soon as the substitute arrived and headed to Spalding Elementary for the meeting.  The student’s father was attending along with the speech therapist, occupational therapist, psychologist, principal, and special education coordinator for the district.  During this meeting I was able to spend much time listening and comparing what I was hearing about this student to what I have learned about him from my time teaching him.   In previous classes we have spent many hours talking about the IEP process.  While I have learned much of what I just experienced in the classroom as well, I feel like my participation in this meeting has gotten me thinking about everything again.  First I think about the parents.  Much of the talk from the psychologist at the beginning was almost over my head, yet the father just went on shaking his head as if he was too overwhelmed to object.  Then I jump and think about the psychologist.  After talking with my teacher after the meeting, she mentioned that he had only met with this student for 20 minutes of testing prior to this meeting.  Now during the meeting, I observed that much of the talk was about random testing scores and comparing these scores to the norm.  I understand the frustration coming from a teacher’s perspective.  Much of these child’s goals/eligibility are a result of these psychological test, and these tests are administered and read by someone who doesn’t understand anything about the child. Overall, the tone of the meeting was very positive and open, honest and encouraging.  The meeting was shorter than I had expected and altogether less of a “big deal” than I had anticipated. 

                The idea of the IEP is great.  It keeps teachers and schools accountable to working with the students and providing them with what they need to continue to grow and learn in the best way possible for them.  However, I am coming to understand the frustrations that can come with an IEP as well.  One of the big stumbling blocks that I have observed many times is that people end up teaching a child based solely on the goals in their IEP.  The time comes for me to choose a topic for a Social Studies unit, and there is nothing to go off of and no priority put in this subject matter because there is nothing in any IEP about social studies.  When it comes to writing, only two students have writing goals, so the other student don’t even get exposed to writing.  Because a student does not have something written in their IEP does not mean that they do not need to be exposed to such learning topics or life skills.  I worry that students are losing the idea of a “well rounded” education because they are seen as disabled, able and needing only to learn what is dictated in their annually reviewed IEP. 

                Overall, this week brought many positive experiences for me.  I am amazed that four weeks have already elapsed in this placement, and I truly feel that I am part of the classroom now. I was able to make a bulletin board with my students, start different units with them and try many different teaching styles with them as well.  This week, we cut open pumpkins of different sizes, experimented with them, and predicted and counted the amount of seeds inside.  We took a field trip to Spalding to have a Halloween dance with other members of the DLP, baked brownies together, did quite a bit of reading, and spent time doing many hands on activities. I feel very comfortable experimenting with different styles of lessons and am not afraid to fail here.  It is a wonderful place to learn and grow as a teacher, and I’m very thankful for that.