M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 1

M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT

Samantha Seeger

University of Kansas
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 2

Table of Contents

Student Informationpg. 3

Developmental Characteristics.pg. 4

Social...pg. 4

Academic.pg. 4

Student Observations...pg. 6

Student Observation Table..pg. 7

Attributespg. 8

Strugglespg. 8

IEP Analysis and Needs..pg. 10

IEP MAPS...pg. 14

Strengths..pg. 14

Weaknesses..pg. 15

A Day in MBs Life.pg. 15

Parental Concernspg. 16

Hopes and Dreams..pg. 16

Figure 1: IEP MAPS Document.pg. 17

IEP Reflection.pg. 18

IEP Recommendations.pg. 19

Referencespg. 22
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 3

Student Information

The student chosen for the IEP assignment is the same as the student chosen for the FBA.

M.B is a 7-year-old female 2nd grade student. MB has demonstrated several behavioral issues

since she began in the kindergarten program here at Flanders Elementary School. She was

recently qualified for special education services under the eligibility of OHI. She has a medical

diagnosis of ODD 3- oppositional defiance disorder. Testing was completed September 2016.

The IEP states that she receives 90 minutes of math instruction in the resource room a week, 30

minutes a week of counseling, and 2 hours of BCBA consultation/month. She was also given a

full-time paraprofessional to support M.B when she has a meltdown or becomes too aggressive

within the classroom setting. MBs noncompliant behavior is when she is engaging in any

behavior other than asked for a duration of longer than 10 seconds. Her verbal refusal is when

will say No, or Im not doing that. MB tends to ignore by plugging her ears, closing her

eyes, and turning her back on whomever is talking to her. Her verbal outbursts do not include

fantasy talk or verbal aggression. MB will yell, I know the answer! when the teacher is asking

the class. Within the context of social situations with peer or adults, MB expresses verbal

aggression. She makes comments that may indicate harm to self or others, swearing, and

bullying. She uses a rude, sarcastic tone and may be accompanied by crossing her arms, rolling

her eyes, hand out covering a face of the person talking, and stomping feet. This may sometimes

co-occur with noncompliant behavior. She will tell a student, That is an ugly dress. You have

an ugly face. MBs off task behavior is when she engages in any behavior other than the

assigned task for a duration of more than 15 seconds per FBA findings. She will get out of her

seat, go to blow her nose, play with items on her desk or others desks, talking to others, staring

off, and looking at others work. MBs fantasy talk are verbalizations that may portray dialogue
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between individuals or fictional characters unrelated to the social situation at hand. She will refer

to different people describing them as a little girl, a man, a boy, and a scary friend. She says,

Serena lets go play Flugals.

Academics

MB has many academic strengths. In math, she is able to use one to one correspondence

counting by 5, and 10s. MB has a strong imagination, expressive and receptive language, and

expressive and receptive vocabulary. She has stated that she enjoys writing and the teacher has

agreed that she has demonstrated mastery in creative writing. MB is also on grade level for

reading and language arts. She enjoys volunteering to read to the kindergarten classes, and other

adults. She also enjoys receiving positive feedback from adults. She has a tendency to look for a

lot of adult reinforcement.

Although MB has many positive attributes, she struggles with math as well as peer

relations. MB's behavior frequently increases with defiance and lack of compliance to teacher

direction during Mathematics. According to her IEP, a concern is her one- digit addition and

subtraction and addition up to 100. MBs medical diagnosis of ODD supports her difficulties to

follow generalized expectations of the classroom, which are impacting her ability to access her

education. For instance, MB loses instructional math time because of the negative behavior she

exhibits. The resource room teacher stated that originally she was pushing into MBs math

period but since has amended the IEP and has now began to pull her out allowing for direct

instruction within a group of three students.

Developmental Characteristics

Social. MB is struggling with social and communicative skills. MB is quick to redirect

her peers if they are not following the rules, but she does not take redirection well when it is
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 5

directed at her. MB is easily frustrated according to her teachers and parents. During an

interview with MBs general education teacher, she discussed MBs desire for peer relationships.

