First initial Mental Retardation IEP

Last week I had the IEP for a student I did an initial evaluation for mental retardation (mr) for. I was crazy uncomfortable before the meeting. I mean, how do you tell someone for the first time that there baby is different and has a mean sounding label applied to them? All morning long (well, after Mr. Z left the house) I rehearsed aloud, practicing what I would say during each of the components of the IEP. Then when I got to the office, Mr. P demonstrated for me how he would go about saying it  - which was extremely helpful. The meeting ended up going as well as it could. The parents definitely blanched a bit in response to the MR label. But after seeing their faces we talked for a bit about what the label does and doesn't mean. They seemed shocked, but at the same time expressed that the diagnosis made sense to them as they could see that this child was very different than his younger sibling. We actually ended up talking more about his placement change in the following school year  as we recommended that he be moved to the moderate-severe program that the school district is starting. All in all, I am happy with how it went. Although I wish I didn't have a reason to.

IEP's, New Schools, and Trainings - Oh My!

I ended up sitting in the hot seat yesterday for my IEP and facilitated the whole shabang! Other than the fact that I forgot to go over the parent rights (she did get a copy though) I felt it went really well. I wasn't expecting to play facilitator, but I winged it and everyone seemed pleased. The RSP teacher was extremely complementary which made me feel awesome. Mr. H only had one suggestion for me to work on which was that I need to let the other parties say their parts. This is contrary to my inital training in which the psych presented the cognitive/processing/behavioral stuff that they had done AS WELL AS the academic stuff that the Special Ed teacher had done in order to go over the discrepancy. But he shared with me some of the problems that can arise from doing it the way and so I totally see his point. I will now just have to come up with a new game plan for how to best present my information.

Today I start at the Middle School with my new Tuesday Supervisor, Mrs. B. She already has an intern but is being amazingly nice and letting me work with her one day a week so I can get some Middle School hours under my belt. I am beginning to feel much more solid on my roles at my elementary sites (finally!) so I am really looking forward to this new start. I need to get practice with developing behavior support plans and doing manifest determinations and I will have a greater opportunity to do those things at the Middle School setting. So, wish me luck!

Training this morning on Legally Defensible IEPs... Hope it's good. I believe Mr. P and Mr. J (last years practicum supervisor) will be there so at least I should have someone to sit by! Hope it's good.

Smooth operator

I presented my results at an IEP today and I must say, I felt it went really well! I was crazy nervous and the room was stifling hot (of course I had a sweater on to boot!) so I am sure my face resembled a smiling tomato during the meeting, but I still think it's been my best yet. The kid qualified via the RTI dual discrepancy model (kid was discrepant from peers in his rate of improvement in intervention AND in academics), and I came in with graphs in hand and ready to talk. There was an interpreter since mom only spoke spanish, but I think that help me pace the presentation of information much easier than when I am at an english speaking IEP. My supervisor only chimed in a couple of times and when it was over he told me I did well and he thought he'd only need to be present for a couple more before he could completely turn me loose! Nice! I will have plenty more practice in the next couple of weeks before Christmas Break, I think I have 2-3 more to do. But it was nice to walk away from one feeling like it had gone so well. I'm a happy intern tonight.