Your Child’s Individual Education Program (IEP) Team

This past year, we had a great meeting for my granddaughter.  She has Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).  She definitely has the hyperactive type.  She’s always jumping all around.  Most of the time she can't focus and she has difficulty with organization.  Other times, she may be daydreaming.

These are some of her challenges:

• She can’t follow more than one direction at a time.
• Sometimes she remembers her homework and other times we don’t know where it goes.
• When the teacher tells the class to open their book to page ... she is not able to do that.
• Directions have to be straightforward for her, like when the class is told, “Write your spelling words three times.”
• Homework can be a nightmare.
• She can break down in tears while her mother is trying to teach her new skills.

Despite these issues she's a very loving, adorable, polite little girl.

The team agreed on some classroom accommodations, including:  sitting close to the teacher, testing accommodations, and cueing for organizing her homework and papers.  She also gets two sessions of Speech Language Therapy (SPL) each week.  This helps her with listening and processing multi-step directions. She has two sessions of Occupational Therapy (OT) each week for her handwriting.  Her writing is poor due to fine motor issues.  Her OT also helps her with her organization.  She does not need academic support at this time since she is on grade level with her work.

Overall, I felt the IEP team, made helpful decisions.  She is getting what she needs to meet her goals for the school year.

The administrator was particularly helpful. You could tell by the way she spoke that she was used to working with kids like my granddaughter.  She even mentioned that at around 10 years of age, some kids can become a little more organized.  She said that my granddaughter will be able to compensate for poor executive functioning if she learns to use the tools.

Knowing that my granddaughter has a supportive team at school is wonderful, but building that kind of a relationship requires trust, determination, education and a common goal.   If you’re having trouble getting the right services for your child, check out our webpage on your child’s right to a public education. 

Suggested Links

• Texas Project First  -  If your child has been diagnosed with a disability or referred for special education services, this is a great place to start your research.
• Texas Education Agency -  provides information about special education services and IDEA.
• IDEA Manual 2012, a joint project of The Arc of Texas and Disability Rights Texas provides information about IDEA in clear and easy-to-understand language and is available for free download.