Writing IEPS Effectively to Support Students in Special Education
IEPs are the backbone of our special education programming. If that’s TRUE, then why do writing IEPs often feel so confusing? Well, because they’re important. They are legal documents. And truthfully? They are made out to be WAY scarier than they really are. I compare it to creating curriculum plans for your classroom with students at multiple levels.
With that being said, I’m here to introduce the IEP Commandments! Yes, it’s a little silly, but bear with me, here. When we take these ten commandments to heart as we sit around the IEP table with the team, we are keeping the important pieces at the forefront. We are making the IEPs actionable, compliant, working documents. Let’s get to it!
Thou shall write SMART goals.
Remember in your teacher undergraduate program when that one professor talked about the SMART acronym constantly while teaching about writing IEPs? Well, they weren’t kidding! SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. When we use this framework while drafting goals for students, we ensure that the most important parts are covered and we aren’t leaving anything up for grabs.
Thou shall write Present Levels highlighting what the student can do.
I’m starting to realize it’s human nature to focus on the pitfalls in any area of life. We present for an audience and get one piece of negative feedback out of a pile of one hundred positives, and we ruminate on the negative. Have you ever had an awesome day with students but forgot to submit attendance again, and now we feel like a failure? We also do this when writing present levels during the IEP process. Our students obviously have areas of growth, we all do. What about what they’re good at? That they know lowercase letters, can raise their hand or are completing simple puzzles? Don’t forget to add those in too – they’re also part of their present levels of performance!
Thou shall individualize goals, services, and supports.
I know, I know – many of your students are working on similar goals. I know that the copy/paste feature is super tempting when you need to write six IEPs in two months. Take a deep breath, and don’t do it! The “I” in “IEP” stands for individualized. Our students deserve our full attention and effort when it comes to individualizing.
Thou shall receive input from all service providers and IEP team members.
Thou shall think about the child’s further education, employment, and independent living.
Even if you teach early childhood special education, we want to plan with the end in mind. It may seem ridiculous to be thinking about independent living when planning for a 5-year-old’s IEP goals. This doesn’t mean adding in career assessments in kindergarten, but it does mean thinking about it. When we plan for the future starting at the beginning, we are setting our students up to be the most independent and prepared adults they can be!
Thou shall not hold a meeting without the LEA.
LEA stands for Local Education Agency. This could be different individuals and representatives depending on your state, district, and school. Every IEP meeting should have a representative there as the LEA. This ensures IDEA and FAPE are both being followed! It’s so important that we ensure the legal rights of our students and IEP teams are being held highly at every meeting.
Thou shall write an IEP that passes the “Stranger Test”.
Would the next paraprofessional working with this student, who potentially has no experience in special education classrooms, be able to read this IEP confidently? If the answer is no, head back to the document and start editing. We want a stranger to read this IEP and be able to implement it. No jargon, no assumptions about the student and their individualized and unique needs. We can never be sure a student won’t transfer mid-year and have a new IEP team implementing this document!
Thou shall invite all members to the IEP meeting and ask for input.
It’s important to think of all the people that are part of the IEP team as contributing members. Each has their own area of expertise and have been identified as someone who can contribute to the betterment of the student. Making sure that all members provide input into the IEP and are invited to the meeting is the teacher or case manager’s job. And making sure that each member is contributing to helping the student is also a big part of it. The IEP may feel like it’s a one-person job but, it is a collective document showing the team’s efforts to support the student.
Thou shall not list curriculums and programs in the IEP
Remember when we said that we can never be sure a student won’t transfer mid-year and have a new IEP team implementing this document? Well, what happens if the next school this student attends doesn’t have your reading curriculum or the specific brand of weighted pencil you added into the IEP? This is going to make it not only challenging but potentially impossible, for this team to follow the IEP. Offering specific strategies is a great plan, but when it gets down to brands and programs, we need to leave those out of the IEP.
Thou shall make amendments or revisions throughout the year as needed.
It’s awesome when our students make tremendous growth throughout the year. Don’t forget that this means the IEP should also be amended! After following the legal protocols involved in amendments/revisions, get to it! Sometimes our goals and benchmarks don’t last all year, and that’s fine. IEPs are working documents and should be treated as such.
Thou shall take data on IEP goals.
Data is my love language, and should be yours, too! Collecting data helps us when writing IEPs to create goals and benchmarks that are accurate (or SMART, if you will!) for our students and where they’re at. The data we take on existing goals allows us to justify what we’re teaching and to make changes based on what it tells us. Without data, you’re just a teacher with an opinion.
What do you think? What commandment will you take to heart this school year? I was lucky enough to not have to end with the ideas here. I collaborated with Stephanie from Mrs. D’s Corner and she has a blog with even more great tips and ideas on writing IEPS effectively for students. Head to her blog to read more about it!
