IEPs: Writing Quality Individualized Education Programs

Here’s practical help for mastering the process of developing and writing quality individualized education programs (IEPs). This best-selling, essential resource includes step-by-step instructions backed by examples, practice, and feedback to help users gain the critical skills and knowledge they need to write effective IEPs, meet the standards of IDEA, and ultimately plan instruction for students with disabilities. Guide to Writing Quality Individualized Education Programs includes an easy-to-understand summary of IDEA 2004; a workable organization of the IEP process into seven manageable steps; explanations, modeling, practice, and feedback for mastering each step of the process; and a brief procedural summary at the end of each step. The new edition features the latest information and references to help readers as they work through the process in such areas as recognizing and referencing IEPs for a variety of disabilities, genders, and grade levels; basing IEPs on required state or core curricula; phrasing goals that address standards, while also meeting the needs of students performing below-grade level; understanding the role of Response to Intervention in addressing needs in the general classroom; and learning how the No Child Left Behind Act affects high-stakes testing for  students with disabilities. Ideal for teacher candidates, in-service educators, parents and other IEP team members, the guide can be used for whole group instruction, out-of-class assignments, or as independent study.

Gordon Gibb, PhD, taught students with disabilities in the public schools for 16 years prior to his appointment at Brigham Young University. As associate professor and director of undergraduate special education, Dr. Gibb prepares teachers to work with students with mild/moderate disabilities and conducts research and instructional improvement activities in several schools.

Tina Taylor Dyches, EdD, is professor and Associate Dean in the McKay School of Education at Brigham Young University. Dr. Dyches has worked with individuals with significant disabilities and their families for nearly 30 years as a special educator and professor. Her service and research interests include adaptation of families raising children with disabilities, children’s literature that characterizes individuals with disabilities, and provision of appropriate services to individuals with disabilities.

Preface v

Introduction: Special Education and the Individualized Education Program 1

Meet Our Students 15

1. Describe the student’s present levels of academic achievement and functional performance 49

2. Write measurable annual goals 61

3. Measure and report student progress 77

4. State the services needed to achieve annual goals 83

5. Explain the extent, if any, to which the student will not participate with nondisabled students in the regular class and in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities 95

6. Explain accommodations necessary to measure academic achievement and functional performance on state and districtwide assessments 99

7. Complete a transition plan for students age 16 and older 109

Appendix

Answers to Exercises 113