The document provides an overview of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process for students who require special education. It describes the 7 steps of the IEP process: 1) Pre-Referral, 2) Referral, 3) Identification, 4) Eligibility, 5) Development of the IEP, 6) Implementation, and 7) Evaluation and Reviews. It also discusses the goals and objectives of IEPs, including how to write SMART goals, and the Present Levels of Performance (PLOP) section. Finally, it provides details on how Behavior Intervention Plans are developed based on a Functional Behavior Assessment to address problem behaviors.

1. INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION
PROGRAM (IEP)
By Abirami A.K
1st Msc Child Development

2. Contents
1. Introduction to iep
2. Steps of the special education
iep process
3. Goals and objectives of ieps
4. Plops
5. Behavior intervention plans

3. Introduction to IEP

4. • The Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a legal document that is
developed for each public school child who needs special education.
• It is created through a team of the child's parent(s) and district personnel who
are knowledgeable about the child's needs.
• The IEP describes how the student learns, how the student best
demonstrates that learning, and what teachers and service providers will do
to help the student learn more effectively.
• Developing an IEP requires the team to evaluate the student in all areas of
suspected disability, consider the student's ability to access the general
education curriculum, consider how the disability affects the student's
learning, and choose a federal placement for the student.

5. 7 STEPS OF THE SPECIAL
EDUCATION IEP PROCESS

6. Step 1: Pre-Referral
• Document and elaborate the challenges and difficulties exhibited by the child.
• Evaluate the usefulness of classroom accommodations and changes.
• Review the power of different instructional interventions.
• Supervise the development of the student.
During the pre-referral stage, teachers will try various certified teaching
approaches in hopes of establishing whether flawed instruction could be the
cause of the problems exhibited. Children whose learning remains challenged
will be referred to the next step in the IEP process, referred for special
education services.

7. Step 2: Referral
• If the pre-referral interventions prove unsuccessful, the student is referred for
special education services through the use of a referral.
• Referrals can come from parents, daycare professionals, public health
nurses, doctors or social service agencies.
• Often, poor academic performance, continued misbehavior or disruption of
their learning environment are prerequisites to this stage.

8. Step 3: Identification
• Once a referral has been made, a special assessment is carried out to
determine whether the child has a disability that requires special education
services.
• Multidisciplinary teams become involved to help determine the child’s
distinctive strengths and needs.
• This team includes parents and other family members, educational
diagnostician, school psychologist, or a teacher depending on the state
where it is conducted.
• An array of data types, assessment instruments and methods are used during
this stage in order to create an accurate report later used to determine the
correct path for the student.

9. Step 4: Eligibility
• The information gathered during the assessment stage is used to categorize
those who have a disability and are eligible for special education services.
• The IEP committee creates different elements of the services required to plan
and deliver an appropriate education framework.
• Students who do not meet the qualifications for special education services
remain in the traditional classroom setting.

10. Step 5: Development of The IEP
• An IEP team is formed which includes the child’s parents, educators,
administrators and other specialists.
• During the meeting, resources required by the child are identified, their
individualized learning style determined, along with goals both long term and
short term.

15. Step 6: Implementation
• At this stage, the student’s IEP and associated services commence.
• Accommodations are provided for both instructions and testing along with a
range of multidisciplinary services required from different providers to support
the child’s educational program.
• occupational or physical therapists, speech pathologists and other
special education professionals.

16. Step 7: Evaluation and Reviews
• Each IEP developed requires accountability and consistent follow up by the
child’s parents.
• A review is conducted annually or after every three years depending on the
state.
• If the goals are not being met, revisions are made in the IEP.

17. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
OF IEPS

18. SMART GOALS
• Before you can develop measurable IEP goals, the child’s skills must be
measured objectively. Objective data about a child’s skills are the baselines
for goals.
• Specific goals and objectives - Describe each behavior and skill that will
be taught, and define each skill or behavior in ways that are observable and
measurable.
• Measurable smart ieps goals - Have measurable goals and objectives.
Measurable goals and objectives allow you to assess the child’s progress.
• Action words smart ieps - Use action words like: “The child will be able to…

19. • Relevant SMART IEPs- Have realistic, relevant goals and objectives.
• Smart goals and objectives address the child’s unique needs that result from
the child’s disability. Smart iep goals are not based on district curricula, state
or district tests, or other external standards.
• Time-limited smart iep goals and objectives are time-limited. Time-limited
goals and objectives enable you to monitor progress at regular intervals.

