E143: Strength Based IEPs
We all hear that we need to have our child's strengths in the IEPs...but what does that actually look like?
We all hear that we need to have our child’s strengths in the IEPs…but what does that actually look like?
Here’s the main topics we are covering today:
-Explanation of why IEPs are typically negative
- Importance of incorporating a child’s strengths into the IEP
- Frustrations with Current IEP Practices
- How trengths can be pulled down into accommodations, goals, and services
- Three Steps for Promoting Strength-Based IEPs
School Struggles Summit: https://TheIEPLab.com/schoolstrugglessummit
Parent Advocacy Club: https://TheIEPLab.com/CLUB
Beth [00:00:00]:
So I’m going to be honest, this is a very condensed, shortened version of our Parent Advocacy Club membership training from August of 2023. But I wanted to introduce this idea of IEPs being strength based and how you make that transition from them being so negative, which they kind of are inherently, and bringing your child’s strengths into the IEP and what that looks like. So stick with me because we’re talking all about strengths based IEPs today on the podcast. You are listening to the Parent IEP Lab, the podcast that helps you become an informed parent advocate to get your child supported and learning in school. I’m Beth Liesenfeld, Occupational Therapist, passionate about leveling the IEP information playing field for parent advocates. My mission of the Parent IEP Lab podcast and also the online courses, workshops, and summit of the IEP Lab is to break down barriers To being able to advocate with collaboration, which is by far the most effective approach to advocacy I saw in over 400 IEP meetings and some 504 meetings as well. I do this by providing you insider information from the school side so that you have context to what’s happening to create informed, thoughtful questions of your IEP team to have a clearer voice in your child’s plan. So let’s dive into the topic of strengths based IEPs today and think about what we can change and tweak to get the right formula for success for your child to learn and grow in school.
Beth [00:01:16]:
Welcome to the lab. Registration is open for Penny Williams’s Free School Struggles Summit. Penny is the host of the Beautifully Complex podcast, and I’ve been honored to be a guest on her podcast before, and also I am speaking in the summit on inclusion and how to define and advocate for your ideal version of inclusion for your child. Use the link in the podcast description to sign up before we kick it off September 28th. And you can also upgrade to the FastPass to have early access and own all the sessions so you can watch and listen to them on your own time. And also get access To our amazing assistive technology workshop as well. You can find that link in the description of this podcast and I hope to hear a lot about what you’re learning in the summit at the end of the month. So the first thing that started the IEP lab in general was being in IEP meetings.
Beth [00:02:05]:
And more often than not, the team would put the parents on the spot, the very first question of the IEP. The very first question of the IEP, we would kind of do introductions and then we’d say, okay, let’s get started. And the team would ask the parents, what are your child’s strengths right now? Nothing like being put on the spot. I hated this. I would more than likely pop in and, you know, ask a follow up question or define what more they were looking for and just ask, like, what are they into right now? What’s something they learned to do recently? Is there anything that you would like to share about where they’re at right now and what they’re enjoying right now? And then the thing was, after that question would get asked. Then the rest of the IEP meeting just seemed like it was all negative things. It was all challenges and strengths wouldn’t be mentioned for the rest of the IEP. And I was like, why did he, we even go through that in the beginning? That’s not the way that it’s supposed to work.
Beth [00:03:01]:
And so we’re going to talk about that today. And so fast forward to now, I’m reviewing so many IEPs in one on one advocacy power hours and in the ultimate parent IEP prep course, and I’m still seeing the same thing. The first thing in that present level section of the IEP typically has strengths listed, but it’s literally three words. Separated by commas, and there’s no explanation, there’s no detail, and it may or may not have relevance to the way that your child learns and who they are as a person, which is what we really need to make a really great IEP. Ugh, so frustrating. So of course, in these episodes, I need to make it really quick. So I’m going to focus on just three things that you can do to have your child’s strengths be more prominent in your child’s IEP or 504 plan. And if you want more though, you can join the parent advocacy club for just 24 a month, and you can get all of the past trainings that we’ve done since last spring, including the strengths based IEPs.
