Transcript
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Braylynn explains her background, why she enjoys writing IEPs, and how she built a generalized template from multiple states. She also describes the plan to create a fictional student profile to work through the document.
Speaker A
Hi, everyone, it's Braylynn.And welcome back to my channel.If you're new to my channel.I'm a kindergarten through third grade special ed teacher and this is my fourth year of teaching.And honestly, every year it gets harder, not gonna lie, it gets more difficult.
But I still always end up really loving my job so much.One of my favorite things about teaching, and I know this is gonna sound kind of weird, I Love, love writing IEPs, and I think the reason I love it so much is because you really get to look at all of this paperwork and information and you really get to, like, hand craft a really beautiful document and a beautiful narrative that is, like, specific to the child.And it is one of my favorite things.I realized that I didn't want to use a student that I have or that I have had in the past.So I asked on Instagram for you guys to send me just little, like, traits or attributes to kind of describe a random child.
I got over like 150 responses.And so I've been kind of picking from your suggestions and kind of crafting together a child that we're gonna write an IEP about.We're gonna try to do this super holistically.I don't have assessment data, obviously, because it's a fake child, but we are gonna go through his background.It's a boy.We'll get to that later.His background and how he's doing in school.And we're really gonna take our time and go through this iep.I'm going to work page by page, and we're going to write it together.
So before I get into this, there are a few things that I did.I made this template, for one.But the way I made it is I took five different states.I took Massachusetts, New York, California, Illinois, and Florida.Oh, and Texas.Sorry, six states.I looked at all of their IEPs, because every state is different.And I found what was most common between all of them.The most common pieces that are included, included in those six states.So this template is not state specific, but it does include, like, chunks of information or little parts of each IEP that I put together so that everybody hopefully can find something within this template and within this video that is similar to their state or similar to their province.
The video introduces Jason, a fourth grader with autism, and outlines his academic strengths, weaknesses, and classroom behaviors. Braylynn explains how his profile will guide the IEP writing process.
Speaker A
All right, now let's meet our student.Because I actually really, really like this student.I'm like, very attached to him now that I've taken the time to craf his whole Persona, his whole life.But I want to make sure we have a really clear understanding of this student before we go to the template and me and you start writing it together.So here he is.
So our student that we're going to be writing an IEP for is for our student named Jason.He's 10 years old.He's in the fourth grade.He's in my class, Ms. Martin's class.He lives with his mom and his grandma.
At the age of three he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.And he tends to visually stim.He tends to have a little bit of scripting, but overall he is definitely verbal.He's able to understand basic social cues and he's able to have short conversations with peers and adults.So we're not going to have official assessments, but I'm just going to give you the general overview of where he is academically.
So Jason is reading below grade level.He's reading at a first grade level.He has trouble with accuracy.He tends to miss words or miss sounds within words.He can segment words, but he has a hard time blending them in terms of writing.
Writing is one of his biggest weaknesses.It tends to lead to some behaviors and he tends to just avoid writing at all costs.For math, he is working at about a second grade level.He's working on addition and subtraction and beginning stages of multiplication.He does have a strong sense of visual spatial, so he's able to do a lot of patterns and work with more geometric shapes.
He is really strong in science because he finds it really, really fascinating.So he loves talking about different science subjects and science skills when it comes to building or plants and just any type of like stem related thing he is all about.I really want to get into the behaviors of Jason and all of you guys gave some amazing recommendations and some amazing ideas for behaviors that Jason can exhibit.And I think that this is going to be pretty accurate to some students that I've seen in the past.So during writing he really hates it, honestly.He cries, he elopes, he throws paper on the ground.It's definitely his most non preferred subject and non preferred academic time.Anytime something is non preferred, it leads to elopement.That's his mo.He likes to talk about the topics and things that he's interested in.
But when it comes to reading books that he's not interested in or looking at math problems, he tends to look away, put his head down at his desk, or sometimes rip up the paper or throw it to the ground.It can be really disruptive in class when he refuses to do his work because the elopement leads to losing a staff member.Honestly, it's a safety concern and so that can be really challenging.Jason does much better one on one.That's where he thrives.Having a staff with him nearby to bring him back to his work, to remind him he does really well with positive behavior supports.He loves being recognized for all of the good things that he's doing.He really loves to help around the classroom and he loves to play with others when he is regulated and in a really happy place.And overall, Jason is such a delight to have in class.
So I feel like that's a student that honestly, I would see regularly.
Like, he sounds super realistic.And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to now shift you over to the IEP template and we're going to take our time kind of going through this template and filling it in.It's obviously not going to be the most detailed.I would say be even more detailed than me.And really take your time when you are writing an iep, especially the first couple times to really try your best.