The teacher has seen many students shy away from her out of fear. Socially she does not have

many friends. MB has more friends this year than years past, but there is only one or two who

will tolerate her. MB has to dictate everything and things always have to go her way on her

terms. She now sits alongside another student at lunch, whereas last year she sat alone because

students were afraid of her. At recess, she tends to chase other students instead of play with

them. Even if they do not like it and ask her to stop, she still chases them.

In addition, M.B shares that she does not like to partake in tasks that she doesnt want to

do, like math because it is too hard. In talking to her, she also states that she talks to others and

they tell her not to do it. MB says sometimes all she wants to do is read and write stories.
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 6

Student Observation

After reviewing my students IEP and shadowing her I have learned quite a bit of

information. Within the last week alone I was able to observe her in all areas of the day and in

different settings. I have seen some areas of strength she has, yet doesnt get praise for it. I can

see her improving behaviorally with a plan in place that includes praise and rewards, which in

turn will improve her academics.

Here are some direct observations that were taken during the past week:
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Date/Time Subject
11/8 Morning Work EN reminds her to put something away. Stop it! Dont look at me! EN clipped up on the school wide
behavior chart.
Left backpack on the floor but yelled at another student to pick up her backpack (also on floor).
Instead of doing morning work, played with everyones clips on lunch count, then put pencil through top
opening of water bottle to slide it back and forth. Whole class was given a reminder/praise I love how most
of us get to work right away so that you can color your morning work.
Responds by yelling, Im telling my daddy! How ride! Nobody wants to be my friend! Teacher tried to
continue talking with reminder to bring smock to art.
In art she kept yelling and talking about how nobody cares that her dad has stitches in his eye. She kept
talking so teacher moved her clip to Teachers Choice because she didnt want to clip it down. T brought her
into the hallway to tell her that she only has a few hours to turn it around, or she wont have lunch bunch with
Adrienne. Asked if she understood, she said, Yeah, which proved to be effective.

11/8 Reading Started to read to teacher, then was given three reminders to put something away. No!
1:40 Given a minute to continue reading, said, Im reading by myself! sat down to read
She loves to read and to dive into a book, which makes the voices go away she said.
11/9 Morning Work Told T that she, mommy, and daddy had to sleep in the car. They put their seats down like beds. Then they
8:30 a.m. drove here in the morning and slept in the car in the parking lot after 30 minutes when it started getting light
outside. She couldnt tell the teacher why that happened, but she was not upset about it.
T called parents to discuss what PM said and scheduled a conference for them to come in to discuss next
steps
Told EK and HH to mind their own business
11/10 Veterans Day Assembly Seated at the end of the row next to adults. Para had to sit next to her on the floor because she kept Shh-ing
8:45 a.m. peers and moving around. T told several students to ignore distractions. She said, How rude! Im telling my
daddy! Continued to move around on the carpet and telling a girl in front of her to sit on her bottom. T
tapped PK and told her we would have to go in the hallway, she completely ignored teacher. I like election
day better than any other day. Para said, You need to make better choices. She replied, YOU need to
make better choices!

11/10 Writing Mini lesson: ah, ah, ah. Five minutes later, Oh I get to clean my desk?
T: Go to writing on the carpet
PM: These are on my desk, duh! O-M-G I am going to start saying OMG. All I hear is blah blah blah.
The mini lesson is going on on the carpet and PM is at her desk
Para is redirecting- focusing listening to the lesson
After 5-7 minutes she goes over to the carpet and says, Can you scootch over? Thank you.
Covers picture on the SmartBoard with her hand during the lesson
T asked her to remove it- she said, No while making noises.
Para says her name and she stops
Students were sent back to do their work at their desks. Para says, It is your favorite thing writing lets do it.
PM says let me put on my jacket. Gets writing out to reread it.
PM guess what? continues to read; taps para; I am on number 3. Para said we need to finish today.
Writing independently and after five minutes starts laughing
Para puts her finger to her mouth to signal shh-ing and PM said, No!
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 8