20. Points that can be considered while making an IEP
• When starting the goal setting process, it can be useful to refer the
recommendations that have been made in educational, medical and or
psychological reports for the student.
• When you are creating goals for the IEP, it is important that they are written
using everyday language and not filled with unnecessary jargon.
• The goals should have a reference to the student’s past achievement, their
present levels of performance and the priority of the goal. This allows
educators to gauge the amount of instructional time they should devote to
reaching the goal.

21. • Be sure the goals you set are S.M.A.R.T. goals, meaning they are Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound.
• When you are writing the goals for a student’s IEP, please remember to
include a goal in an area of interest for them.
• Objectives break goals down into observable, specific and measurable tasks
that target a skill, behaviour or form of knowledge.
• Objectives take into account the student’s current performance level of a task
and create sequential steps for the student to take to reach their long term
goal.

22. • Objectives are set to be completed in a specific period of time that may vary
in length between a few weeks, a school term or a set number of months.
• A well-written objective will provide guidance for the teacher about what the
student is expected to do, and it will provide them with clear expectations to
be used for monitoring the student’s progress.

25. PLOPS

26. • The PLOP describes your child’s current abilities, skills, weaknesses and
strengths—academically, socially and physically.
• To write the PLOP, the IEP team draws information from several sources.
They should include teacher observations and objective data, such as test
results and scores.

27. How is the PLOP written?
• A useful PLOP is clearly written and includes specific details. Look at this
examples:
• Vague: Geetha is not progressing adequately in the second-grade reading
curriculum.
• Clear: Geetha is reading 15–20 words per minute (WPM) with three to eight
errors in second-grade material. She reads slowly with inaccurate decoding
skills.

28. How does the PLOP affect the rest of the IEP?
• The PLOP serves as a starting point, or baseline, for the coming year’s IEP.
From that baseline, the IEP team develops the IEP’s measurable annual
goals.
• If the PLOP says a student has difficulty with decoding, then the IEP should
have a goal that addresses the issue.
• It’s important that the PLOP not be simply copied “as is” from one year’s IEP
to the next.
• As the child matures and masters skills, or as her work becomes more
challenging, her performance and needs will change.

29. BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION
PLANS

30. • A behavioral intervention plan is a plan that is based on the results of a
functional behavioral assessment.
• A BIP is a written plan that teaches and rewards good behavior. It can be a
single page or many pages. The purpose is to prevent or stop misbehavior,
not just punish the child.
• The plan has three key parts. First, the plan lists the problem behavior.
Second, it describes why it’s happening. Third, it puts in place strategies or
supports to help.

31. A behavioral intervention plan must identify:
• The baseline measure of the problem behavior, including the frequency,
duration, intensity and/or latency of the targeted behaviors.
• Such baseline must, to the extent practicable, include data taken across
activities, settings, people and times of the day.
• The baseline data must be used as a standard to establish performance
criteria and against which to evaluate intervention effectiveness.

32. • Intervention strategies to be used to alter antecedent events to prevent the
occurrence of the behavior, teach individual alternative and adaptive
behaviors to the student, and provide consequences for the targeted
inappropriate behavior(s) and alternative acceptable behavior(s); and
• A schedule to measure the effectiveness of the interventions, including the
frequency, duration and intensity of the targeted behaviors at scheduled
intervals.

33. • The school team may interview the child, the teacher, and other staff. They
should also observe the child and talk to the child’s family to figure out what’s
happening. Testing might be used, too, as well as a review of past report
cards or incidents. This process is called a functional behavior
assessment.

34. • The child is sent to the principal’s office almost every day. And neither the
child nor the child’s classmates are learning anything from the past.
• There are many possible reasons kids might disrupt class like this. They
might be restless. They may not understand what’s being taught. They might
want attention from the teacher or other students.
• Sometimes, kids don’t know why they do what they do. The school team has
to do some detective work to figure out why the child is acting out.

35. • Once the team understands the reason (or reasons), it puts together the plan
to prevent it from happening.
• For example, if a child wants attention, the school may try to channel this in a
more positive way — maybe letting the child perform in a talent show. If the
problem is restlessness, the child could take breaks when feeling restless.
The plan may even include teaching the child strategies for staying focused.
• Educators refer to these strategies and supports as interventions . This
means they’re formal and done for a specific amount of time.
• The team also will keep an eye on how they’re working. That’s why the plan is
called a behavior intervention plan.

36. THANK YOU…