Braylynn walks through the basic IEP fields, including dates, student information, background, evaluation results, challenges, and parent concerns. She explains what kinds of details usually belong in each section and why specificity matters.
Speaker A
Okay.It is the next morning.I filmed last night and I wrote the whole iep, but I didn't love it.So we're doing it again.I have my coffee here and honestly, this is the most authentic way for me to write an iep.I always write it with a coffee in the morning when I have my best thoughts.So let's go to the IEP template and let's start writing this thing.I want to say that I'm not going to be as specific as maybe I would be in real life, only because it would be an extremely long video if I did that.But we can still go through and write as much as possible.So the first thing that I do in any IEP is I always write the dates of the iep.
This depends on the place where you're working or maybe the state.But it's always a year.The time is always within a year.So some states will have it be the date that you actually write the iep or it will be, I don't know, the date that it is approved.Something like that.
I wrote, I spelled October the French way.I apologize.I'll fix that.Now we're going to work on his name.So, J, what are we calling him?Jason.Yeah, Jason Nash.That's a YouTuber.But why not?That can be his name and the school.
How about we call it Obama Elementary School?Why not his birthday?We said he was 10 years old, so let's put his birthday at August 2, 2010, and he is 10 years old.So a lot of times in IEPs, after you fill in all the information, there might be a section to put parents names, the address.
I don't even know the teacher that he has, the case manager, whatever.So I left this area blank at the bottom because I might, yeah, I might put like, I might put parents address.What did I say?Staff case manager, maybe like the specific, like program he's in.So maybe the specific program within the school, all sorts of things can go on those, like information, data pages.
Now I'm going to move on to the next part.There's always a section about student background.I'm not going to write the student background because we just talked about it.But when I do write a student background, I do try to include positive things.I'm not trying to like roast the kid on their iep, like we don't need to be doing all of that, but who he is, what he likes, his character traits.
Maybe if he is in your program and it's self contained, or maybe you're in a resource capacity, like what were his programs before and how did that support him?Just as much background information as you can give.And my old boss, who I love so much, she always said that a parent should be able to read a kid's IEP and you should be able to redact the kid's name.But from the IEP and from the information that you're giving, people should be able to know, oh, that's about Jimmy, or that's about Jason, just by how detailed it is about his likes and his dislikes and his background and just who he is as a person.And so I don't try to skimp on that.
Some things that in the past I've put in have been like the current placement, just their educational back ground or what did we talk about earlier?Like diagnosis and when that occurred.Maybe sometimes I would put like personal attributes or like interests, but I wouldn't get too much into like the academic part.Unless your state has a joint like background, personal and academic background.Then you would get into that.
The next part here is evaluation results.Every single IEP that I've ever looked at has something about evaluation results.They might not have like all of it, but there's something about evaluation.So sometimes in here it's, it's the speech and language pathologist, it's the occupational therapist, the physical therapist, the bcba, whatever evaluations they've been given, they go in there.And I've also included sometimes, like if the kid's older and they've already taken a standardized test the previous year.
I might include those results.A lot of times I'm not writing, like, the whole evaluation, but just a summary or specifically what assessments they gave, what the scores were also, like, how to interpret those scores and what do they mean for the kid.So all that in there, that does take a lot of time.But I will say that from year to year, it gets easier for me because if it's a reevaluation, then obviously you need.Need all that information there.
But if it's just an annual review and you're just writing some goals, then you don't need as much time to write all that stuff because you're not going to change it from the previous year to the current year because they're not getting evaluated.The next piece that we have.In almost every IEP that I looked at, there was an area for challenges.Sometimes it's embedded into their current performance, sometimes it's embedded into their background.In here, I would usually write, like, the challenges around, like, I don't know, academics or behavior or specifically, like, how the assessment, like, results, like, affect his learning or what he specifically needs.
Those are, like, very important to me.So when it comes to Jason, I'm probably going to write about how he has trouble with writing, how he has challenges with writing, with elopement and all that stuff.I would double check with your school and like, the case manager or, like, whoever is in charge of you of, like, specifically what it is, and if there's no one that's helping you, then I would read up on some of the IEPs that were written previously at the school, and that will give you a really good idea of, like, how they write it or what they expect.There's always an area for parent concerns and.Or, like, a vision statement.
I think a lot of states will do this because in special ed law, there's an area of, like, eventually we do want kids to reach a less restrictive environment.So depending on the state, you have to write, like, how this IEP and what you're planning is meant to forward that agenda so that a student eventually can be in a less restrictive environment, or they can have more skills to benefit them in the long run.So there's always a place either to hear from the parents of what they want or to talk as a whole team, including the parents, about what you want for that child.So I've been in meetings before where parents are just concerned about social guys.What you're gonna see in this video, more than anything is That I cannot type while talking.
