IEP Case Study

IEP Case Study

Kristen Incorvaia
SPED 498 Internship Seminar Spring 2015
Towson University

IEP Case Study

Part I: IEP Process

At Halstead Academy the IEP process begins when a students
referred to Students Support Team. A teacher can refer one of their
students to SST if they complete a series of steps. Halstead has a
document available to the teachers that has the complete list of steps
prior to initiating a SST referral. The steps include creating a data file
for the student to organize any documentation about the students
progress, talking to the previous teachers of the student, review
informal academic and behavior data to determine strengths and
needs and possible patterns in skill or behaviors, as well as contacting
the students parents about the teachers concerns before referring to
SST. Once the teacher has completed all of the required steps, they fill
out a form to SST. After the SST form is submitted, there is a meeting
held for the student being referred. At the meeting, the teacher that
refers the student discusses why they referred the student and shows
the data they have to support their reason for referral. The STT team
that decides if the student being referred needs to be considered for an
IEP, 504 plan, or neither.
At the beginning of the school year, all of the team meetings that
can be scheduled are put on a master calendar. Throughout the year
more meetings are added to the schedule if needed. Having a master
calendar gives all the teachers in the school an idea of when their
documents for their students with IEPs or 504s need to be completed.
Throughout my internship I have been fortunate enough to
attend several IEP meetings. Ive been able to sit in on Annual Reviews,
SSTs, Triennial IEP meetings, and potential new student IEP meetings.
All of the IEP meetings that I attended at Halstead Academy began the
same way. The IEP chair either called the students parent or
introduced herself to the parent and presented them with their
parental rights again and had them sign them stating they received

IEP Case Study

them. She then had everyone present introduce himself or herself to

the parent and state their relationship with the student. The IEP chair
also passed around a sign in for everyone present. The students IEP
was projected onto a screen so everyone in the room could see it while
it was being reviewed. Based on my observations, the parental rights
were met under IDEA because they were notified about the meetings
before they took place and had to give permission before the school
was able to test their child. All of the parents were offered the
opportunity to come to the meetings or phone in even if they didnt
take up the offers.
Observation of Meetings
One IEP meeting I observed at Halstead Academy was an Annual
Review for a 4th grader on my mentors caseload. The students
mother, classroom teacher, IEP chair, special educator, intern, and
people personnel worker were present. After the introduction by the IEP
chair the classroom teacher went over the students performance in
her classroom. She stated the reading level he was on and described
how he typically behaves in class, then asked if the mother had any
questions, which she didnt. The IEP chair then began to go over the
IEP starting with the cover page and asking the mother if all the
information was correct. The special educator then went over the
Present Levels of Performance, which everyone could see because the
IEP was projected. The special educator asked the parent if she had
any questions after reviewing the Present Levels, which she didnt. The
special

educator

then

reviewed

the

goals,

eligibility,

students

participation on assessments and graduation information, special

considerations and accommodations, and placement data. After
reviewing the IEP, the special educator asked the mother if she had
any questions about the entire IEP and she didnt. The IEP chair then
filled in the second page of the Present Levels with the parents

IEP Case Study

answers to the provided statements. While answering the statements

the parent asked the team if they believed her son had dyslexia since
hes barely improving in reading. The special educator responded
saying they dont believe so, her son has a Specific Learning Disability
so he is developmentally delayed which is why it is taking him longer
to improve in reading. The mother accepted that response and then
had no more questions. The IEP chair then finalized the IEP and printed
it out for the mother after having everyone apart of the team sign it.
I also attended an IEP meeting at Halstead for a potential BCPS
student. The student currently attends a private school and is a
student with autism. The mother contacted BCPS and found that
Halstead would be his home school so she wanted to have a meeting
with a team to see if Halstead would be a good fit for her son. The
mother was phoned into the IEP meeting and the IEP chair, school
psychologist, school speech pathologist, a special educator, intern, and
a general educator were present for the meeting. The meeting began
with everyone introducing himself or herself to the mother over the
phone. The mother than began to tell everyone a little about her son.
He is in 1st grade at a private Montessori school in Baltimore City. He
has a volunteer one-on-one three to four times a week from 9:00am to
11:00am because he needs lots of re-direction and re-teaching. He
sees an occupational therapist outside of school to work on fine-motor
skills. He gets modified assignments and has a peer buddy to take him
to the bathroom. The mother wanted to know if Halstead would be able
to provide her son with all of the accommodations he is already
received. Also the speech pathologist and psychologist from Halstead
went to observe her son at his school so the mother wanted to hear
their reports from that. The school psychologist went first and stated
that her sons class has nine students in it and her sons behaviors
werent the most distracting. His aid was helping him stay on task
while the teacher was teaching. She stated that the student did call

