Ogechukwu Ozo-Onyali

IEP Case Study

Part I.A.I.

Summary of Observation of Two IEP Team Meetings

Observing the IEP team process at Carney Elementary School was a highly
beneficial learning experience for me. The team meetings that I observed were well
structured and all relevant members were kept informed about any changes or
developments. For each meeting, the IEP chair had team members sign in and she
introduced all participants as they arrived. According to the IEP Chair, a written notice
for team meetings and any other required documents such as the Procedural Safeguards
Parental Rights document, evaluation reports or assessment results are usually sent out to
parents at least six days before the scheduled date and a reconfirmation/reminder call to
the parent as the date draws closer.
One of the meetings I attended was a triennial review for an eight-year-old female
student in second grade with speech and language disability and developmental delays.
Anna was developing eighteen months behind her typically developing peers. She had
difficulties settling into school as she would often throw tantrums, elope in and outside
the classroom and sometimes the school building, and she had processing deficits. Due to
her disability, Anna was not making progress in the general curriculum and was unable to
participate in extra curricular activities with other children due to safety concerns for
herself and her classmates when she got upset. She lives with both parents and an elder
brother who is on the Autism Spectrum. Her mother is Russian but speaks English
fluently. Anna speaks and understands only English. Members of the team were the
Assistant Principal as the IEP chair, the special educator, the parents, the general
educator, the speech-language pathologist, the behavior specialist, and the school

psychologist. According to the progress, observation, and assessment reports from Annas
teachers and behavior specialist, Anna was showing tremendous progress and most of the
behavior is now extinct. The team agreed that based on the assessment results, and the
fact that she had closed all developmental gaps, the student did not require any special
education services and her 1-1 will also be faded. However, Anna continues to have
speech and language goals.
The second meeting, which I am using as my case study, was an annual review for
a ten-year-old male fifth grade student. From initial evaluations and testing, Jay appeared
to have processing deficits in the areas of working memory, attention, concentration,
verbal expression and overall executive function. This disability affected his ability to
follow directions, read grade level text because he has limited decoding and
comprehension skills, and limited writing skills because he has challenges recording his
thoughts coherently. He is diagnosed, as having a Specific Learning Disability therefore
is eligible under IDEA of 2004 to receive special education and other related services.
As is the practice at Carney Elementary School, a notice of meeting and a copy of
the Procedural Safeguards of Parental Rights document were sent out to the parents
about a week before the scheduled date as stipulated in the IDEA of 2004. The parents
confirmed receipt of notice and indicated the father will be present for the meeting. The
team comprised of the vice principal as the Team Chair, the General Educator, the
Guidance Counselor (Elementary), the Special Educator, the School Psychologist, and the
Parent.
The general and special educators reviewed students overall educational progress
summarizing the students current academic standings in all his classes highlighting his

strengths as well as all teachers concerns with Jays performance stating that Jay still
gets distracted in class and often needs to be redirected. He often asks to leave the
classroom multiple times during instructions and often refuses to participate in class
discussions. His inability to focus and complete tasks has caused his class work and
homework task completion to fall below average. The students father shared that it is
also difficult to get Jay motivated at home and that hes been encouraging Jay to read
aloud at home in order to foster his reading abilities. It was stated that as part of the
intervention plan, Jay gets additional support from the special education instructors. His
instructional and assessment modifications include access to a human reader, audio
recording of selected sections of test, a scribe, multiple or frequent breaks, extended time
and a half, and reduced distractions to student and others.
New annual goals for reading fluency, reading comprehension, and writing were
developed for Jay. All his instructions take place in the general education classroom
therefore it was agreed that the Least Restrictive Environment for Jay continues to be in
the General Education classroom.
Part II.B. Content of the IEP
B.1 Background Information (Family, Medical and Academic History) Jay lives with
both of his parents and speaks only English. He hit all his developmental milestones.
According to the father, Jay shows no problematic behaviors at home. However, his class
teacher reported that Jay displays significant amounts of attention problems and
withdrawals due to his difficulty with verbal expressions. The assessment reports showed
that the student has very significant problems with working memory and overall

