How Well Does Your IEP Measure Up? Quality Indicators for Effective Service Delivery [Paperback]

Diane, Ph.D. Twachtman-Cullen (Author), Jennifer Twachtman-Reilly (Author), David L. Holmes (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Western History Classics | Publication Date: February 2002

A step-by-step guide to help parents and professionals working with children on the ASD spectrum obtain or write an individualized education plan (IEP). The individual chapters set out the "blueprint" detailing the crucial building blocks for IEP development. Part I arms the reader with the specific information needed to generate the types of meaningful goals and objectives that lead to effective service delivery. Part II presents several models so that parents and professionals can see how the various elements can deliver an appropriate individualized education programme.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...this book will serve as a critical tool for all educators to use in designing appropriate programming... -- Dr. Cathy Pratt, Director, Indiana Resource Center for Autism, and Board of Directors, Autism Society of America

Finally, an IEP book that focuses on the "science" of writing clear, understandable and measurable objectives. -- Peter W.D. Wright, Esquire, Co-author of Wrightslaw: Special Education Law and Owner of Wrightslaw.com

This is one book no parent should be without. I’ll never go to another IEP meeting without my copy! -- Patricia Romanowski Basche, Co-owner of O.A.S.I.S., and Co-author of The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome (Crown, 2001)

This is the book every parent of a child with AS or any autism spectrum disorder needs...Highly recommended! -- Barb Kirby, Founder and Co-owner of O.A.S.I.S., and Co-author of The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome (Crown, 2001)

From the Back Cover

This accessibly written guide shows educators and parents how to get the right education plan in place for students with ADD/ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, emotional/behavioral disturbance, nonverbal learning disorder, and language impairment. Step-by-step, the book addresses the crucial building blocks of effective IEP development: present levels of performance; underlying conditions; methodology; criteria for performance; prompt levels; generalization; goals/objectives; and evaluation/data collection. The book offers a truly comprehensive, educator- and parent-friendly guide to creating clear, measurable, and meaningful IEPs, and:

• Provides up-to-date, user-friendly advice for writing goals and objectives consistent with current special education law

• Addresses often neglected areas of functioning such as social cognition, critical thinking, and executive function, as well as least restrictive environment, assessment, and accommodations

• Includes content-area specific sample goal and objective templates, teaching strategies, and useful resources

The authors guide readers through the process of creating thoughtful, intelligent IEPs that consistently deliver high-quality, need-based educational programming to exceptional students.

"Too often, IEPs contain meaningless goals that are useless to teachers and parents. In this book, the authors provide a framework for writing goals and short-term objectives that mesh with popular progress reporting schedules. This book should be required reading for every special educator and every parent of a child with special educational needs."
—from the Foreword by Peter W. D. Wright, Esq., Wrightslaw

"I get asked all the time about how to write IEP goals for this population. I finally have the resource I need."
—Peg Dawson, Ed.D., author, Smart But Scattered: The Revolutionary "Executive Skills" Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential

A previous version of this book, covering only autism spectrum disorders, was published as How Well Does Your IEP Measure Up? --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Starfish Specialty Pr (February 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966652924
• ISBN-13: 978-0966652925
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #796,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Resource, May 5, 2004

By A Customer

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This review is from: How Well Does Your IEP Measure Up? Quality Indicators for Effective Service Delivery (Paperback)

This comprehensive, well-researched and practical guide to developing an IEP that will optimize service delivery to your child exceeded my expectations on all levels. Although useful for any parent or teacher trying to gain a better grasp of the workings of the IEP, it is especially useful for those of us dealing with autism, since the authors chose to focus on this baffling and challenging condition due to their knowledge of the subject and the many difficulties it presents to writers of IEPs. The book also discusses key legal issues associated with IEPs.

Here are some of the main areas covered in the book:

- Knowledge of ASD and the way in which it affects the student who manifests it as the most basic building block of appropriate IEP development

- A detailed, insightful discussion of each of the components of an IEP and the relationship of the components to each other

-The elements necessary to prepare an effective Present Levels of Performance (PLP), which forms the basis for generating annual goals and represents a baseline against which to judge progress

- Why it is important to specify underlying conditions clearly

- The relationship between clearly written objectives and appropriate methodology

- Discussion of a "prompt hierarchy"

- Why IEPs should specify prompt levels in the objectives as well as a system for fading the prompts back
- The need to build generalization strategies right into the objectives so the child learns a skill across a variety of settings, people and activities, right from the start

-Breaking down multi-dimensional behavior such as "crossing the street" into its basic components so that behavior progress can be measured

- How not to confuse a process with a product outcome (e.g. developing understanding vs. demonstrating understanding)

- The difference between accommodations and modifications (the latter reduce the standard and result in lowered educational outcomes)

- Guidelines for prioritizing needs and sample IEPs covering such content areas as concept development, critical thinking, making inferences, etc. The above list is only a sampling of the issues covered.

This book is written from a highly-informed, sensible and practical perspective. Having read this book, I feel like I'm in control of the IEP process and not vice-versa. Indispensable.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best!!, June 22, 2003

By 

Justin Schreiter (Chula Vista, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Well Does Your IEP Measure Up? Quality Indicators for Effective Service Delivery (Paperback)

It realy outlines step by step what an IEP should focus on and say from the first page to the goals and measures. It really was a good book to have along side knowing the laws and rights that other books focus on- it helps you understand how to truly make and IEP individual for your child (very ASD focused). Good for parents and administrators.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic IEP resource!, October 27, 2002

By 

Lisa (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Well Does Your IEP Measure Up? Quality Indicators for Effective Service Delivery (Paperback)

This is the best book I have seen yet relating to IEPs for children with autism. The authors focus heavily on creating measurable goals and objectives...something I have not found in other IEP books I have read. I highly recommend this book for any parent of a child with ASD who has an upcoming IEP.