What is an IEP?

An IEP (Individual Education Plan) is a road map for you and your child in terms of how their learning needs are going to be addressed.  An IEP is created no more than 30 days after a student has been identified as exceptional and placed in a special education program.  A child does not have to be formally assessed to be placed on an IEP.  The Ontario Ministry of Education provides a detailed definition which I have summarized.  An IEP is:

• A written plan describing the special education program and/or services required by a student, based on their areas of strengths and needs.
• A record of the accommodations that a student might need in order to meet their learning expectations, given the student’s identified learning strengths and needs.
• A working document that identifies what learning expectations that are modified from the grade level expectations of any particular subject.
• A working document that identifies alternative expectations, if required, that are not part of the formal Ontario Curriculum (e.g. social skills).
•  A list of specific expectations to be assessed and evaluated for the purposes of reporting student achievement of modified and/or alternative expectations

What are modified expectations and accommodations?

Accommodations are tools used to help children meet their grade level curriculum expectations.  Examples of accommodations include, but are not limited to, the following: giving students extra time to complete tests, allowing students to use their computers or laptops for note taking, strategic placement of student’s desks in the classroom, using scribes for notes or tests, differentiated instruction.

Modifications refer to actual changes to the grade level expectations of the Ontario curriculum.  Again, modifications can include, but are not limited to the following: previous years curriculum expectations (for example a student is in grade 3 but is assessed against grade 2 expectations for certain subjects), omitting certain expectations in specific subjects (such as focusing on 2 of 3 expectations for particular subjects).

The following websites provide some additional detail regarding IEP’s:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/guide/resource/iepresguid.pdf

http://www.peopleforeducation.ca/

http://ldadr.on.ca/iep.htm

What is an IPRC?

An IPRC is an Identification Placement and Review Committee.  This process formally identifies your child as exceptional as defined by the Ontario Ministry of Education.  The Ontario Ministry of Education has 5 broad categories for exceptional students:

• Behaviour
• Communication
• Gifted
• Mild Intellectual Disability
• Multiple Exceptionalities 

Either a parent or a teacher can request an IPRC.  Often it is a joint decision and the meeting is formally requested by the school.  The purpose of the IPRC is to formally decide if your child should be identified as exceptional and to identify the child's area of exceptionality.  Additionally, the IPRC identifies a child's strengths and areas of need along with deciding the appropriate placement for a child.  Placement refers to how much time a child spends in a regular class, a special education class, if they have withdraw assistance or indirect or direct support within their classroom environment.  After your initial IPRC meeting, you will meet at least once per year with the IPRC to review identification and placement.

The IPRC usually consists of:

• Parent (and a support person)
• Student (usually if 16 years or older)
• Classroom teacher
• Principal or Vice Principal
• A Board employee who's expertise is useful to the process and can share information such as a Special Education Resource Teacher (SERT)

The following websites are great resources for navigating the IPRC meeting:

http://www.peopleforeducation.ca/

http://ldadr.on.ca/iprc.htm

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/parents/speced.html

The Address

Amazing!  What an amazing documentary.  I've had it on PVR for the longest time finally took a moment to watch it.  The Address (PBS) takes us to Putney, Vermont and introduces us to the Greenwood School.  Greenwood is a boarding school for boys with various learning challenges.  Every student has some form of learning disability, ADD/ADHD, behaviour issue or speech impediment.  Greenwood only houses 50 students (ages 11-17) and each of those students come with not only challenges to how they learn, but the emotional baggage that comes with years of suffering.  Each year starting in November, the teachers use The Gettysburg Address as a teaching tool.  The students commit The Gettysburg Address to memory and participate in a competition in February where they recite The Gettysburg Address in front of their peers and family.  Through exploring the students at Greenwood, Ken Burns also examines the history and context of one President Lincoln's most important speeches.

Its amazing to see the impact that this 2 minute speech has on the lives of the students and teachers at Greenwood.  The 90 minute documentary follows the students around for the weeks leading up to the performance.  It shows how the teachers use the speech as a teaching tool and how it permeates each of the student's curriculum classes such as History (kind of obviously) and Literacy but it's also used in speech therapy and occupational therapy classes.  Students had highs and lows as they each prepared to share their final version of the speech.  We saw students meltdown and rise back up to the challenge to not only complete The Gettysburg Address but to actually excel at public speaking and become impassioned by the ideology behind the original Address.

This is truly a remarkable documentary and well worth watching.