Attributes. This student has many academic strengths. In math, she is able to use one to

one correspondence counting by 5, and 10s. MB has a strong imagination, expressive and

receptive language, and expressive and receptive vocabulary. She has stated that she enjoys

writing and the teacher has agreed that she has demonstrated mastery in creative writing. MB is

also on grade level for reading and language arts. She enjoys volunteering to read to the

kindergarten classes, and other adults. During the reading lesson, she struggled to get started but

once MB got started she sat and read to make the voices go away. She also enjoys receiving

positive feedback from adults. She has a tendency to look for a lot of adult reinforcement. While

observing MB during writing, she went over to the carpet and asked a student to move over

nicely. The student complied and she responded with, Thank you. This shows that MB can use

the correct tools, but could use a reward when she does interact with students positively in order

to ensure it will happen again.

Struggles. Although MB has many positive attributes, she struggles with math as well as

peer relations. Mathematics tends to be when MBs behavior increases with defiance and lack of

compliance of teacher directions. According to her IEP, a concern is her one- digit addition and

subtraction and addition up to 100. MBs medical diagnosis supports her difficulties to follow

generalized expectations of the classroom, which are impacting her ability to access her

education. Due to this negative behavior she has lost a lot of math instructional time. The

resource room teacher stated that originally she was pushing into MBs math period but since has

amended the IEP and has now began to pull her out allowing for direct instruction within a group

of three students.

MB is struggling with social and communicative skills. MB is quick to redirect her peers

if they are not following the rules, but does not take redirection well when it is directed at her.
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 9

MB is easily frustrated according to her teachers and parents. During an interview with MBs

general education teacher, she discussed MBs desire for peer relationships. The teacher has seen

many students shy away from her out of fear. Socially she does not have many friends, although

they have increased over the past year of none to one to two who tolerate her. Everything has to

be on MBs terms by having to dictate everything. She now sits alongside another student at

lunch, whereas last year she sat alone because students were afraid of her. At recess, she tends to

chase other students instead of play with them. Even if they do not like it and ask her to stop, she

still chases them. During my observations, I noticed that M.B interacted negatively with adults

more than peers. She is around adults at home and they give into her demands, so that is what

she is used to. When it comes to school, the adults do not give into their demands so it is

frustrating for M.B to comply.

In addition, M.B shares that she does not like to partake in tasks that she doesnt want to

do, like math because it is too hard. In talking to her, she also states that she talks to others and

they tell her not to do it. MB says sometimes all she wants to do is read and write stories.
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 10

IEP Analysis and Needs

On the U.S. Department of Education website, it states, The IEP creates an opportunity

for teachers, parents, school administrators, related services personnel, and students (when

appropriate) to work together to improve educational results for children with disabilities

(Kpper, 2000). Creating and understanding a students IEP will assist the student in accessing

their education with greater success. As I examined my students IEP as well as observed the

student, I was able to learn a lot about her academically and behaviorally.

The IEP has enough information to plan instruction. Although it does have that

information, it is very basic. Therefore, I would like it to have more detailed information in

regard to what concerns/needs the student has academically. For instance, the IEP says she

needs, one- digit addition subtraction and addition up to 100. That does tell me what she needs

for mathematics. I would like to gather data and more information from the classroom teacher

about mathematics and make some direct observations myself in order to compare and prove

where MB is working compared to what the IEP states. I like how the IEP states the impact of

students disability on involvement and progress in the general education curriculum. It goes into

detail on the expectations of the student and what is difficult for her within the classroom.

