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Shelby Murphy

IEP Case Study

Towson University

Spring 2017
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Part 1: Background Information

Dante is currently an 8th grade student at Ridgely Middle School and receives

Special Education services as stated in his current IEP. Throughout examining the

students files, pertinent background information was brought to my attention. Dante was

born in 2003 at 30 weeks due to fetal distress. Dante has a fraternal twin that currently

attends Ridgely as well. Dante was the larger of the two children, weighing 3 lbs and 3

oz. For six more weeks, Dante remained hospitalized due to respiratory difficulties. At 6

months, Dante was hospitalized again due to cellulitis. Delays were reported in walking

(12-18 months) and talking (24-30 months). Other than recurrent ear infections and

asthma until 3 years, Dante was reported to be an easy baby.

Dante has been receiving Special Education services since pre-school. In the

2008-2009 school year, a psychological evaluation was conducted and it was noted that

Dante has great difficulty with attention and cooperation. During this time, the student
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lived in New York and went to Noxon Road Elementary School in 2011. The students

IEP required Dante to receive counseling, occupational therapy, speech and language

therapy, and special classes. As stated on the IEP, it was determined that it is difficult to

determine Dantes cognitive skills due to his difficulties in sustaining attention and his

unwillingness to participate. On this IEP, Dante had a total of 20 annual goals that he

was to be working towards. The IEP also stated that Dante would require a summer

program during the months of July and August.

In 2012, Dante moved to Anne Arundel County Public Schools and attended

Odenton Elementary to ensure that his needs were met in a Self-Contained classroom.

January of 2012 a psychological assessment was conducted. Dantes cognitive ability

results fell within the Below-Average range. The parent was interviewed and the

Conners Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scales was used to provide information on a

broad range of emotional, behavioral, social, and academic concerns and disorders.

Dantes total academic difficulties score and Hyperactivity/ Impulsivity were scored as

very elevated. The students social problems were scored as elevated. In the

classroom, the student was scored very elevated in the sub scales of upsetting

thoughts/physical symptoms, language, math, aggressive behaviors, hyperactivity, and

perfectionistic and compulsive behaviors. It was also stated that Dante displays many

characteristics that relate to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. In March of 2012,

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there was a occupational therapy assessment report conducted. The Sensory

Processing Measure showed that there are problems with Dantes social participation,

body awareness, balance and motion, and total sensory systems.

In 2015 Dante transferred from Pinewood Elementary and began attending

Ridgely Middle School. Dantes current primary disability is under Other Health

Impairments. Dante is provided with his Least Restricted Environment in the general

education classroom setting. I got to observe this student on multiple occasions and got

to sit in on a meeting that was held about the student failing more than one class. This

student is currently at risk of repeating the 8th grade and having to come back for

summer school as well.

Part 2: IEP Process

At Ridgely Middle School, a student must be identified and referred to the

specialists that are involved in the IEP process and team meetings. The referrals can

come from a teacher or a Special Educator that worked with the student. When the

student is brought up, the parent must give permission for the Special Educator to begin

testing the student to determine the needs of the student. The testing and observations

of the student should include behaviors and their academic ability. There is a case
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manager, which is usually a Special Educator, assigned to each student that has an IEP.

The case manager is in charge of testing the student, discussing the IEP at meetings,

and altering the IEP as goals are needed or met. During the annual review the parts that

may be looked at or changed include the present levels of the student, goals and

objectives, supplementary aids, and accommodations. At Ridgely Middle, there is a

specific day that is usually a team day and almost all IEP meetings are scheduled on

these days. These meetings at Ridgely usually include a General Educator, the IEP

Chair, a Special Educator/case manager, and the parents. Occasionally the School

Psychologist will attend the meetings as well.

In my internship at Ridgely Middle, I have been able to participate and observe at

multiple IEP meetings. As in compliance with IDEA, there are many things that must be

done before the annual meeting date. There must be a meeting prior to the annual that

then gives the Special Educator permission to conduct assessments with the student.

New formal or informal assessments must be given each year. Once completed, the

new documents must be given to the parents 5 days before the meeting. At the meeting,

students will often come to participate in their IEP and give some input on what works

for them. The parents and the student can request things to be added or taken off if

necessary. The accommodations and supplementary aids must be appropriate for the

student and be proven to be beneficial to the student. The student must be placed in the
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least restricted environment (LRE) that still gives them access to the general education

curriculum regardless of what setting they may be in. All of these things must be met

under IDEA. The General Educators role is to provide some feedback on how the

student is doing in the class and what modifications and accommodations seem to be

working for the student. The IEP Chair runs most of the meeting, introduces everyone,

provides copies of all of the paperwork, and facilitates the meeting. The Special

Educator presents the IEP to the parents, discusses any changes that were made to the

IEP, and goes through the assessments done that show how the student is performing.

