ASPIRE

Active Student Participation Inspires Real Engagement

Family Presentation

“School Name Here”

Presented by:

WELCOME

ASPIRE

A Collaborative Initiative betweenThe Georgia Department of Education,

Division for Special Education and Student Services and

The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities

Funded by the Georgia State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG), Georgia Department of Education through a grant from the Office of Special Education Programs, United States Department of Education and is a collaboration with the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities.

• School engagement

• Family engagement

• Student engagement

Student Engagement =Self Determination

A TEAM EFFORT

Self-Determination: In Plain English

Knowing and believing in yourself

Knowing what you want in the future AND making plans to achieve those goals

Knowing and asking for the supports you need to achieve your goals

Self-determination allows your child to make choices and decisions to improve his/her quality of life.

Help Your Child Become Self-Determined Through:

• knowing their rights and responsibilities

• goal setting

• understanding accommodations

• problem-solving

• making choices about everyday activities

• experiencing consequences of choices

• understanding strengths and challenges

• expressing preferences

**INVOLVEMENT IN HIS/HER OWN IEP**

• understanding their disability

Student IEP Involvement= ASPIRE

ASPIRE: “Active Student Participation

Inspires Real Engagement”

• Students participating in their IEP• Active student participation in the IEP• Self-directed IEP• Student led IEP

The IEP…

is a document that states the services your child will receive and where she/he will receive them.

is developed by a committee that includes you, your child, his/her teachers, school administrators and other professional service providers.

is an important tool that guides/measures your child’s progress from year to year.

Student Information

Student’s eligibility areadisability area

Dates for annual review

Members of the IEP meeting

Important Parts of the IEP…

Present Level of Performance that includes parent input (PLOP)

Meaningful, measurable annual goals

Results of evaluations and assessments

Needed accommodations

Services and supports that will be provided

Important Parts of the IEP…

Increases student and family involvement and representation in the IEP process.

Encourages students to play a larger role in developing their IEP, participating in their IEP meeting, and implementing their IEP.

Shifts the focus from adult-centered to student centered

A Student Led IEP…

Student Led IEP Meeting

What are students, parents and teachers saying about

student led IEPs?

http://www.imdetermined.org/modules/module_three/

…your child

Creating an invitation to the IEP meeting.

Introducing him/herself and others at the meeting.

Selecting pictures to show at the IEP meeting about a typical school day doing the things he/she enjoys.

Clicking a mouse on a computer to move from one slide to the next in a Power Point presentation and describing each slide during the meeting.

Just Imagine…

…your child

Helping to narrate and select images for a slide presentation about the subject areas he/she is good at, those he/she struggles with, and how teachers can help.

Discussing goals for life after high school and how to reach them.

Facilitating the agenda of the IEP meeting.

Leading the meeting and mentoring other students.

Just Imagine…

...they are participating in a student led IEP

If Your Child Does Any of These,…

How Can I Help My Child Get Started?

Helping My Child Get Started

Learn the ASPIRE Concepts

NEXTTalk to your child about:

IEP goals Accommodations

Encourage them to do the activities needed to participate in the meeting

Prepare for the IEP using the Pre-Planning Meeting handout

Supporting Self-Determination

Focus on your child and not the disability:Love and cherish their unique characteristics

we all have unique strengths, talents, gifts, interests and learning differences

Recognize that your child is more like typical kids than different

Use people-first language and language the student will understand

Supporting Self-Determination

Educate, don’t excuse.Discuss role models and coping and learning

strategies.Know that the expectations that you have for

your children greatly influence their achievements.

Children with disabilities are often unmotivated due to feelings of failure, frustration and false labels (crazy, lazy, dumb).

Supporting Self-Determination

Provide feedback

Praise progress and effort as well as results.Give honest and specific compliments.Provide corrective criticism when warranted.Know that by talking to your child you are

modeling skills they will need to be self-determined.

They will take charge of their learning, with the responsibility shifting from teacher/parent to student.

They will have a vested interest in achieving those goals, when students participate in IEP goal setting

Inappropriate behaviors may decrease as they feel empowered to chart their own course.

Why Should Your Child Take Control?

Taking Control in the IEP Meeting….

builds self-advocacy skills and self-esteem gives them control over their education builds important social and conversational skills teaches the processes of decision-making, goal

setting and achievement helps them to understand compromise allows them to see how many people are working to

help them to be successful in their educational endeavors

gives them child the opportunity to participate in a team situation.

What’s Next?Attend the meetings set up by the school

Do the Vital Behaviors

Expect Follow-up from Parent

Mentor/representative

Attend the IEP meeting and be actively

involved

Complete Post Survey

Why Is This Cake On Fire?

Jamie L. Van Dycke, James E. Martin, and David L. Lovett

Additional Resources?

Parentmentors.orgFind:

Success storiesInformation about transitionStatewide parent eventsParent Mentor contact informationVideos

Thank you for coming to learn about

ASPIRE and how your child

can be more actively involvedin their IEP meeting and

in planning their own future!