Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The IEP goals continue to evolve

I emailed my goals posted earlier to both Jaymes' speech therapist, and a friend I met on the Fugly Forum, who happens to be a special education teacher. This is what the teacher sent me back, the red are her comments:

  • Jaymes will engage in back and forth conversation with peers (even if that conversation is mostly Jaymes babbling) How many turns? The difficult thing may be getting peers to engage, also. I would say maybe just two turns. Perhaps, peer initiating, Jaymes’ response, peer reply, Jaymes’ response. This way a teacher could “prompt” at the beginning.
  • Jaymes will be able to answer personal questions: "What is your name, how old are you, how are you today?" “How are you?” is a very difficult question for even typical preschoolers to answer because it is abstract for kids. (Heck, even some adults don’t even know how to answer that appropriately.) I think definitely being able to give his name when asked, and his age.
  • Jaymes will be able to ask questions to engage peers:"What is your name, do you want to play" Is your goal here speech related or play skill related? Since from what I read, Jaymes’ social skills are also delayed, you may want to make this about play. In that case, verbal may not be the way to go. First, he will need to learn “join in” skills such as choosing to play close to another child with similar toys. Then engaging with that child. This will need to be facilitated by the teacher at first.
  • Jaymes will communicate his needs (need to go potty, need to eat, need new diaper) Do you want this to be verbal or are picture exchange cards or other augmentative communication devices acceptable to you?
  • Jaymes will request things using "I want ____" Once again, you may want to start with pictures to help this. Prompt with the words, “I want” and then give Jaymes pictures to use so he can work on mastering the concept of “want” and asking without resorting to tantrums without having to worry about finding the word for what he wants.
  • Jaymes will use possessives (identify other's belongings as "his or hers", identify his own possessions as "my or mine")
  • Jaymes will demonstrate how objects work (rather than "explaining" per original goal)
  • Jaymes will be able to express emotions verbally (sad, angry, happy) Again, I’m not sure what they have been working on with him, but probably he should start with pictures or social stories before working on verbal expression. Once he has the concept, the words for it will come much easier.
  • Jaymes will identify 6 shapes Do you want this to be naming them (expressively) or pointing to them when given the name (receptively). I would think that pointing at them would be good for now – just being able to demonstrate that he has this knowledge even if he doesn’t have the words.
  • Jaymes will use a tripod grasp on a crayon/marker
  • Jaymes will snip paper independently
  • Jaymes will imitate at least 5 letters of the alphabet using a crayon/marker Has he mastered writing his name? I think copying his name would be a more appropriate goal than 5 random letters. It will have meaning to him. Along this line, can he identify his written name? If not, that should be an objective prior to this one.
  • Jaymes will imitate at least 5 numbers using a crayon/marker I would leave this one out for now. Understanding the concepts of what numbers are is far more important for Jaymes right now than knowing numerals. Numerals are actually one of the last things we teach.
  • Jaymes will participate in group activites, rather than just tolerating them (singing, dancing, hand motions etc...) This sounds like a good next step. Now that he is sitting at circle time (or whatever they call it) actually participating will be good. In order to get him to do that, the teacher may have to make a concession to let him choose a song they sing each day until he begins to participate more. I use picture cards that represent the songs and the children get to choose a song we sing each day.
  • Jaymes will recognize verbs that he does on a regular basis, (picture of eating, picture of bathing, picture of sleeping) How do you want him to recognize these? Do you want him to point to a picture when prompted such as, “Show me the picture of the boy who is eating?” or do you want him to point to a picture and say, “Eating.”
  • Jaymes will follow two step directions, Jaymes will attempt to follow three step directions Make these two separate objectives. Jaymes will follow two step directions independently 2/3 tries. Jaymes will follow three-step directions with physical or verbal prompts 2/3 tries. (or something like that).
  • Jaymes will learn a potty routine (pants down, sit on potty, flush potty, pants up, wash hands) I would add something in here about using a picture schedule to teach the potty routine. One year, I had a boy with autism who we had been trying to potty train for months. I finally got the bright idea to make a picture schedule. He took one look at that schedule, followed each step and was potty trained that day. Now, I’m not saying this will happen for Jaymes, but it definitely is a step in the right direction.
  • Jaymes will alert an adult when he needs his diaper changed Do you want this to be verbally, or can he use a picture or other sign?

And my revised goals:

  • Jaymes will engage in back and forth conversation with a peer at least 2 turns, either initiated by peer or teacher, and with necessary prompting, once per day.
  • Jaymes will be able to answer personal questions: "What is your name, how old are you"
  • Jaymes will initiate play with a peer once per day.
  • Jaymes will communicate his needs (need to go potty, need to eat, need new diaper) verbally OR using PECS or other augmentative communication devices, while working toward doing so verbally.
  • Jaymes will request familiar items (blanket, a cookie, juice) using "I want ____"
  • Jaymes will use possessives (identify other's belongings as "his or hers", identify his own possessions as "my or mine")
  • Jaymes will demonstrate how objects work (rather than "explaining" per original goal)
  • Jaymes will be able to identify emotions in a picture or social story (sad, angry, happy)
  • Jaymes will identify 6 shapes receptively.
  • Jaymes will use a tripod grasp on a crayon/marker
  • Jaymes will snip paper independently
  • Jaymes will imitate the letters in his name using a crayon/marker, working toward writing his name.
  • Jaymes will count to 10 (without mixing up numbers) 2/3 times
  • Jaymes will participate in group activites, rather than just tolerating them (singing, dancing, hand motions etc...)
  • Jaymes will follow two step directions 2/3 times
  • Jaymes will attempt to follow three step directions with physical and verbal prompts 2/3 tries
  • Jaymes will learn a potty routine (pants down, sit on potty, flush potty, pants up, wash hands) using a picture schedule.
  • Jaymes will alert an adult when he needs his diaper changed, either verbally or using signs or pictures.

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