executive function and moderate problems with organization, focusing and processing
speed. He has been diagnosed with a language delay.
Reason for referral: Annual Review of the IEP. The team will review students progress
and present levels, assessments and observation reports in order to determine continued
eligibility for special education and set or include new goals as appropriate.
Pre-referral strategies: The team members discussed informal and formal
observation/assessments of the student by the teachers. The students level of
achievement was evaluated in relation to his goals as agreed by the IEP team the previous
year.
Timeline and Basis for Eligibility: The team meeting was held on February 19th, 2015.
Jay still struggles with grade level materials because his disability affects the reading,
writing and social/emotional/behavioral aspects of his learning and development.
Category of Disability: The student has been diagnosed with Specific Learning
Disability and was re-evaluated for Special Education and related services on the 19th of
February 2015.
Types of services provided: Instructional Supports, program modifications and
social/emotional and behavior supports. The classroom teacher, the special education
teacher, and the guidance counselor provide these services. Transportation is provided to
and from the school.
Brief summary of students learning and behavioral characteristics: The student
attends school regularly and shows some motivation to learn. He has shown tremendous
progress and is able to meet objective with prompting and redirection to focus. However,
sometimes he refuses to accept assistance from any adult except the special education

para-educator. The student refuses to read aloud during instruction and small group
therefore he is not making sufficient progress towards his fluency goal. He often
withdraws when asked to join in small group discussions and would often need constant
reminders to use more than one word answers. The student does not display any
aggression toward himself or others.
Cultural and linguistic differences: The student is a ten year old, African, American
male. He has no linguistic differences; he speaks and understands only English.
Language development and their relationship to the determination of eligibility and
provision of special education and related services:
Jay was diagnosed as having a speech and language delay. The disability has caused him
to have processing deficits making it difficult for him to follow directions. He has limited
verbal expression and also experiences difficulty in reading grade level text because he
has limited decoding and comprehension skills as well as limited writing skills because
he has challenges recording his thoughts coherently. Due to these challenges, Jay is not
making progress in the general curriculum and experiences difficulty learning with his
typically developing peers. Under IDEA, he is qualified for special education and related
services and has been classified as having a Specific Learning Disability.
B. 2 Present Levels of Performance:
Reading: (Classroom based assessments, Teacher Observation) Student is currently
performing at the mid fourth grade level.
Strengths: Student is able to make predictions, inferences, and decode basic
words. He continues to show improvement in his verbal expression, fluency and
comprehension. Teacher observation shows that when he is in small group setting, he is

more focused and has excellent participation therefore he is able to master the skill the
class is working on.
Needs: The student has difficulty summarizing text and identifying text support.
He still requires support in order to increase his reading fluency and decoding skills.
Writing: (Classroom based assessments, Teacher Observation). Student is currently
performing at the mid fourth grade level.
Strengths: The student is able to apply some mechanics to his writing such as
capitalization and punctuation. He is able to spell high frequency words.
Needs: The student struggles to support his idea with text relevant details, written
expression, composing paragraphs, adding details to text, writing for a variety of
purposes, and responding to text-related questions.
Social/Emotional/Behavioral; (Classroom Observation, Teacher input) Jay is
functioning on grade level expectations in the area of on task behavior and following
directions.
Strengths: He is polite, not disruptive, easily redirected, and has a positive
attitude. However, he needs to work on increasing attention, time on task, and following
directions.
Jays disability affects his involvement and progress in general curriculum in the
following ways: his limited decoding skills make reading grade level text difficult. His
reading comprehension is below grade level therefore he is unable to make connections
to the text without assistance. Jay was reported to display very significant problems with
inattention and overall executive functioning. His limited writing skills make recording
his thoughts coherently challenging. His difficulties with attention means he needs

frequent repetition of directions and verbal/visual reminders to remain on task. He needs

complex directions broken down into smaller steps.
B. 3 Goals:
A) & B) General Education Curriculum / Meet ALL Education Goals:
Reading Goal: Fluency Jay will be able to read grade level texts with high accuracy
and appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression at grade level. He will be evaluated
through informal procedures with 35wpm % increase.
Objective 1: Given repeated readings of a text, Jay will apply knowledge of word
structures and patterns to read with automaticity. Evaluated through Informal
Procedures with 70% accuracy to reach goal.
Objective 2: Given repeated reading of a text, student will demonstrate
appropriate use of phrasing by attending to sentence patterns and structures that
signal meaning in text. Informal Procedures will be used to measure for 70%
accuracy to reach goal.
Objective 3: Given repeated readings of text, Jay will use punctuation cues to
guide meaning and expression. Informal procedures will be used to evaluate his
performance with a target of 70% accuracy.
Reading Goal: General Reading Comprehension Jay will be able to use strategies to
demonstrate understanding of the text (after reading) at grade level. He will be evaluated
through informal procedures and other classroom based assessments with 60 % accuracy.
Objective1: Given shared repeated readings of the text, student will paraphrase
and/or summarize the main idea and events of the text or portion of the text, both

