IEP measurable goals for social skills assessment question

[letfuller]

DD11, has been found eligible for an IEP for the Autism Spectrum. SHe is also missing the corpus collosum from her brain and would have qualified for special services from that disability.

Our question stems from the measurabl goals assessment portion of her IEP for social progress. How does one measure such gains? As most IEP's that I have seen, "progress with be measured by observation with data". What is the data? Isn't this rather subjective?

How does one ( a teacher) really assess whether the the student is 90% meeting measurable goals?

I have so many questions my brain is spinning.

Thanks for any assistance!

~Linda

 

[teachermom]

Most social goals are measured through formal and informal observations done by the teacher or school counselor. The observations are done in the classroom and during community outings. With the kindergarten through 4th graders at my school they go to malls, grocery stores, bowling, etc. You can also just ask the teacher how these goals are measured. Good Luck, Megan

 

[bookwormde]

Since most ASD individuals need a paraprofessional to make efficient progress with the non-academic curriculum it is relatively easy for them to documents the couple of measured goals that are used for the IDEA audit requirements. One thing to remember is that all skills that are part of the goals are not required to be measured, just a representative sample.

For example my son (9 YO Aspergers) has 4 social skill goals that a specifically defined and measured, typically by success percentage in the generalized environment with various levels of support and prompts compared to a base line at the beginning of the year. But his goals for social skills include 25 per year, which are decided upon dynamically throughout the year as areas of concern are identified by teachers, his therapists and us. The IEP specifies the total number of skills to be addressed and to make progress but only 4 have a clinical measurement system, the rest are just identified and documented as to progress.

This allows for the appropriate number of skills to be addressed throughout the year to meet the need for an appropriate education, without the cumbersome documentation and limitation of pre-specifying them in the IEP

bookwormde

 

[Luv Bunnies]

How does one measure such gains? As most IEP's that I have seen, "progress with be measured by observation with data". What is the data? Isn't this rather subjective?

How does one ( a teacher) really assess whether the the student is 90% meeting measurable goals?

~Linda

In my special ed preschool class, most of our kids have some type of social goals. We measure their progress based on observation and data, as you mentioned. Here's what we do - We have data sheets for each child. The sheet lists all of their goals in a column on the left. Then there are spaces across the page for each day of the week. If we notice the child doing something related to one of their goals, we record it on the sheet for that day. For example, if the goals says something like "engage in a conversation with a peer with 3 exchanges" and we observe that happening, we write it down. Another example might be "play cooperatively with a peer with a single toy or set of toys." If we notice this happening during free play we'll say, "That's one of his goals! Write it down!" Whoever is closet to the clipboard will document it. We will begin to see patterns on the data sheets and this helps the teacher tell whether the goal has been met. We try to let these things happen in natural situations (such as free play). If we're setting-up the situation and telling the kids what to do, we can't really say the goal was met (unless the goal specifically says "with adult prompting"). We might, however, prompt them through it for a few weeks and then start documenting when they do it on their own. It's exciting to see when they make progress on their goals.

Hope this helps!