There are several members of school and district personnel that are involved in this

students IEP. The team members include: the school administrator, her parents, the school

special education teacher, school psychologist, the districts speech and language teacher, the

districts BCBA, the districts SLP, classroom teacher, and one-on-one paraprofessional. These

members are responsible to support the student and collect the data needed. The behavior chart

data is collected and reported daily by the para and classroom teacher on a behavior chart. The

data is collected to further study this students behavior to have an FBA meeting. The special
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 11

education teacher and general education teacher are responsible for her math goals. Even though

the data is collected daily, it is to be reported every 4-6 weeks per district regulations. The

speech and language teacher is responsible for the students language goal and that data is to be

collected and reported at the next meeting. Her goal right now is to appropriately identify the

need for assistance and will solicit assistance from appropriate people when it is necessary to

cope with an event. The school psychologist will complete weekly assessments on the student

and will be reported to the team the next time they meet. On a typical school day, the team has

recommended that the student will receive: 2 hours of BCBA consultation per month, 5.5 hours

of academic support, .5 hours a week for direct counseling. She will also receive a one on one

paraprofessional.

There are many accommodations and modifications to assist MB. The accommodations

and modifications to be provided to enable MB are listed as follows:

to advance appropriately toward attaining her annual goals

to be involved in a make progress in the general education curriculum

participate in in extracurricular and other non-academic activities

to be educated and participate with other children with and without disabilities.

MB also has annual goals. The students measureable annual goals are:

student will use objects, drawings, and equations to represent and solve problems

involving addition within 100

student will use objects, drawings, and equations to represent and solve

problems involving subtraction within 100

student will participate in and follow classroom routines and activities

throughout the school day

M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 12

student will identify and comply with teacher directives, classroom rules/

expectations

school rules throughout the school day

when student expresses a negative emotion at school, she will identify and

appropriately use a coping skill to maintain acceptable school behavior.

This student requires tests, quizzes, and assessments in a quiet/separate setting.

M.B has behavioral interventions to help her as well. Her behavioral interventions and

supports include:

access to support staff as needed, behavior chart, break between tasks

checklist to monitor behaviors

clear expectations and positive reinforcements

cue expected behavior

redirection.

Her instructional strategies include:

check work in progress

cue expected behavior

frequent reinforcement

proximity/touch control

visual cues

This student requires a paraprofessional to support her academically, and emotionally

and the BCBA will consult with educational team 2x/month to develop and implement FBA.

Communication is important especially when the team does not get together but twice a

month. The team communicates via notes and email regularly. The teacher communicates with
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 13

the parents regularly as well. This has ensured team collaboration at its best. If needed, the team

will collaborate more often.

The general education teacher provides small group instruction or one-on-one instruction

within the classroom. The special education teacher is to provide small group instruction as well.

The assessments that are being used are:

criterion-references/curriculum based assessments

pre and post standardized assessments

pre and post base line data

quizzes/tests

student self-assessment rubric

behavior/performance rating scale

various work samples.

M.B has a lot of support to assist her in accessing her academics while assisting her with

peer interactions. With this assistance and the right plan, MB should make a progress.
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IEP MAPS

This MAPS was completed after interviewing our school special education teacher, as

she works closely with MB, her general education teacher, and counselor. It was also based on a

conversation with MBs mother. In addition, I spoke with MB as well. Except for the special

education teacher, not one person on MBs team has worked with her before. The general

education teacher is in her first year of teaching and our school psychologist/counselor is new to

the school.

Although I was not able to speak to these members of the IEP team together, I was able

to sit one on one with them privately. During the MAPS meeting, the people present are usually

teachers, family, counselors, and the student. During this meeting they all work together to create

a visual image of the hopes and dreams, strengths, needs, goals and supports of the student. The

contributing factors are used to in writing an IEP that meet the students needs to achieve a

successful, well balanced life.

Strengths

MB has strengths in writing and reading. She is able to read fluently on grade level and is

able to comprehend stories above grade level assessed by the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark

Assessment Kit (Fountas & Pinnell, 2016). Due to her reading ability, her phonics skills are

above grade level as well. MB loves to read to the Kindergarten students and would do it daily if

she could. It was discussed that her love of reading to Kindergarten students becomes a reward

for her. Her creativity and imagination lead to great creative writing stories. According to her

teacher MBs writing is at the end of a second grade level, whereas her peers are writing at a

stage of beginning of second grade. MB has the tendency to interact with adults more so than

peers. Her ability to interact with adults in such a way is a strength of hers. Math is a struggle of
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 15

MB, but she has basic addition and subtraction skills down fluently. She is aware of her reading

and writing strengths as those are likes for her. She was surprised to hear that she had strengths

in math. She does a great job working in a small group setting.

