CASE STUDY OF IEP MEETING

Case Study of IEP Meeting

Lexi Mazur

Ivy Tech Community College

CASE STUDY OF IEP MEETING

The decision that was made in scenario one was made because of many factors. Annas

teacher, Ms. Liu claimed that there was only so much she could do with Anna in the classroom.

She said that Anna constantly struggles with reading. It is so bad that Anna cannot even complete

assignments because of her poor ability to read. Ms. Liu said that Anna normally turns in

assignments that are only partially completed and cant write in cursive. Ms. Liu always asks

Anna if she needs help, but Anna always just says that she does not need any help. It is very

difficult for Ms. Liu because she knows Anna needs individual attention, but she cant give it to

her because she has a class of twenty five other students as well.

Mr. Stevens, the school social worker, said that Anna has not experienced any physical

problems out of the ordinary. She also passed the hearing and vision test, so there was clearly

nothing physically wrong with her that would be the cause of her poor reading ability. Mr. Kiena,

the school psychologist, said that Anna was currently failing her reading and language arts

classes and earning below average grades in her other classes. Anna also scored a low average

score on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. She was also tested in other subjects other

than reading, and there was no significant difference between any of the scores. There was also

no significant discrepancy between her ability and her level of academic achievement. That is

why they do not believe that Anna has a learning disability. They just think she learns at a slower

pace than other children do.

I think that if Anna only scored low in reading, then she would have been diagnosed with

a learning disability (Allen,2001). Since she scored low in all of the other subjects, that means

that she just learns at a slower pace than the other children do. Therefore, her teacher will just

have to continue working with Anna as best as she can in reading.

CASE STUDY OF IEP MEETING

The team then had a second scenario about Anna. Since the last meeting, Anna had been

working with a building-based support team to help with her reading. When they first began this,

Anna was given a series of assessments to determine her functional level in reading. The team

then provided Anna with targeted interventions in reading to track her progress. The team would

meet to review Annas progress several times to change or alter the interventions. It then was

becoming very apparent to the team that Anna was not making any progress. They thought that

by doing these interventions, it would help Anna; but it didnt.

Anna even went through a six week summer school to help with her reading. There was

some improvement in her phonemic awareness and basic phonics skills, but not any

improvement in her reading class. Anna still has considerable difficulty in reading fluency. Ms.

Liu, Annas teacher, said that she thinks Anna works really well within the classroom, but needs

more intensive assistance in reading. Annas mom also said that it is noticeable that it is very

difficult for Anna to keep up with the class; now that she is in the third grade.

The team consensus was to provide Anna with higher intensity level of services, based on

her individual needs in reading. This meant that Anna was eligible for special education services.

Her services will be labeled as specific learning disability. The team then wrote an

individualized education program for Anna that included continuation of previous regular

education interventions, plus the addition of services from the special education teacher, Mr.

Scott, for individualized reading instruction. Mr. Scott will work with Anna daily within regular

class to support her reading. Anna will be in a very small group for reading instruction.

The team changed their decision about Anna. They now think that she does need the

special education services. They think this now because even with the interventions they

provided her, she had not made any improvements like they thought she would. Even in the
CASE STUDY OF IEP MEETING

summer school program, Anna made some improvements in all the other subjects except for

reading. This proves that Anna does need more intensive assistance in reading.

After reading these two scenarios, I have learned that even if you think a child needs the

special education service, they do not always qualify (Allen,2001).There has to be a lot of testing

and a lot of evidence to prove that the child needs the service. Sometimes, it can even take a

couple years for them to get all the evidence. In the meetings, there were several people present.

The people who were present were: Annas mom, the principal, the special education

administrator, Annas teacher, the school social worker, the school psychologist, and the special

education teacher. Annas mom was there to share how Anna is at home. The principal was at the

meeting to learn more about the child. The special education administrator was there to help with

ideas and to help make decisions. Annas teacher was there to share what Anna is like in the

classroom every day and how she is doing academically. The social worker was there to help

with communication between Annas mom and the others in the meeting. The school

psychologist was there to help understand Anna. The special education teacher was there to learn

about Anna and to help with ideas to assist Anna. I do agree that it sometimes should take a lot of

testing and evidence that a child needs the special education service. Sometimes there are so

many kids out there who need the service, but they have to save room for the ones who severely

need it (Baumel,2016). If we did not have to have all of the testing and evidence, then I feel like

there would be way too many kids in the service. Usually the kids need to be in small groups,

and it would be very difficult to do that if there were too many kids in it. It would defeat the

whole purpose.
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Reference Page

(n.d.). What is an IEP? | Parenting. Retrieved September 11, 2016, from

http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/what-is-an-iep/

Allen, K. E., & Schwartz, I. S. (2001). The exceptional child: Inclusion in early childhood

education. Albany, NY: Delmar/Thomson Learning.