SMARTER GOALS - A

DEFINE ATTAINABLE ADVANCEMENT THAT IS TIME BOUND.

So many times goals are about balance in addition to all of the other issues that need to be considered.  The goal needs to be attainable within the year, yet there needs to be enough challenge to it that progress toward greater functionality is accomplished.

• Show progress commensurate with the child's potential⁶ (circumstances) to prevent underestimation and to be challenging.
• The educational benefit is the ...

SMARTER GOALS – M

MEASURABLE AND MEANINGFUL DATA COLLECTION MUST BE ESTABLISHED

Identification of needs requires defined meaningful data collection that determines next steps in evaluations, research based programing, & other areas of need. The IEP is designed in order to allow the child:

• To be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum. [34 CFR §300.320(a)(2)(i)(A)]
• To meet each of the child’s other educational needs that result from the...

SMARTER GOALS CREATE IMPROVED IEP OUTCOMES

YOU NEED TO KNOW ENOUGH -

TO ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS -

TO GET THE RIGHT ANSWERS

What you don’t know will hurt you!

  HISTORY:

November of 1981, the issue of Management Review contained a paper, There's a S.M.A.R.T. Way To Write Management's Goals and Objectives, by George T. Doran. This introduced us to using the SMART goal acronym in management companies. The U.S. Department of Education in presentations related to special...

By: Jen Fauls-Leaver

New groups of homeschooling families are being welcomed each day. Many families are feeling they are not ready to have their children return to in-person schooling and instead are choosing to homeschool, because of COVID-19. I know that reading and comprehending all parts of the homeschooling State regulations and their specific district policies around...

 BEHAVIORAL CURRICULUM

The last of the five curriculums you will find in an IEP is that for behavior. The behavior curriculum is implemented when a student’s behavior impedes the student’s learning or that of others. At that point the IEP team must consider the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports, and other strategies, to address a broad base of behaviors. This includes the major goal of any SEL behavioral curriculum - the development of healthy, happy...

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY and the IEP

Today we are focusing on assistive technology and its importance in assisting the student in accessing their education. While everyone considers things like reading and math and the programs that support the struggling learner, we frequently do not consider the many accommodations and modifications which can have a profound effect on the ease of access that they provide to the student. Whether high tech or low tech assistive technology deserves consideration...

5 IEP CURRICULUMS  #3 EXPANDED / FUNCTIONAL

Usually, parents do not think of accommodations or modifications as part of an actual curriculum.  It does help to look at things from a different perspective because each of the 5 curriculum areas complements each other so that the child can have as full a life as possible.  It's not just reading, writing, and arithmetic that we address in the IEP. The purpose of the IEP is to come up with a plan that will allow the child to access ...

5 IEP CURRICULUMS

Surprise, surprise, its not just reading, writing and arithmetic that we address in the IEP. The purpose of the IEP is to come up with a plan that will allow the child to access all of their education. That means that  the accommodations and modifications that can be associated with an IEP must also address non academic issues that get in the way of learning. Today's focus is on academics and the core curriculum as well as the extracurricular, recreational, and leisure...

18 PARTS OF AN IEP - PART 2 (#10-18)

THERE ARE 18 ESSENTIAL PARTS OF THE IEP

This brings us to the last blog of this series, where we address the last 9 parts of the IEP and their functions. PARENTS MUST UNDERSTAND THE FUNCTION OF EACH PART AND HOW TO USE THEM! What you do not know can delay progress and limit functionality.

10) Annual Goals and Objectives

• A statement of measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals
  • An annual goal describes what the child is...