Also, we're going to see not just peer relationships, but a lot of times parents will talk about just academic skills and what are they going to advance or what are they going to make up what they've been missing or whatever.And then a lot of times with the team, you know, also when it comes to the team, you know, the team really would probably want to see them like use their skills and continue to develop in advance.So those are some of the things that I would write in these areas.
This section covers Jason’s present levels of performance across academics, functional skills, and behavior. Braylynn then explains the difference between accommodations and modifications and gives examples of supports Jason would need.
Speaker A
But then take this information and expand it.So here's where we get to the present level of performance.And in every single iep, I looked at the cross referencing between states.There's always an area for talking about the academic levels.Sometimes states will talk about the academic levels and the functional levels of speech and fine motor and behavior all in one.And then sometimes they break it apart in two.So I broke it apart just so we could talk about each individual piece.And I want to, I do want to write a lot about Jason in this so I can say that like Jason, okay, I just wrote a whole lot of stuff.But I do think that it's important to talk about why I wrote the present level of performance this way.Again, every school is different.Some schools don't want you to write this much, some schools just want you to write bullets.
Honestly, take from this video what you can and the rest let go of.So for my present level, I talked about how Jason is reading at a first grade level.He can understand CVC words, but he has trouble decoding CVC E words.He's also struggling with blends and digraphs when it comes to reading.He can really only comprehend at a first grade level.Really late kindergarten, early first grade, because he can only recognize setting and the main character, but he cannot recognize any other parts of the elements of the story.
Jason also can only really add one digit by one digit and subtract the same way using manipulatives.But he's just beginning two digit by two digit addition and subtraction.He's able to group things into small groups and he's able to recognize patterns and things that are more visual.But when it comes to the actual computation, he's struggling.He really enjoys science topics.
He can write up to a four word sentence but refuses to write more when given a prompt.I think that is pretty like overall how he's, how he's doing.I think that's pretty accurate to what we had talked about earlier in the video.And I Wrote it like this.When it comes to functional skills, a lot of times this is written by other people who know more about that skill.So speech, occupational therapy, whatever.But there are some schools that ask the teachers to write everything.So in this area I would probably talk about his speech skills.And for him he's pretty verbal.But his challenges in speech are more about like social cues and pragmatics.
So I would include that.I would include, you know, and when it comes to ot, talk about like fine motor challenges with motor planning because of the writing piece.So a lot of times this is not you as the special ed teacher, but just know and have a good holistic view of the kid just in case this is an area that you would have to write about.When it comes to behavior.I mean, maybe he does have a behavior plan, but we're not sure.I didn't really think through all of this.But we can talk about the behaviors that he does exhibit when it comes like the elopement and the ripping of paper deeper and possible property destruction and some of that stuff.So this is the area in every iep, there's always an area about accommodations and modifications.Some of the IEPs that I looked at were writing it in the goals.
So when you got to the actual goal, it would include the accommodations and modifications.
Sometimes it's written next to the present level of performance, sometimes it's written near the standardized or state testing.It really just depends.But I would have a really good understanding of the difference between an accommodation and a modification because they're different.I've actually made a video on this, so check out that video if you have time.But when it comes to an accommodation, it's stuff that you can put in place for Jason that will help him reach the content.
So stuff that will support him.So for example, Jason honestly probably needs like dividers.He probably needs headphones.He probably needs pre written notes for the subjects.He definitely needs like an audiobook for the grade level text.
He's definitely the kind of kid that would need like some sort of technology to type out his answers maybe.Or he might need like a scribe or read aloud.These are things that are not changing the content of what he's getting compared to other fourth graders.It's stuff that he needs for support.Like, for support he might need like visual schedule or a timer.
Like ABA type of teaching.He might need like modeling or repeated directions.These are all things that are super important, but they're not changing the content.But when it comes to the modifications, he does need his stuff altered because he's in fourth grade.But he needs first grade work, right?Like, so we need to modify, physically change all of the academics.So he needs, like, different curriculum.He might need some, like, adapted books or adapted work.I'm not going to go too much into specifics, but that's the difference.Accommodations.
If he's sitting with other fourth graders, he just needs a little extra tweaky tweaks to access what they're accessing.If it's a modification, he needs a completely new curriculum, new content, new methodology, all of that.
Braylynn discusses how to write goals and objectives, including examples for reading and behavior, and how measurement can vary by school. She also covers aligning goals to state standards, documenting assessments, and listing service frequency and placement.