Beth [00:03:58]:
And we do have handouts to help you explore what strengths your child has in four different categories and all of these things. So just know that there’s more resources available in the Parent Advocacy Club and we’ll have the link, you know, in the description of this podcast if you are interested in that So the first thing that we’re going to talk about is know which strengths to highlight in the IEP. A lot of interests like Minecraft, video games, playing in dirt, liking to be outside, going swimming. Those are all really helpful for us to understand who your child is and what they like to do, right? But I really want you to think about when is the last time that you taught your child something, you saw them learn something new, they did a new skill that you weren’t maybe expecting them to do, and they did it out of the blue? And how did they get to that process of learning? Did they see somebody do it? Like, my child loves to see peers do things. It’s like, yes, we can demonstrate it as adults, and he learns sometimes that way, but when he has a slightly older kid do a skill, it’s like he picks it up super, super fast. So they might be observant. They might like to watch people do it. They might need to have somebody do it with them first, especially if there’s an anxiety component there.
Beth [00:05:10]:
So that might really help them get over that hump of that anxiety and really start to learn because they feel more comfortable with somebody else doing it with them. Or they might need to like explore something on their own first before they’re actually directed to do it by somebody else and really told how to do it. Maybe they just need some time to manipulate things or, or look at something before they can actually learn about it. So those are the strengths that really make a good IEP is when we focus on the way that they learn and the way that they are comfortable as well. So really keep that in mind when you’re thinking about the strengths that you want to bring into the IEP, that it’s really about the way that they learn that is most helpful to bring into the IEP because that’s what we’re focusing on, right? These are learning plans. The IEPs, the 504s, even learning plans or reading plans sometimes can be focused on the way that your child is learning, right? So we need to really pay attention to those more than any other strength. The second thing that I want to focus on is that strengths really should be pulled down in the IEP from that present level section. Now, when I say pulled down, it’s because I have this visual model, if you haven’t seen it yet, and it’s like a funnel and I call it the IEP data funnel and the present levels and the evaluation report is really at the top of that funnel.
Beth [00:06:28]:
Really, we can’t add more information later in the IEP as we go down that funnel, because it doesn’t work that way, right? We need to have all the information in the top, through the evaluation in the present levels, for it to be pulled down by gravity, right? Pulled down that IEP data funnel, and really result in really good accommodations goals, and then services as well. All to get you to the outcome of your vision statement. So it all kind of relates together. And again, if you’re like, Ooh, I want to learn more about that IEP data funnel. Guess what? It is in a training in the Parent Advocacy Club as well. Um, I’m not meaning to plug that, but it’s just coming up this time. Anyway, so all this to say that those strengths should be in the present levels, but they should also be mentioned in accommodations. And really, the third thing we’re going to talk about is goals, too.
Beth [00:07:13]:
So we’re going to focus on accommodations a lot this year together, because our whole summit that got moved to February, it was going to be in October, but we’re moving it to February. Um, and that’s going to be all about accommodations, right? So this is really a great place to have some of your child’s strengths be pulled down into the accommodations. Um, if you think about it this way, if you have a child who is really a visual learner, and they have a challenge with writing, let’s say, then we’re going to try to match those together. We’re going to try to find a visual prompt that helps them with their writing. So, this, of course, has to be more defined than that, because just having a visual for writing, doesn’t really tell you a lot about what challenge they’re having or what specifically we need to accommodate. Right? So we need to be really specific with those accommodations. But for just an example, if they have a challenge of writing in that they have a really hard time remembering what the letters look like and they’re a visual learner, then it’s like, Oh, okay. We can put on a little desk cue where it has the letters printed out and we just keep that on their desk so they always have a visual cue of what the letters look like.
