Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

I used this while preparing for my autistic son's transition to kindergarten IEP meeting. I feel that it provides a good base on the things parents need to concentrate on to ensure their child is getting the most of his/her education. Though each state has different guidelines, the templates in this book are a very valuable resource to draw from and I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the IEP process better.

As a parent, I have been a believer in going into the IEP process with an advocate-someone who represents me. This is not an adversarial approach, but rather, I know that I can't learn what I need to know fast enough to get the job done right. Parent advocates do this for a living, so they are on top of all the ins and outs that we mere parents may miss.

This being said, I know that many parents are not in a position to be able to hire an advocate. Thank goodness for The IEP from A to Z: How to Create Meaningful and Measurable Goals and Objectives written by Diane Twachtman-Cullen and Jennifer Twachtman-Bassett! Now parents can arm themselves with a guide that will show them how to get the right education plan for their child.

The first part of this book aims to provide the needed information to create an IEP that will deliver effective services for your child. The authors present many pieces that make up the IEP and explain in detail, with examples, their importance. And there is much more in this section of the book.

The second part of this book provides many examples to illustrate how each component of the IEP contributes to the development of an appropriate, individualized education program. The examples are also very helpful in seeing how what we just learned in Part 1 (the theory and the law) can be put into practice to result in a well designed and effective IEP.

Many parents are at a loss as to how to formulate good goals and objectives. They will often ask other parents for samples of what they have used in their IEPs. The remainder of Part 2 focuses on goals and objectives designed to attain appropriate educational services. The last 80 pages are comprised of sample PLPs, goals, and objectives in the following areas:

cognitive and social-cognitive functioning,
communication, language and speech,
nonverbal comprehension and expression,
social relatedness and interaction, play, and leisure skills,
executive function,
theory of mind, and
critical thinking.

These samples alone are worth the price of the book!

This book is essential for any parent of a child with ASD, nonverbal learning disability, ADD/ADHD, emotional disturbance and behavioral difficulty, or language difficulties who will be required to help create a meaningful IEP for their child. There is something for everyone, novice and experienced parents alike.

Any parent who has a child with a learning disability should have this book. This is especially true if they want to ensure that their child will obtain an appropriate education. The IEP is your binding contract between your school district and your child's educational program. Unless you fully understand how to develop a proper IEP that has measurable goals, your child will never receive an appropriate education that meets all of their needs. This book will teach YOU how to develop a proper IEP for you child with measurable goals.

All parents of an autistic child in the public school system need this book. Very imformative and offers great strategies to build a good relationship with the school system.