Speaker A
So those are some of the things that I would write for Jason.So I want to talk a little bit about goals for a second because every place is different.I know I keep saying that, but when I was in Illinois and I was working, I had to write goals for specific things.
So I would have to write a goal about reading and just reading comprehension.And then I would write my objectives underneath that, and then I would make another reading goal for, like, fluency and write objectives underneath that.Some places you write one goal about reading and then you have like 10 objectives underneath that will touch on comprehension and fluency and all of that stuff.So it really depends.I'm going to actually go a bit smaller, like, to a specific, like, skill and show you how I would do that, for example, for Jason, if it was reading.
Okay, So I used to have to write a lot of goals like this.And I just want to show it to you for an example that it would be specific.Like, when given a CVCE or unfamiliar word, Jason will correctly decode with 90% accuracy by October 2021.So it includes the goal, it includes the kid, and it includes the measure and the date of when it will be achieved.It just depends on where you're living sometimes.Now that when I write them, each school is different.Some schools want it to be more broad.Sometimes they want the goal to be like, Jason will improve his reading skills within the following IEP by this.And then all the objectives list out decoding and fluency and spelling and reading comprehension.And so it really just depends.
But so I just wanted to show you, like, a couple examples like this.Some IEPs include the measurement they want you to write specifically how it will be measured, and some don't.So I just want to show you if you are in a state that that requires that.So a lot of times I would do, like, informal or formal assessments, progress reports, I don't even know report cards, who knows?Like, they ask how.How are you going to gather this information.So that just depends on where you're living.When it comes to objectives.It also depends on what the goal is and the way I look at objectives.And obviously people can look at them however you want, but to me, objectives are the building blocks of the goal.
So I really think hard about what the goal is saying.So for this, it's about unfamiliar words or words that are challenging for him.So I might make an objective that is about CVCE words and then I might make another objective about blends and digraphs.And then I might make another objective about unfamiliar words.That's an option.
Another option is to do a benchmark is to go by dates.So Jason will know the CVCE and unfamiliar words 50% of the time by December and then by February he'll know it 70% of the time and then by May, 80% of the time.So there's two methods that you can use.It all depends on what your school wants and what maybe you have traditionally done.And regardless, you're going to get to the same outcome.He's going to know the words and you're good to go.I want to show you another example about like, more like behavior.Because when it comes to reading and math and writing, it's kind of similar to what I just showed you.But when it comes to behavior, I would say if you work at a school where you have consultants or BCBAs, then obviously talk with them.But I have worked at places where I did not get support and I had to write my own behavior goals.
And you just kind of have to do what you got to do.Again, some people want to write the current performance.They don't have to.It depends on the state.But then you can get to the goal.
And for Jason specifically, specifically, since we're working on things related to not eloping, then we can work on coping strategies or expressing how he's feeling.So Jason will choose an appropriate coping strategy or he'll ask for help or ask for a break or something like that 80% of the time.So something along those lines, because all of his behaviors stem from a non preferred activity for something that he perceives as challenging.And so writing a behavior goal that will give him an alternative to running out of the room or slamming the door or ripping up the paper.So this is not a very good goal that I just wrote, but I just wanted to give you an example of kind of like how I was thinking.And so again, like, how is this going to be measured?Well, I'm probably going to be taking a Lot of different data, like from different data sources.
About like, okay, every time we have writing, here are your choices.You can ask for a break, you can ask for help or I guess run away.I'm not going to give him that choice, but he might just do that every time.
So those are the kind of things that I would think about when I was teaching it.So.So when it comes to measure, I'll probably just do like in terms of data or informal assessments or something like that.When it comes to objectives, I'm gonna think really hard about this.I'm probably gonna write an objective about like using a choice board and choosing between his, the strategies.
And I might make it really specific like with staff support, so with verbal staff support or staff modeling actually and for some percentage.And then I might make another one with faded support.Right.So the exact same thing with fading support.And then eventually hopefully he'll get to an independent place.
And the goal, this goal is behavior.So the goal is not a writing goal, even though writing is what's giving him a hard time.I'm talking about the behavior that comes behind or around his non preferred activities.I might make a writing goal too.You know, if right now he's writing one sentence, then maybe part of the goal is I'm not going to write the whole thing, but you'll get the gist.
Maybe I want him to write two to three sentences, sentences like with support and write a whole goal around that.And then I, for objectives I might focus a lot on like sentence starters and using those with staff modeling and maybe you know, brainstorming, you know, sentences from the prompt and tracing, you know, who knows, Tracing, then maybe modeling, then maybe typing it, then maybe writing it himself.Like there can be a progression around that.You just have to be creative on how you're going to get the kid to that place.Then there are going to be goals around speech or occupational therapy.
