SAMPLE Strengths & Needs for IEP... and School Safety Pl
I never really got a strengths or needs thing, mostly stuff like, "She is arguementative and uncompliant. She does not follow rules. She repeatedly lies. She gets depressed easily and can say things like, 'I wish I was in Heaven', and 'Heaven is better than being here'. She cannot control her emotions. She plugs and covers her ears when exposed to loud noises. She doesn't respect the teacher and doesn't understand the kids. She likes to be alone and refuses to talk to others. She doesn't talk about normal things." The only thing close to strengths that I got was, "Good with metaphors, profiecent in writing, proficient at reading, and academically advanced." (Sorry if that was bragging...I'm sorry...)
I'm going to ask mom about my strengths and weaknesses. I have a feeling that "self-aware" and "intuitive" would be on the strengths part, and "hyper-emotional" and "prone to belligerence" would be on weaknesses. At least I think.
Wow! that has resonance with me!
I did not have the long litany of problems that you did but did have
-- Family strife
-- constant memories of bullying in school which probably qualify as ptsd
-- minor ocd
-- anxiety problems
The bummer is the flashbacks that I experience where suddenly I have the entire mental image of a stressful or embarrassing moment replay in my head with a complete set of all associated emotional discomforts. It is like a video clip with emotional response added. This happens all the time and often even to the point that I wince and maybe even make a vocal response apropos to the flash back and utterly unrelated to anything actually happening to around me in the present.
Is this flashback thing frequently found among other aspies as well?
wow. i'm just a newb here, trying to learn more about my kid. but i can't believe you just described me to a tea like that.
That list sounds similiar to my brother. He is 3 years of age, incredibly bright, a computer programmer and lives alone, far away from others. I'm concerned because he continues to isolate himself. I know he isn't happy. I suggested that he sees a psychologist to see if he is on the spectrum.
Our (five year old) son just started Kindergarten and we're in the process getting an IEP. This is incredibly helpful (THANK YOU!) and I'll be interested to see what the school comes up with, especially since they sound like they're prepared to disagree with the Asperger's diagnosis we got earlier this year (though they do admit that he isn't normal and they still definitely want an IEP). And this is at a school where the principal's child is on the Spectrum!
I've also been told that we're not obligated to sign any IEP right then and there--we can take it home, think about things, get input from others (like professionals or advocates).
As a non-AS computer scientist who never learned to properly "type" or as we now refer to it "keyboarding", I think that typing/keyboarding is a useful, yet over-emphasized skill taught by the schools. My typing method (the "hunt-peck-swear-erase" method) has served me just as well throughout life - Even now when my job has me write more lines of English text than computer code. The way that I learned to type has also made it really easy to finger type on the new small touchscreen devices (such as the ipod touch) where the normal typing method is impossible.
Also, I have found that many people are unaware that there is fairly inexpensive speech-to-text software that can be used in lieu of or in addition to keyboarding. Windows has some built-in software (you can find it in windows 7 under: control panels -> ease of access -> speech recognition) and I know of at least one third-party package (Dragon Naturally Speaking) that is availiable. Here's how it works - you basically plug a quality microphone into the computer (typically a headset/microphone) and after a short setup/training period dictate into a text document. It is that simple to use. However, the software is not 100% accurate - some wrong words that sound alike (but are not the words that you meant) will be placed in the text. I find this technology most useful for getting my thoughts on paper quickly and in generating rough drafts of documents that I can then edit (and clean up) later.
For my purposes, I find the Dragon software much better at accuracy than the built-in software - but my advice is to try the built-in software first before spending the money on Dragon. I also use the cheapest version of Dragon. (The more expensive versions are IMHO not worth the money unless you are dictating medical or legal terms) I would also imagine that if your child is having a very hard time with the physical aspects of writing words on paper, the software would be very useful to help with that issue as well.
Hi... brand new member today and wanted to put in just a quick note to correct a misconception: Homeschoolers *do* socialize... with all types of people. My 14 yr old son is diagnosed with Aspergers and is homeschooled... he has more real *relationships* with NT people (and other Aspies) in our regular activities (both in and out of 'homeschool circles') than he would ever be able to form in the five minutes between one class and the next at a public school. And I will *never* have to worry about the school messing up writing or implementing his IEP.
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Kristy / ketchupklf
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If two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary.
I am also new here. My son is 5 and has started prep this year. Since starting school his behaviour has worsened, not yet clinically diagnosed with Aspergers, yet he fills most of the spectrum perfectly.
I have expressed some concerns to my sons teacher, mostly defining him as quirky, she has never mentioned anything out of the ordinary, to me that she is concerned about except his confidence and resiliance issues. Should i have a meeting with her to discuss his appointment to be assessed, and what types of questions should i be asking her???? I AM SCARED THE SCHOOL SYSTEM WILL FAIL HIM>
kel x
LOVE your behavior plan. I can't stress that enough. My daughter's is a joke. Do remember, you should be an active participant in your child's IEP. My daughter has an advocate that goes with us to meeting (also, I teach special education so they know that I know when they are doing something stupid...they still try).