IEP Case Study

one of his classmates the wrong name and when the classmate
corrected him, he just laughed and continued saying the wrong name.
When the speech pathologist talked about her observations, she stated
the same comment that the sons behaviors werent as disruptive as
the rest of the class. Also when she visited they were taking a test so
she wasnt able to hear him speak but she did talk to him after and
asked him some questions and his responses werent in full sentences
or with proper grammar. The mother responded to both observations
and commented when needed. The IEP chair then told the mother
where the team believes her son would be placed and what Halstead
could provide her son. The mother thanked the team so much for
taking time out of their day to sit in on the meeting.
Another IEP meeting I attended was for the student that I am
doing my case study on. He is a 4 th grader at Halstead and on my
mentors caseload. The IEP chair tried to phone in his mother but there
was no answer so the meeting took place without a parent involved.
The IEP chair had everyone present sign in; general educator, IEP chair,
special educator, intern, speech pathologist, school counselor, and
school psychologist. The classroom teacher began the meeting by
going over her data on the student. The special educator reviewed the
Present Levels, goals, eligibility, students participation on assessments
and

graduation

information,

special

considerations

and

accommodations, and placement data. The speech pathologist then

went over his communication goals and the school counselor went over
the students behavior goals. The IEP chair inputted data into the
second page of the Present Levels. The students results for his
educational assessment were reviewed at the meeting. The students
behavior was also discussed because it has become a huge impact on
his performance in school. The student has been at Halstead since preK and his behavior has never been that big of an issue. At the meeting,
the team decided to have his two general educator teachers use a 2, 1,

IEP Case Study

0 point scale to monitor his behavior and get a baseline. After that was
decided the IEP chair printed out the IEP and had everyone present
sign it. The team agreed to meet again in a month to go over the data
collected on the students behavior.
The IEP meeting for my student was on February 25 th and since
the team decided to meet again to review the data from the general
educators. The team scheduled a meeting to meet about a month later
on March 24th.
At the meeting on March 24th, the meeting began the same way
as the last, the IEP chair tried to phone in the students mother but
there was no answer. The team signed in; general educator, IEP chair,
special educator, intern, speech pathologist, school counselor, and
school psychologist. The special educator began to review the new
data collected on the student and discussed with the team the new
goal she created for him. The general education teacher discussed her
report with the team. The special educator reviewed the Present
Levels, goals, eligibility, students participation on assessments and
graduation information, special considerations and accommodations,
and placement data. The speech pathologist then went over his
communication goals. The team agreed on the new IEP and signed the
new printed copy.
Part II: IEP Content
Background Information
The reason for referral is to review the baseline data recorded by my
students teachers and discuss if there is a need to add/adjust one of
his behavior goals. Members of the Halstead Academy team referred
my student for review in order to determine his baseline for off-task
behaviors in the classroom.
The student that selected for my case study is a 4 th grader with a
Specific Learning Disability. He currently lives with his grandparents

IEP Case Study

while his siblings live with his mother. His mother is still my students
main caregiver and the one the school notifies if needed. There has
been no changes or concerns of the students medical history.
Communication, reading, mathematics, writing, and behavior are the
areas affected by my students disability. My student exhibits
communication n skills that are moderately to significantly below age
expectations. His reading instructional grade level performance is on
the pre-primer level. His mathematical instructional grade level is on
the 1st grade performance level and his written language instructional
grade level is Kindergarten.
He received accommodations such as a Human Reader, text-tospeech for standardized tests, a scribe, mathematical tool, extended
time, and reduce distractions. His supplementary aids include use of
manipulatives, uses of a word bank, altered/modified assignments,
chunking of texts, and use of pictures to support reading passages
whenever possible. My student receives instruction to focus on
academic goals within the general education settings. The session
times may be broken down into smaller increments throughout the
week to address academic goals. During this time, he receives small
group instruction inside the general education setting to work on
comprehension of informational and/or literacy texts 4 times a week
for 30 minutes a day. He also receives small group instruction outside
the general education setting to work on phonics, fluency, and writing
for one hour, four times a week taught by the special educator. My
student receives speech services twice a week for 30 minutes as well.

Content of IEP - Attached.

Part III: IEP Procedures and Reflection

IEP Case Study

This semester I had the opportunity to attend numerous IEP, SST,

and Annual Review meetings. For me, being able to actually sit in on
the meetings and help get the documents ready with my mentor was
the best experience. This project prepared me for future IEP meetings
and the preparation that goes into them. When it was time to send out
the IEP notice for annual review all of the relevant information was
included. The attendance at both meetings was the same. The IEP
chair was present; the special educator was there to review the results
of the data. One of the students general educators was present to
discuss her observations in her class as well as the other general
educators observations. The speech pathologist, school counselor, and
school psychologist were also present to review their data. The school
nurse did not attend because there is no medical background. The
timeline for evaluation and eligibility were followed. The team
discussed the new baseline data of the students off-task behaviors
and the new behavior goal added to the students IEP. The IEP
development was followed and the new goal and objectives are
appropriate for the student to meet. The goal is going to be evaluated
during informal procedures and will be reviewed quarterly.
A copy of the procedural safeguards was mailed to my students
mother with the notice of the meeting prior to the team meeting. The
meetings began on time and didnt last longer than 45 minutes. The
mother was called once the team got into the room but did not answer
so the meeting went on without her. The meeting was held in the IEP
chairs office and the team sat around a rectangular table. Her office is
located in the front office of Halstead so it is easy for parents to find
and be welcomed into. The IEP chair tends to sit at the head of the
table and the special educator sits to the right of her so she can control
the laptop that projects the IEP onto the screen in the room. The rest of
the team just sits wherever there is an empty seat. The agenda for the
meeting was followed. Throughout the entire meeting, the team was

IEP Case Study

collaborating. When one person discussed what they needed to say,

another would chime in and agree/disagree about what was said. They
all worked together at the end to decide what was best for the student
as well.