After the meeting, the Special Educator must also provide the new IEP to all of the

teachers that work with the student and have them sign off that they were shown the

new IEP.

Part 3: IEP Content

Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP)

I had the pleasure of being able to conduct the informal assessments with Dante

and review the results. He completed the Brigance Comprehensive Inventory of Basic

Skills in February of this year. Throughout the reading part of the assessments Dante
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performed a 20% on the eighth grade passage without a reader. When Dante was

provided a reader the student increased his understanding and got a 40%. On a fourth

grade passage the student scored 80% without a reader. During the word identification

portion of the test, Dante scored a 0% on eighth grade words, 40% on seventh grade

words, and a 60% on sixth grade words. Dantes grade equivalent showed to be on a

fourth grade level. The needs that Dante exhibits continue to be phonics and

comprehension. For the mathematics portion of the informal, Dante would first complete

as much as he could without a calculator and then would be given a calculator after.

When completing calculations without a calculator, Dante scored at a first grade level.

When Dante completed the calculations with a calculator his scores went up to a fifth

grade level. During the problem solving portion, Dante performed at a second grade

level without a reader or a calculator. When given a reader and calculator, Dante

performed at a fourth grade level. Dantes needs in mathematics includes multi-digit

addition and subtraction, division and multiplication, fractions, and problem-solving. For

the writing portion of the informal, Dante scored at a seventh grade level. The needs

that Dante still exhibits are expanded sentence construction, and paragraph

construction. Lastly, the Special Educator and I conducted teacher interviews and

observed Dante informally in his classes. Dantes behavior performance is below grade

level expectations. It was seen that Dante needs constant cues, prompts, and supports
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to stay on task and submit his assignments. Dantes behavior needs include on-task

behavior and becoming easily distracted. The results of these informal tests show that

Dante needs the accommodations and supplementary aids that are provided to him so

that he may succeed to the best of his ability.

Instructional and Testing Accommodations

Under Auditory Presentation Accommodations on Dantes IEP he requires a

human reader or audio recording for verbatim reading of entire test. This was a

continuation from the old IEP. Under Multi-Sensory Presentation Accommodations he is

give the opportunity for text to speech software for verbatim reading of the entire test as

well as text to speech software for selected sections of the test. The accommodation

provided for selected sections of reading was new to this IEP to give Dante the option of

having the test read verbatim or just selected sections as well. During the meeting Dante

agreed with this request due to the fact that he said he does not always need the whole

entire test read to him. Under the Response Accommodations, Dante receives a scribe

to write for him and mathematics tools and calculation devices. These accommodations

are being continued from his old IEP. The informal assessments showed that the use of

a calculator is a need for Dante and he agreed when asked in the meeting. Under the
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Timing and Scheduling Accommodations the students amount of extended time

changed on the new IEP. The student now receives extended time of 20 minutes instead

of the number being a percent. Dante also continues to receive multiple or frequent

breaks, reduced distractions to the student, and reduced distractions to other students.

The rest of the accommodations that Dante receives are specifically put on his IEP for

PARCC testing. Dante will receive text to speech for the mathematics assessments,

small group testing, human reader/human signer for the ELA/Literacy assessments,

including items, response options and passages, calculation device and mathematics

tools, mathematics response human scribe, ELA/Literacy constructed response human

scribe, and extended time 20 minutes. These accommodations have all have been

shown to be effective through the informal assessments and the documentation from

teachers.