orally and in writing. Informal Procedures will be used to measure for 75%
accuracy to reach goal.
Objective 2: Given shared repeated readings of the text, student will use print
features such as large bold print, font size/type, italics, colored print, quotation
marks, and underlining, to facilitate understanding of informational texts with
75% accuracy. Performance will be evaluated through informal procedures.
Written Language Goal: Jay will be able to locate, retrieve, and use information from
various sources to accomplish a purpose at grade level with a target of 3 out of 5 trials.
Evaluation will be through informal procedures.
Objective 1: Given organizers and teacher support, student will compose written
presentations that inform or express personal ideas using a structure with a clear
beginning, middle, and end with a target of 4 out of 5 trials. Evaluated using
informal procedures.
Objective 2: The student will be able to locate, retrieve, and use information from
the text in order to respond to text dependent questions with a target of 3 out of 5
trials. Evaluated using informal procedures.
C) How childs progress will be measured: The students performance will be evaluated
through informal procedures such as teacher observation, anecdotal records, and
classroom based assessments.
D) Periodic Reports provided to Parents: Parents will be notified of the students
progress toward the IEP goals using quarterly written progress reports.
E) Projected Date of the beginning of services and modification and (frequency,
location, duration).

Start to End
Service Nature

Location

Duration

Frequency

Provider
Date

Instructional Supports:
GenEd Teacher
- Have student repeat

General

02/09/15 to
36wks

and/or paraphrase

Weekly

Education

SpecEd Teacher
02/08/16
InstrAssist

information.
Student needs to repeat and paraphrase instructions to ensure he understands what is required of him.
Program Modifications
- Break down

GenEd Teacher
General

assignments into smaller

02/09/15 to
36wks

Weekly

Education

SpecEd Teacher
02/08/16

units

InstrAssist

- Chunking of texts
Jay needs to have larger assignments broken into smaller units in order to meet grade level expectations.
Student needs chunking of text to allow him process the information in smaller sections.
Social/Behavior

General

Supports

Education

Encourage
student to ask for
assistance when

needed
Other
social/behavior
supports, positive

36wks

Weekly

02/09/15 to

GenEd Teacher

02/08/16

SpecEd Teacher
InstrAssist

praise and
-

encouragement
Provide
structured time
for organization

of materials.
Frequent eye
contact/proximity

control
Strategies to

GenEd Teacher
General

02/09/15 to
36wks

Education

Daily

SpecEd Teacher
02/08/16

initiate and

InstrAssist

sustain attention
Social/Behavior supports will be delivered in the general education setting. Jay needs to be reminded to
ask for help when he is unsure of directions. He needs positive praise to motivate him and to keep him
focused. Student needs to be seated near instruction to assist with monitoring his focus. Jay needs
structured time with an assistant to keep his desk clean and organized as he has a difficult time keeping
his desk organized and taking papers home.
B.4.1 Statement of Special Education and Related Services and Supplementary Aids
In order to succeed on district and statewide assessments, Jay is to be provided
with a variety of accommodations. His presentation accommodations include a human
reader for selected sections of the test, visual cues, and notes, outlines, and instructions.
His response accommodations include access to a scribe. Jays timing and scheduling
accommodations include extended time (time and a half) and multiple or frequent breaks
during the test. During testing, Jack is to be in a setting with limited interruptions to
reduce distractions to Jack and to reduce distractions to other students

For Assessments, the student will participate in the district and statewide
assessments - The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers
(PARCC) assessments.
Part C: Reflection on IEP Procedures
This meeting was an annual review for the student and all participants were on
time, the meeting commenced as scheduled. The parents had been given all necessary
documents: notice of meeting and procedural safeguards a week before. All appropriate
persons were in attendance and all timelines as stipulated by the IDEA were followed.
The meeting was held at the schools conference room. The parents were brought
to the room by the staff at the front office. All participants sat around the table and the
IEP chair began and led the meeting, the general and special educators went over teacher
reports and the IEP and the school behavior specialist presented her observations and
reports. All participants acted professionally and cooperatively with one another during
the team meetings.
The participants worked with one another before the meeting to gather relevant
information and prepare. There was a close, effective, high degree of collaboration
between all participants to meet the students needs. Necessary information was shared
between parents and staff prior to the meeting, such as, parents observations at home, any
goals they would love to see their child achieve and these were considered at the meeting
and included on the IEP.
At the start of the meeting, the IEP chair introduced me to the parent and
informed them that I was a special education intern from Towson University and that I
was there to observe and learn and asked for his permission to let me stay which he

agreed to. Throughout the meeting, I observed the interactions and processes that took
place.