Beth [00:08:21]:
And that can help them in learning more about writing, being more comfortable about writing, getting over that hump and that challenge, and also giving them more practice and catering to what their strengths are, which is a visual learner, right? Does that make sense? So we’re matching that strength together with that challenge to find the accommodation that’s going to bridge that gap. Okay, so the third thing we’re going to talk about is strengths can also be used in goals. And again, reference that IEP data funnel in your head, right? We’re looking at those accommodations and we’re saying, okay, this is what’s going to bridge the gap based on what their strengths are and what their challenges are. And then. We’re going to look at those goals. So it’s actually more and more common, especially Stacey Neustadt, who’s been in the last summit that we did. And also I published her session summit as a podcast episode as well. She talks about this a lot where when she writes goals for especially neurodivergent, especially autistic students.
Beth [00:09:16]:
It’s like this huge, humongous, long goal because it has to be really specific. And she also includes the accommodations when she writes those goals. And this is becoming more and more common as we go along and understand how this is actually supposed to work. So to give you an example, a goal might start off as when providing a graphic organizer, student will be able to organize their writing, blah, blah, blah, and it’ll finish that goal, right? And all the measurable pieces and all of those things. So it’s the same thing that we do in our daily lives as adults, where we use those strengths to overcome and build those skills that we really need to learn, so think about it this way. You’re listening to a podcast right now. So I’m guessing that either audio is the easiest thing for you to access right now as it is for me too, because I still do a lot of driving when I drop off my kid at daycare, pick him up, that kind of thing. I have 40 minutes just in one drop off, right? So I can listen to things and learn really, really well, even though I’m more of a visual learner than I am an auditory learner.
Beth [00:10:16]:
So it might just fit into your day right now. But if you really have something that’s really challenging for you, let’s say it’s like math or it’s some heavy thing that you have to do for work or, or whatever it is, then you might really have to stop and say, okay, I really need an in person class to be able to build these skills because I need to be able to ask questions of somebody right in front of me, or I need to. Be able to have somebody right in front of me so I could do it virtual or I could do it in person, but I have to have that visual component of watching somebody actually speak so I can really understand what they’re saying. And so, when we think about what’s challenging for us, because we all have challenges, right? Think about the way that you learn, and the way that when something gets really hard, that you’re like, oh, I really don’t want to learn this, but I have to. Where are you going to be able to access that? And think about that in the same context for your child too. Okay, they have this skill that they really need to learn. How are we going to actually get them there? What are the strategies that are going to be helpful for them? And then in the way that they’re learning, how can we set that up better as well? So if you’re thinking at the end of these three pointers that, wow, this is like super interconnected and this gets kind of complicated, then you would be right. Because everything is supposed to be interrelated and connected together when we’re talking about IEPs.
Beth [00:11:35]:
These important sections that, yes, I often pull out and talk about present levels, or I talk about accommodations, or I talk about goals, but really what happens is that everything is supposed to be cohesive and really run from one thing into the other. And this is when we talk about IEPs being actually a really good system. If people actually know how to use the system, this is what we’re talking about, because everything should just flow into a natural conclusion of what setting they should be best served in, And what strengths get pulled through the IEP and what strengths get turned into accommodations and what strengths get pulled into goals and how we’re going to use their strengths in order to build the skills so that they don’t have those huge challenges anymore and we’re kind of limiting their impact into their function and their learning inside of the school setting. So hopefully that really helps you understand strengths based IEPs and what that’s really supposed to look like. Of course, this is a shorter version of our training that’s available in the Parent Advocacy Club. So if you’re interested in checking that out, all you need to do is go to theieplab. com slash club to look up what all is included in the club, because it’s quite a bit of support inside that club for just 24 a month right now. And also just a huge reminder to go sign up for Penny Williams School Struggles Summit.
Beth [00:12:51]:
I’m so excited to be presenting in that summit. And also we did an additional assistive technology workshop together as well. We did an additional assistive technology workshop. So if you’re looking at, okay, how can I use some of these accommodations? My child really benefits from using technology. We focus on technology based accommodations in that workshop as well. So check that out. The link to register for that as well as this podcast, your podcast player. Thank you so much for being here and wanting to dive into your child’s strengths.
Beth [00:13:21]:
I will see you same time, same place next week. Thanks so much.