Weaknesses

MB needs support to use effective coping skills. She is not able to verbalize positive

coping skills consistently. She struggles with attaining the common core math standards. She has

difficulty in understanding multi step word problems, and requires teacher modeling to help

break down the process. She becomes easily frustrated and will shut down when she perceives

that something it too difficult for her, thus requiring pull out three times a week in order to help

her attain the lesson. MB needs support in regulating her emotions. There was a consistent

concern about MB interacting and talking to other people who are not physically there but she

sees vividly. Therefore, it is difficult for her to form peer relationships. Her relationships are

based on activities she wants to do. She does not want to partake in activities she cannot be in

charge of. She needs support in forming and maintaining positive peer relationships. Having a set

schedule will allow MB to have less anxiety when it is time to transition to a new subject even

when her work is incomplete.

A Day in MBs Life

MBs home life is rather chaotic. M.B. is an only child in a family where her mother is

the primary care-giver because her father is often absent. M.B. frequently experiences

inconsistencies because the adults in the house give in to her demands, and they readily admit

they do so. The police officer in town that deals with families is currently speaking with MBs

mom and dad. Per mom, they do not want to create any waves at home. They admit that she does

not have a consistent bedtime. This carries over into the school day when she is tired and
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 16

unwilling to work. MB becomes defiant when not given her way. For example, when the class is

raising hands to go the board and she is not chosen she will cry and scream, or take it upon

herself to go to the board and complete the problem. In the beginning of the year she struggled

with transitions from home to school because she says the teachers dont listen to her. Overall,

her days are full of difficult battles of who is in charge.

Parental Concerns

After speaking with the guidance counselor/psychologist, the special education teacher,

and MBs mother, there is only one concern mom has. The main concern mom had was that the

school did not understand her daughters imagination. We did discover that this family suffers

from poverty and mom struggles with her own disabilities. It was difficult to discuss with her as

she did not understand that anything was wrong with how MB was interacting with adults and

peers at school. From talking to the special education teacher, mom is starting to understand the

lack of social skills MB has and the frustration when not getting her way.

Hopes and Dreams

MB speaks about wanting a little brother or sister as her dream. MBs parents speak

about wanting to better understand her creativeness and to help her learn. Her mom would like

MB to be a manager at a supermarket and not run the cash register. MB would like to be an artist

or a creative writer. She also shares that she wants her friends (ones that are not seen to us) to

be with her also. The counselor hopes she can develop coping skills that help her handle her

extreme emotions. Her teacher would like students to not be afraid of her and for her to have

friends by interacting positively with them. The special education teacher added that she would

like her math skills to increase and to have the school better understand her intellectual needs.
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 17

Everyone involved looks forward to seeing a positive change in MB by implementing these

hopes and dreams.

Figure 1. IEP MAPS Document. This figure shows a compilation of the information gathered at
the MAPS meeting for MB This information will later be used to create an effective IEP for MB
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 18

IEP Reflection

The Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) is a plan or program developed to ensure that

a child who has a disability identified under the law and is attending an elementary or secondary

educational institution receives specialized instruction and related services

(http://www.washington.edu/doit/what-difference-between-iep-and-504-plan). The IEP is the law

that states that every child is entitled to an appropriate education regardless of their disabilities. It

allows the student to assess their education equally to his/her peers. It allows students to be

educated without being prejudice with their disabilities. The IEP helps teachers who teach

students with disabilities to accommodate and modify the curriculum as needed in order for the

child to obtain or approach state standards. I also feel an IEP allows every child to feel that they

are able to reach any of their goals regardless of their disability.