Normally you don't have to write those.Those are the other people who are writing them.And so they would, they would know more about where the child is because they see them in speech and they'd be able to write the objectives that would help the best.So all of that is super important.I hope that makes a lot of sense.A lot of times people will ask me like, how do I write a goal?What should I do?What should I do first?And all of those things.And I can't really give people an answer because every school is different.
And also because you really have to be in tune with how you as a Teacher take information and take data.You're not going to write a goal saying you're going to check data every single day.If you know you're only going to check once a week.And also, goal writing and IEP writing doesn't tell you how to teach.There's a whole different separate section.
You write a goal on reading or writing, but you need to know, okay, if I'm writing a goal about writing the sentence, what are the teaching methods that I learned in college or that I've seen done other places that I can implement to reach that goal?And an IEP is just about the kid.It doesn't really inform you about your specific teaching practices.So when I write them, I also keep those teaching practices in mind so that I can write it better.The last thing I want to say about this is thinking about state standards.
Every state is different.Some states have Common Core or like in Massachusetts, they do have Massachusetts standards that are exactly the same as Common Core, but whatever.And so using those standards to inform how you're writing it.So if I were to write a math goal for Jason, I know that he's not doing fourth grade math, but if I looked at the fourth grade standards, I could see that most fourth graders are beginning to work on fractions and multiplication and a little bit of trigonometry and some geometry, whereas Jason is not quite there yet.But I do want his goal to somewhat be aligned to my state standard.
I might have him work on some computation stuff.I might have him work on some beginning geometry because it's still in line with what fourth graders are doing.He probably could get to a point where he could do perimeter, beginning to do area, as long as it's counting up the squares versus doing multiplication, things like that, which will still help him in the long run and are challenging for him, but they're in line with what other fourth graders are doing.They're just two steps below or two steps right before those initial skills.So I hope that makes sense.I tend to look at the state standards and really try to craft it around that just because it's helpful for them in the long run or if they're receiving an alternative assessment.It's really helpful with that.Just to keep.Yeah, to keep myself moving and make them feel like they're meeting some standard that the rest of their peers are meeting as well.
There's always a place for assessment, and I am including this because a lot of times it's like a state assessment.
So in Massachusetts, there's this thing called MCAs and kids either are taking the test with a lot of accommodations or they're getting an alternative assessment, which is just like a portfolio.But I know that was really, really similar in Illinois as well, and I know that's really similar in a lot of other states.So there's always a place in the IEP to write out what assessment they're giving, what accommodations they need, maybe a rationale as to why, and that is super helpful to add to the iep.So I'm not going to go into all that because every state has a different assessment, but you will always need those elements.And we're getting close to the end of the iep.
But one of the things that's always included is this some sort of grid that talks about the frequency or the minutes that the kids are getting and who the provider is and the location of the services.So sometimes this is written within the IEP goal itself, sometimes it's a separate area.
Braylynn closes with practical advice for new teachers, including asking for help, using school-specific checklists, and reviewing other IEPs for practice. She ends by encouraging viewers and inviting feedback for future videos.
Speaker A
Okay, that was a ton of information.There are a few things I want to mention and a few takeaways before I end the video.The first is that I would suggest if you are a new teacher, you're a student teacher, or you're moving to a new district or whatever, ask somebody.Ask anyone above you.Ask any teacher who's been there for a bit longer or anyone in your district to sit down with you and just ask your main questions.
There's literally nothing worse than being in a school and being super confused and not being able to have any direction in terms of, like, what you should be doing with IEPs and the specific, like, wording around it.The second would be to find yourself a really good checklist that is specific to your school.Honestly, every school is different.So make yourself a really nice checklist of like, I need to send the invitation.This is what I need to include.
This is what's most important, and all of that stuff to keep you organized.Third, I would say take some time to read up on the other IEPs from your school or from your district and take some time to practice your own.And if you have time, write it ahead of time and ask someone else to proofread it, to double check it, just so you feel really confident in what you're creating.I hope that this video was helpful and that it was general enough to accommodate for all the different states and all the different rules.You guys are amazing and I know you can do it.And obviously I am not the expert.I don't know everything, but I felt like making a video about this and giving you some information would be better than nothing.So let me know in the comments what else would be helpful for you.
I'm hoping to make another one of these in a couple weeks and make another kid and kind of go through it.But yeah, I'm really excited about this and I just love ieps so much.
All right, I will see you in the next video.And yeah, thanks.Bye.