TITLE: IEP DEVELOPMENT FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE D/HH
Sherry L. Landrud
Intermediate District 287 (13 suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Deaf /Hard of Hearing Program Facilitator:
Early Childhood Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Itinerant Programs
Work Phone: (763) 550-7203
Email: slandrud@aol.com or slandrud @int287.k12.mn.us
PROBLEM:
Individual Educational Plans, developed annually for students with special education
needs, are critical as benchmarks to ascertain a student’s progress in school. However, it
is often challenging to write disability-specific, legal, and quality IEPs/IFSPs for students
with a low incidence handicap, such as a hearing loss if the students are receiving
itinerant services from a teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing.
Itinerant services are often delivered within a team approach, and the itinerant teacher
may or may not service as the student’s casemanager. In addition, some geographical
areas do not have the resources or availability of a teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing to
always provide direct services to the student who is deaf/hard of hearing, and other
special education teachers with licensure in other areas, (such as LD, etc.) provide these
direct services with the teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing acting in the consultative role.
(Indirect service)
Therefore, it is critical that the teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing have a primary role in
the development of the IEP/IFSP, starting with the student’s thorough initial and/or three
year evaluation, and be able to act as a vibrant advocate for the student, specific to his/her
hearing loss. An accurate reflection of what we do with students through the IEP/IFSP
process, not only protects and best-serves the students, but also validates our worth as
teachers and honors our profession in deaf education.
SOLUTION:
Listed below are TEN TIPS to consider for writing more disability-specific, legal, and
quality IEPs/IFSPs for students who are deaf/hard of hearing:
1. The initial and three year evaluations completed on the student who is
deaf/hard of hearing need to include the following:
Evaluation about how the hearing loss if affecting all areas of concern
Parent information (phone interview, parent survey, etc.)
Formal and informal evaluations and classroom observations
Specialized considerations and the adaptations of the evaluation procedures/test
protocols due to the hearing loss
A thorough team summary and interpretation of what the test scores and informal
measures mean specific to the student’s hearing loss with Present Levels of
Performance (PLEPs) listed, very specific to the student’s hearing loss.
2. D/HH Specific Present Levels of Performance (PLEPs) need to be written
and addressed in all of the areas that are presenting problems for the student
in the educational setting.
Make sure that the PLEPs come from reliable evaluation data, progress data, and
narrative data from the team members.
Describe, in lay terms how the hearing loss affects each PLEP area
PLEPs must describe how the child’s hearing loss affects involvement and
progress in the general curriculum.
For preschool children, PLEPs must describe how the hearing loss affects the
child’s participation in appropriate activities.
3. The student who is D/HH often has educational needs in more than just the
academic area.
As much as possible, address all the student’s school-related needs arising from
the hearing loss, not just his/her academic needs. Many students with hearing loss
have needs related to advocacy/compensatory skills (sensory or functional area on
the IEP), socialization and maturity issues (social-emotional area on the IEP), and
needs related to how they utilize the services of an educational
interpreter/transliterator (functional area of the IEP). All of these areas need to be
thoroughly addressed in the IEP with PLEPs, needs, goals, and objectives stated.
4. The IEP must reflect that the student who is deaf/hard of hearing has made
progress each IEP/IFSP cycle. IEPs/IFSPs need to show “calculated gain”
annually in the way the PLEPs, needs, goals, and objectives are written.
Goals and objectives need to be written so they are specific enough to show
“calculated gain” and student growth during each IEP cycle. If the student is not
making progress on PLEPS, goals, and objectives from year to year, the goal
needs to be changed or modified or other curriculum strategies or methods need to
be re-evaluated and suggested for implementation by the team.
Goals and objectives may need to be written more incrementally to more
accurately show student progress on an annual basis.
PLEPS may need to reflect phrases such as “Given second grade reading
vocabulary the student will…” and then the next year “Given third grade reading
vocabulary the student will…” so that the student’s increased vocabulary skills
are reflected annually.
5. Utilize extreme caution when adding another disability to a student’s
IEP/IFSP when there is a hearing loss already present and identified on the
IEP/IFSP.
For students who are deaf/hard of hearing and being considered for an additional
special education label (i.e. S/LD, EBD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, etc.) the
team needs to carefully document how the hearing loss is or is/is not contributing
to his/her behaviors.
A thorough evaluation that involves the teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing must
be conducted with other members of the evaluation team with expertise in the
newly suspected disability area.
When the evaluation has been completed, sensory impairments are considered an
exclusionary area. The team must, therefore, carefully document how the
additional new special education label is NOT related to the student’s hearing
loss.
6. Make the adaptations section of the student’s IEP/IFSP reflective of all that
you do!
In this section, include ALL of the adaptations that the student utilizes specific to
his/her hearing needs. Include them in the “Adaptations in General and Specific
Education” section of the IEP. (i.e. captioning, TTY access in the office,
evacuation buddy on the school bus, FM daily monitoring packet and cleaning
kits located in the nurse’s office, static guards and patch cords for the Cochlear
Implant, home/school communication notebook, emails weekly to parents, etc.)
7. Keep records that document a student’s IEP progress.
While implementing the IEP, the student needs to demonstrate meaningful
educational progress. Have systems in place to record a student’s progress at least
weekly. If a student is NOT making meaningful progress, keep and analyze data
that will allow adjustments and modifications to the student’s IEP/IFSP.
8. Include PLEPs, needs, goals, and objectives related to how the student
utilizes the services of an educational interpreter.
For student’s utilizing educational interpreters/transliterators, the IEP should state
the specific responsibility, role, and sign language communication system to be
provided by the interpreter. These factors should be delineated clearly in the
adaptations section of the IEP/IFSP.
PLEPS, needs, goals, and objectives related to the student’s use of the interpreter
should reflect the student’s current level with ongoing progress documented
annually.
9. When services are documented on the IEP, carefully reflect the amount of
time spent in the areas of direct and indirect services.
Direct services are typically “face-to-face” time with the student, in a pullout
session or in the classroom when direct instruction is given.
Indirect services on the IEP/IFSP should include all of the following time:
Teacher/Staff In-services
Classroom In-services
Equipment In-service/Training
Observations
Meetings with the educational team
Transition meetings
Curriculum modifications/adaptations
Parent communication
Advocacy on behalf of the student or the parent with team members
10. If there is controversy with the educational team, record it objectively.
If the team has discussed other communication modalities, educational
placements, or controversial issues, document these conversations objectively as
part of the student record.
Keep up-to-date records that are objective, including emails written objectively
about the student.