Writing and implementing an effective IEP involves many people, many different steps,

and collaborative decision making. What I found while evaluating this IEP was that it took

fifteen days to implement the new changes that occurred during the IEP meeting. In this

situation, fifteen days is too long. Since more than five days went by, it put the child further

behind in her instruction and obtaining the instruction as needed. Secondly, more in-depth

training needs to be given to the general education teachers to learn how to equally implement

the IEP in order to benefit the child. The teachers also have to be more consistent when

implementing the plan for the child to realize the change and to grow successfully with it in

place.

.
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 19

Every IEP outcome is a success when it is driven with reliability and consistency. If the

team is actively involved doing what the IEP states, then the student will show improvement.

Although, that doesnt mean the student will succeed properly with the plans in place

academically or behaviorally. In that situation, more will be done to ensure the success of the

student.

IEP Recommendations

I have worked closely with MB and her team. From examining her IEP to implementing

her IEP, I have some recommendations to improve the current instruction. MBs behavior is

what gets in the way of her accessing her education. Upon completion of the FBA, it was

determined that outplacement will be the key to her success that will assist her in her education.

That being said, the comments to be made about the IEP are limited.

Currently, there is one paraprofessional that works one on one with MB. Due to her

behaviors being so extreme, there should be more support in the classroom. The general

education teacher has twenty students, including MB, that she is responsible to provide a positive

learning environment for. After many attempts and recommendations from the BCBA and

special education staff, a positive learning environment wasnt being implemented with MB in

the classroom. The past week MB has been in a separate classroom setting with a

paraprofessional able to do anything she pleases as long as it does not physically harm her. The

staff is required to let her do non educational activities barring it will not upset her. I truly

believe the best improvement I could recommend is that MB have access to professionals that

can assist her on positively improving her behavior. Outplacing her to a school that can provide

her with the proper assistance and education is what would be best. By doing so, MB will have a

positive learning environment where academics can be accessed in a way that benefits her.
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 20

Aside from her behavior, with the current IEP, MB was not successfully completing or

partaking in any academic work in areas of strength or improvements. I would have liked to

determine was specifically MB needs to improve her math. For example, on the IEP it states she

needs, one- digit addition subtraction and addition up to 100. That does tell me what she needs

to be more successful in mathematics. Therefore, I would have liked to add more specific details

on ways to improve that within her IEP.

In reviewing the overall experience observing and working with MB, if the classroom

were mine I would have done a few things differently. In a public general education classroom, I

would have provided MB with a section of the room designed to fulfill her needs. I would have

had a bean bag chair where she could go when her psychological behaviors were too much on

her. The area would also include a desk, supplies, books, and an area for her paraprofessional to

work. The spot in the room would not be secluded; it would be very much a part of the general

population, just located more on the outskirts of the layout. Having this special section would

hopefully allow MB to have her behavioral instances in private.

In regard to her academics, I would have provided more modified instruction. Math and

reading responses should have been at a level in which MB would be successful. The work being

provided was not scaled to MBs needs. Her work should have been more individualized and that

the paraprofessional could have assisted more on while the general education teacher was

assisting other students. More positive feedback would have been given to MB by adults as well

as students when appropriate. This would have possibly allowed MB to receive more praise and

rewards for her positive behavior and academic successes. On top of that, this would also assist

MB with her social relationships and social skills. I would have had the special education

teacher deliver MBs services within the regular classroom. This would have put a highly trained
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 21

educator within the classroom setting, able to assist MB more directly. The support would have

been two-fold benefiting general educator and the students.

In summary, I feel that MBs IEP has been designed with modifications,

accommodations, supports, and her best interest and learning at heart. With a program and

IEP change and/or outplacement, I believe that his program could be improved to meet her needs

even better.
M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT 22

References

Fountas, I., & Pinnell, G. S. (2010). Benchmark Assessment System 1 Grades K-2, Levels A-N

(2nd ed.) [Measurement instrument]. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Publishing.

Kpper. (2000). Guide to the Individualized Education Program. Retrieved December, 2016,

from http://www2.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/index.html

What is the difference between an IEP and a 504 Plan? (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2016,

from http://www.washington.edu/doit/what-difference-betw