I agree with what statesman said. I do think "Keyboarding" is over-rated..... The only proffessions that I feel really need it from what Ive seen would be things like Lawyers or people that do Social Networking, and lawyers are probably gonna make enough to have a secretary anyway.
I will say that I hated keyboarding in school. It had more to do with the pointlessness of rote typing for practice then anything else.... My school had a program that followed the ideology behind teaching the alphabet. So one Letter at a time it would have you press each letter three times (And this was an involved process, for the software anyway, it took about 5 minutes to explain where the key was and then let you actually press the key three times). And then it would give you basic words > Sentences to Type out, again in threes, and then it added a "Drill" function to it which it would then report to the teacher at the primary server. I hated it, it just seemed so pointless to me. The only thing that that program did for me was to make me aware of what "home row" is, and I used that later to build my own keyboarding skills as the interest struck me. That didn't come until I was about 21, and the only reason it happened was the introduction of MMO Video games and not really wanting to jump into Voice Chat.
I could suggest, if you want him/them to learn to type, let them learn it in their own time, but don't buy them a Headset or Microphone. If they ever play online video games, they'll learn how to communicate in it quick enough. Let them know theres a typing method available if they get frustrated about not being able to communicate, and let them explore what they want to do on their own. If they're made to be responsible for their own communication skills, they'll figure it out, particularly if they know that help is available if they get truly stuck
Thanks for reading if you have
I disagree with the last two posters. For me the most useful thing I learnt at school was touch typing and I am incredibly angry that children are not learning that in Australia. They spend hours on computers, but NONE are taught to type. The simple fact is that an effective touch typist can type at up to 100 words a minute and I would love to see a one finger typist do that!! Given the amount of time we ALL spend on computers these days it is an essential skill to learn.
But it does depend on how it is learnt and many of the programs out are absolutely stupid and do not encourage or support the development of the skills and instead encourage kids not to learn it. I was not taught one letter at a time. I was taught a few letters at a time and using them in a whole range of different words. I was also expected very very early on to type up real documents, stories, etc, and a cloth was put over my hands and so I had no choice but to learn.
I have seen touch typing programs that engage kids and others that alienate them. Just becuase someone experienced a poor program does not make them all poor, it does mean that you need to look around for another program. I am yet to know of any professional who does not send hundreds of emails every day, and I can assure you that secretaries rarely if ever exist anywhere anymore. Sure they have admin staff and many of them do type up any useful information, but everyone has to be computer savvy and the most useful skill a person can use is touch typing, it makes life so so so much easier. The smaller devices are not made for long term use and would never be used in a workplace for that purpose. They breach all occupational health and safety guidelines. They are useful for people on the move, but you do not use them to run a business from.
You lost me at "they have extensive training" I find that most/many schools have inadequate training and they create the illusion that they know what they're doing when it comes to working with kids on the spectrum. I've found further evidence of this when school staff routinely blame our kids for behaviors that they deem rude/disrespectful/fill in the blank instead autistic.
I found really, one effective way of getting a semi-decent iep is to refuse to sign the garbage they draft until they accept my input. I'm not asking for the stars here either. It's been a long painful process and I hate it.
What I have learned is that if your part time job isn't documenting every interaction you have with a teacher that is about your child then you're not doing your job. This is really the only way to get proof, which you WILL need, that your child is having difficulties. Most/many/all schools want to say your child is progressing when they are not. If you don't have any proof to counter what they say, you're SOL. When you document, you can show that things aren't the way they claim. I'm in a district that lies and covers their asses and their fellow teacher's ass. I trust no one. Especially the vice principal. I wish to God she would have a baby that is autistic. She needs to learn our world and what better way.
Oh I remember IED when I was in a special education program for a bit, it got -really- silly because they wanted to have on paper that they had a high success rate and I could rationally discuss with them how political and everything was and they'd acknowledge it.
So I might have 3-5 goals on mine and 2-3 of them would absolutely silly so they could just say they were quickly and easily achieved both to inflate my progress and to inflate their success rate as professionals and the organization. I think I had "tie my shoes on my own", "use bathroom by himself", "shower by himself" and a few others at times along side things more like "Take GED test", "take driving lessons", etc
For those who are confused, I could do most things at a normal developmental level and at this point could be most things somebody at my age could do with no trouble.
I went along with the bull because high success rate can mean greater funding for the program that could help those who needed far more resources then I did. And yes people who reviewed these plans either didn't view the details or were that stupid to believe the goals, or simply were going along with them.
I was being picked on at school by a girl, I told her to f**k off I or I would blow her brains out, and I felt horrible for it, I instantly went to the counceler and asked for help. I told her everything and they ruled to have me expelled...it just seems wrong I told her several times I had no intention of hurting anyone, I just wanted to be left alone so I could talk with my friend and do my school work. they only let me come back to school, because I diagnosed is this wrong? I would have never been expelled if I didn't go for help...I found out the counseller was related to someone my father had beaten in a local election...I feel like she tried to get back at him..its disguisting.
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