IEP Goals and Objectives

In the reading section of Dantes goals and objectives, he has a continuation of

two of his goals. The first reading goal is that when given grade level text that includes

syllabication patterns and morphology, Dante will decode the text with no more than 5

errors in 1 out of 5 reading activities as measured by teacher running record. The three
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objectives that coincide this goal are continued as well from the old IEP. Objective one

continues to be when given an unfamiliar word in a text, Dante will break the word into

syllables in 1 out of 5 targeted trials. Objective two continues to be when given an

unfamiliar word in a text, Dante will identify the roots and affixes 1 out of 5 targeted

trials. The last objective for this goal is when given a grade level text, Dante will be able

to use word meanings and order in sentences to confirm decoding efforts. The second

continued reading goal for Dante is after reading a text written at grade level, Dante will

support a central idea or key conclusion of the text by using 2 or more pieces of textual

evidence to support their analysis for 3 out of 5 texts. This goal was lowered from 4 out

of 5 texts to now be 3 out of 5 to make this goal more accessible for Dante. Objective

one states that given a grade level text, Dante will highlight relevant pieces of textual

evidence that supports the central idea 3 out of 5 targeted trials. Objective two states

that given a grade level text, Dante will be able to justify the supporting evidence he

chose, either orally or in writing 3 out of 5 targeted trials. Dante has one continued

written language goal on his IEP. By March 2018, during a writing activity in the

classroom, when writing a paragraph with multiple sentences, Dante will use a variety of

sentence structures to signal differing relationships among ideas, according to a

teacher-created rubric, for 3 out of 5 writing sessions. Objective one states that Dante

will be able to generate ideas and topics for writing 3 out of 5 targeted trials. Objective
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two states that Dante will be able to dictate or write sentences related to ideas or

illustrations 3 out of 5 targeted trials. Both of the reading goals and the writing goal for

Dante are included as an Extended School Year (ESY) as well. Dante has one

mathematics goal as well that is continued from the previous IEP. By March 2018, when

given a series of five real-world problems involving rational numbers, and requiring any

of the four operations, Dante will select an operation and solve 3 out of 5 problems

correctly with 50% accuracy. The previous goal had Dante performing with 60%

accuracy but to make the goals and objectives more accessible, it is now 50% accuracy.

Objective one states that when given real-world word problems, Dante will highlight the

key, relevant details and/or words with 50% accuracy. Objective two states that when

given real-world word problems, Dante will identify and use the correct operation(s)

needed to solve the problem with 50% accuracy. Lastly, Dante has two continued

behavior goals. The first goal states that by March 2018, when participating in an

activity, Dante will actively work on the assigned task(s), use attentive posture, and will

refrain from off-task behaviors for the duration of the activity, for 4 out of 5 activities. The

first objective states that Dante will respond appropriately to constructive feedback 4 out

of 5 targeted trials. The second objective states that when given cues and support from

the guidance counselor, Dante will use his words to appropriately express feelings of

frustration and/or anger 4 out of 5 targeted trials. The third objective states that Dante
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will speak appropriately to those around him when he becomes angry or frustrated 4 out

of 5 targeted trials. The second behavior goal states that by March of 2018, when given

a directive, Dante will demonstrate compliance by looking at the person and saying

okay or nodding his head within 10 seconds then completing the directive and will

refrain from engaging in non-compliant behavior for 3 out of 5 directives given. The first

objective states that when given a direction from an adult, Dante will appropriately

acknowledge the person and the directive 3 out of 5 targeted trials. The second

objective states that when given a direction from an adult, Dante will avoid non-

compliant behavior 3 out of 5 targeted trials. Dante has academic goals that he needs to

reach as well as he needs to work on his on-task behavior so that the work can be a

more accurate representation of what he is capable of.

Supplementary Aids and Services, Program Modifications, and Supports

Under the Supplementary Aids section, all of the supports that Dante receives

have been continued onto his new IEP due to the fact that he still shows a need for

them. The Supplementary Aids include:

Allows use of manipulatives.

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Other Instructional Supports

Use of word bank to reinforce vocabulary and/or when extended writing is required.

Limit amount to be copied from board.

Provide student with copy of student/teacher notes.

Allow use of organizational aids.

Instructional supports will be provided within all school classrooms/settings as

needed including having Dante repeat and/or paraphrase information, repetition

of directions, provide a multi-sensory approach to learning, simple, uncluttered

visual supports to be paired as possible with verbal instruction, provide multi-step

directions one direction at a time. As Dante continues to progress through grade

levels, he needs to be provided with assistance when copying and taking notes.

Assistance needs to be provided when copying from the board. When Dante gets

behind, adult assistant needs to step in to help him catch up. Limiting the amount

he is required to copy, only having him copy the essential material will help Dante

keep up more efficiently. For extended note-taking, a copy of teacher notes will

be provided. Providing Dante with a word bank to reinforce vocabulary as well as

when writing extended writing assignments will aid in task completion.

Altered/Modified assignments.

Delete extraneous information on assignments and assessments when possible.

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Use pictures to support reading passages whenever possible.

