Research paper assistance please!

[mudnuri]

Doing a research paper for a Comp class, and need some input from fellow diser's. Our professor wanted us to actually have a research question, not topic.

My question is "why has there been such an increase in IEPs in elementary schools in the last 5-10 years".

My reason for this question. DD9 in kindergarten had 1 student on an IEP in her class, now in fourth grade- she has 8, and 2 of them have individual aides. These are the same kids from kindergarten- give or take 2, who have moved into the distric since then.

The reason I know how many is because of the way our budgets are set up, it breaks down the special ed costs, aide costs etc. per grade/classroom, and in starting this research, I met with the principal for her idea's on the number rise etc.

My question to you is- have you seen an increase in your childs school- and if so, why do you think this is? I wont put my reasoning here, as I want your opinions...

Thanks!

please try not to make this a 'ieps are not needed, ieps are needed" debate.

Brandy

 

[lewdyan1]

I can't say tell you why you are seeing number sup, but I can tell you in my case, my two children were written IEP's when they began third grade and that was for both of them, their learning disabilities became apparent in second grade. They were able to hold their own in K-2, but they both have processing disorders (one reading and one writing) and as the level of expectation grew their level of frustration grew. With accommodations provided by the IEP's, they are now able to be successful in their education.

So I guess one reason you are maybe seeing more IEP's being written, is that more of the LD's become apparent as the dificulty of work level increases. Also in my son's case, the effects of his ADHD became more apparent when he was expected to be more independent and organized (far beyond his ability) than he was capable of. With the accommodations of his IEP, the organizational skills are also being address.

I hope this gives you some insight of why you might be seeing more IEP's in the later years.

 

[Marseeya]

I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're getting at, but if you're talking in the past five years in your own school, that's because so many LD's aren't able to be detected until the child is older -- sometimes not until middle school. Around 5th or 6th grade, you'll start to see kids who were struggling get assessed and found to have a learning disability.

 

[mudnuri]

I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're getting at, but if you're talking in the past five years in your own school, that's because so many LD's aren't able to be detected until the child is older -- sometimes not until middle school. Around 5th or 6th grade, you'll start to see kids who were struggling get assessed and found to have a learning disability.

Thats the question, same 15-16 kids from kindergarten to 4th grade- and an increase from 1-2 to 8-9 kids

Brandy

 

[Marseeya]

That's why then.

My DD has been struggling since kindergarten, but when she got tested in the 3rd grade, there didn't seem to be a learning disability. We're going to have her tested again in the 5th grade, and I'm willing to bet it'll show up by then. Same with DS... he wasn't diagnosed until the 6th grade.

 

[kristen821]

I have a couple of guesses

1. Some doctors (not all!) seem quick to diagnose kids with a iep I know that some of my friends children were diagnosed with a whole bunch of different ieps just to have the doctors change thier minds and have other doctors say that the first doctor was wrong.
2. Kids aren't usually diagnosed with an iep until they are older then 5 like another poster said you sometimes wouldn't know until they began to read.

 

[nliedel]

We adopted two children. One of them has fetal alcohol syndrome. He has had an IEP since before he was placed in kindergarten. It does seem that there are more kids the older he gets with IEP's but all in all i think that we are recognizing problems earlier. I am dyslexic but was not diagnosed until I was in highschool and had managed to find workarounds. I was really glad I was not, "stupid" as one teacher labeled me.