Frustration

I read an article about helping our kids grow their frustration tolerance and thought it tied in well to my previous post about resiliency.  Helping to teach our children resiliency is also about teaching them to build up their tolerance to frustration.  As with many life lessons for our kids, the first examples begin at home, with us, and how we handle our own life situations.  I have to admit that I've been running on empty for a long time, which is the number one killer for frustration tolerance.  However taking steps to get healthy and fill my own "bucket" on a daily basis (being thankful, taking care of myself, getting enough sleep, having enough fun etc.) helps me deal with life's little setbacks calmly and rationally.  Not everything has equal importance.  Not everything is an emergency.  Realizing this also helps to save my energy for the big battles that life tends to throw our way once in a while.  Here are some great tips on increasing our kids frustration tolerance.  What are some ways that you handle things when they go upside down (and often sideways?)?  I'd love to hear!

Some Frequently Asked Questions...

This list is certainly not exhaustive.  They are simply some of the questions that I asked when my we first thought that there was something more to our sons academic difficulties than meets the eye.  I certainly don’t want to claim to be an expert on LDs but I want to shed light and share information where I can.  There are many reputable websites that I have found helpful and I will list them at the end of this post.  Please feel free to comment on any other nuggets of info you might have come across in your journey with LD!

What is a learning disability?

According to the Learning Disability Association of Ontario, “LDs – which is short for learning disabilities – affect one or more of the ways that a person takes in, stores, or uses information. LDs come in many forms and affect people with varying levels of severity. Between 5 and 10 percent of Canadians have LDs.”

http://www.ldao.ca/introduction-to-ldsadhd/introduction-to-ldsadhd/what-are-lds/

Can LD’s be cured?

Learning disabilities are considered life long.  Typically, people are taught to cope and compensate for their disabilities.  There are a number of ways to do this from instructional strategies to technological support.  Neuroscience is breaking ground in ways to treat LDs.  Instead of imposing a sentence of compensation, the work of people like Barabara Arrowsmith Young are showing people how to change their brain structure so that their brains can take in, store and use information much like their typical counterparts.  Programs such as Arrowsmith are not for everyone but they can help many students overcome many learning difficulties.  Many students find success with more traditional, remedial methods in addition to curriculum modifications or accommodations.

“LDs and their effects are different from person to person, so a person’s pattern of learning abilities need to be understood in order to find good, effective strategies for compensation.”

http://www.ldao.ca/introduction-to-ldsadhd/introduction-to-ldsadhd/what-are-lds/

arrowsmithschool.org

Are there different Types of Learning Disabilities?

Yes.  There are many different forms of learning disabilities.  Remember, an LD affects how a person receives information, stores information and then uses that information.  Consequently LDs can affect organization, focus, decision making skills, social interaction, interaction with a person’s physical environment, academics including reading, writing, mathematics and speech.

For a comprehensive overview of the various forms of learning Disabilities, you can visit:

http://www.ldao.ca/introduction-to-ldsadhd/introduction-to-ldsadhd/what-are-lds/different-types-of-lds/

My child is having trouble reading.  Is it a learning disability?

First of all, remember that all students develop at different rates, even between siblings.  At the same time, trust your instincts.  I know my DD has trouble getting some mathematics concepts the first time through.  However, with some practice or additional explanation she gets it.  What clinched the deal with my DS is when his grade 1 teacher finally agreed that “it shouldn’t be THIS hard.”

In our case my son was receiving an intense amount of support to bring up his reading level in grade 1.  Up until this point, his lack of interest had been excused by his high energy.  I had my suspicions since he entered kindergarten that something wasn’t quite right but I trusted the teachers and we just kept an eye on things.  After such intense amounts of energy were put into my son’s reading skills and he wasn’t responding, the school finally agreed with me that there was possibly something else going on and that we should look into some academic testing for him.  Thus, our start down the LD path.

Every child is different and LD affects everyone differently.  Have discussions with your child’s teacher and your school’s Special Education Resource Teacher (SERT).  Discuss your concerns with them and don’t be afraid to voice your fears.  It never hurts to take a second look.  Keep in mind though, that reading is not everyone’s area of strength.  It can be the same thing with math.  Some people just need extra support in certain areas.  Things become questionable when the level of support exceeds the improvements being made.

Here is a list of some common signs of learning disabilities at different ages and stages:

http://www.ldao.ca/introduction-to-ldsadhd/introduction-to-ldsadhd/what-are-lds/some-common-signs-of-lds/

Some additional sights that will help answer some FAQs:

http://www.ldac-acta.ca/

http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/questions/ld#node10904

http://www.ncld.org/learning-disabilities-resources/faqs