[blindkid] IEP development for 3rd-4th grader

Brandon and Sarah lanesims at gmail.com
Wed Feb 6 21:04:26 UTC 2013


I absolutely agree that having Carol's book, Making It Work, is
essential. In fact, before my original post, I wandered around the
house looking for our copy. It turns out that Emilia's teacher had it
on loan. I have it back now and will study up on the IEP chapter.

As for the testing and grades as a source of guidance - that would be
great if I believed the progress reports. I'm suspicious that the
testing has been a bit generous regarding her progress, so may not be
much use in this case.

We do have a budding summer program that is 100mi away at the Idaho
School for the Deaf and Blind. Idaho isn't big on funding education
(last in the nation, Yay!), but the folks at the school have worked
hard to pull together a summer camp. Emilia has gone and will return
this summer. Thanks for the input.
Brandon

> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2013 12:38:02 -0500 (EST)
> From: SCDUFFLEY at aol.com
> To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] IEP development for 3rd-4th grader
> Message-ID: <4daf.696f350.3e3ffa7a at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> It is important and VITAL to have Carol Castellanos book  "Making it Work".
>
>  You will find a review of her book on the NFB  website.  It is the bible
> to education for the visually  impaired.
> _https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr19/fr05si11.htm_
> (https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr19/fr05si11.htm)
>
>
> Secondly, I googled the internet for information on IEP for  blind students
>
> and found good articles and a few examples.   Here are  a few links I
> found.
> _http://www.unco.edu/ncssd/bviIEP/index.shtml_
> (http://www.unco.edu/ncssd/bviIEP/index.shtml)
> _http://www.wonderbaby.org/articles/ieps-parents-blind-or-visually-impaired-
> children#sample_
> (http://www.wonderbaby.org/articles/ieps-parents-blind-or-visually-impaired-children#sample)
>
>
>  I have been through the same thing.  ONE of  the biggest challenges was
> needing exposure to peer interactions and some  daily living skills that
> were
> very slow going.  I was able to convince my  team,  in a calm, objective
> way, that my son, who is now 11, needed time at  Perkins School for the
> blind
> (about 1.25 hrs away)  to develop these  exposures in their Outreach
> Program.
>  They also offer a summer  program.  Do you have any services like that in
> your area or 100 mile  radius?
>
> Speech and OT can be tricky areas and we built his goals on  testing
> results.  Do you have testing evidence or grades to help you for  any of
> your IEP
> areas?
>
> I am sure the other parents and professionals will have  some wonderful
> advice as well.
>
> It takes time, but it is well worth it.
>
> My best,
>
> Christine Duffley
> NH
>
> In a message dated 2/3/2013 9:37:10 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> lanesims at gmail.com writes:
>
> Up until  now we have been passive participants in Emilia's IEP development
> and  meetings. I have never felt that the document was  particularly
> understandable or helpful in a practical way. I now realize  that this
> cannot continue and I have decided to be much more active in the  process
> of
> writing the document.
>
> I have looked at some online advice  and samples and still have a question
> about what to include/exclude from  the Goals/Benchmarks. The common core
> standards are clearly published on  the district website. It seems to me
> that if we expect her to have the same  expectations as her sighted peers
> with regard to learning the curriculum,  then we just need to state that
> clearly, rather than go through each  individual element of the curriculum.
> Then we just need to address areas of  weakness or blind specific
> accomodations, and the expanded core curriculum  (like reading speed,
> assistive tech, testing accomodations, O&M, etc).  I'm thinking something
> like this:
>
> Language: Emilia will have the  same expectations as her sighted peers for
> mastery of the  4th grade  common core standards.
>
> After this we could go on to a specific reading  goal and so on.
>
> The same would apply to math and so on.
>
> It seems  to me that if we refer specifically to the published expectations
> for her  sighted peers, then the same expectations in their entirety are
> applied to  Emilia. Am I missing something here?   Thanks.
> Brandon




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