Chunking of texts.

Other Program Modifications

Choice responses when answering higher level questions.

Program modifications will be provided as needed within all school settings.

Assignments should be modified to meet Dantes Instructional needs. Limiting

choices and providing picture cues when appropriate will help increase Dantes

understanding. Deleting extraneous information from worksheets can include

whiting out unnecessary information, or covering up part of the page with a cover

sheet. This will help Dante focus on only part of the page. Picture clues and

choices need to be provided to help Dante learn new vocabulary in all subject

areas.

Choices will be provided to the student for higher level questions asked by the

teacher so as to assist with expressive and receptive language.

Provide manipulatives and/or sensory activities to promote listening and focusing

skills.

Strategies to initiate and sustain attention.

Sensory activities will be provided as needed within the classroom and other

school settings. Additional adult support will be provided throughout the day to
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assist in implementing the behavior chart, providing structure during transitions

and less structured times such as physical education, redirecting student to task,

modifying assignments, etc. Support will be provided to help Dante initiate and

sustain his attention. This support will include using the cue: eyes on me, gaining

his attention before giving directions, proximity control, and visual cues to help

cue him to follow directions, and stay on task.

Adult Support

Additional adult support will be provided within the inclusion classrooms daily.

The adult assistant will provide opportunities to facilitate social interactions with

peers and adults, aid in focusing attention to instruction in small and large group

setting, help Dante remain on-task and complete tasks given, implement the

behavior chart, provide structure during transitions and less structured times

such as physical education, redirect student, modify assignments, and follow

directions and classroom rules.

Part 4: Reflection

When it was time to send out the IEP notice for the annual review, all of the

relevant information required under IDEA was included for the parent. The parent got a
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notice a week before the meeting that provided the date, time, a description of the

meeting, and a copy of the IEP documents. The timelines for evaluation, eligibility, and

IEP development were followed in accordance to IDEA as well. When at the meeting,

the required people were present included: The IEP Chair, a Special Educator, a

General Educator, and the parents. All of the members of the meeting sat at a large oval

table in a very small room. The IEP Chair sat at one end of the table, the General

Educator sat across from her, the parents sat beside the two of them, and the Special

Educator and I sat across from the parents/student at the table. I feel that this was the

best seating arrangement because I think that it is vital to sit at a position where the

family feels that they can be involved. The Special Educator and I sat directly across

from the parents which made them feel actively involved in the process of their childs

IEP. At the beginning of the meeting, the IEP Chair gave the parents a new copy of the

Procedural Safeguards and explained to the parent any changes that may have been

added since the last time they went over the Safeguards document. The parent stated

that they understood the Procedural Safeguards and they did not have any further

questions at this time. The IEP Chair introduced all of the individuals at the table,

started off the meeting, and passed around all of the legal papers that must be signed

before and after the meeting. The General Educator provided the family feedback on

Dantes performance in their classroom, his current grade, and what his strengths and
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weaknesses seem to be. There was also written feedback from multiple of Dantes

General Educators that was read aloud for the parents as well. The Special Educator in

the meeting presented the IEP sections that have changed and stated it in a way that

parents could fully understand. These sections include PLAAFP, Supplementary Aids,

Accommodations, and Goals and Objectives. While going over the Accommodations

and Supplementary Aids sections, the student was asked what works best for them and

if there were any changes that he felt he needed. I believe this was vital to the meeting

because you want the students feedback and for them to advocate for themselves. This

caused for a great deal of collaboration between the parents, the student, and the

Special Educator on how we can best help this student succeed.

During this meeting, I provided some feedback on Dantes behavior and his test

results from when I got the chance to work with him throughout the informal

assessments. This meeting occurred very early on in my internship, so I observed my

mentor and participated to the best of my ability. Although I did not participate in this

meeting very much, this meeting prepared me for the future meetings that I did present

in. In a later meeting, I presented an IEP to a family and I believe that I was able to

present effectively due to the fact that I was so involved in Dantes IEP process. During

Dantes IEP meeting I felt confident about my knowledge of the student because of how

closely I worked with developing the IEP, testing the student, and observing him in his
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other classes. This allowed me to become very involved in the IEP document itself and

understand the entirety of the contents. I got to see first-hand how the assessments are

completed, how assessments are scored, what accommodations and supplementary

aids work well for the student, and how this all effected the content in the IEP. This

experience helped me greatly to prepare myself for the future IEP meetings that I would

be involved in as well.