Improving Your Child’s IEP Month by Month

A monthly article series by Jacqueline Lembeck, Esq.

 

In talking to parents of children with disabilities, I’ve realized that answering the question, “where do I begin?” is sometimes the hardest part.  Navigating special education can feel like drowning in a sea of acronyms (IEP, RR, PTRE, NOREP, LEA . . .) or climbing an endless mountain of paperwork, or both!  For those of you who have a resolution to make 2017 a more organized, successful, and peaceful year, this article series is for you!  Month by month, I’ll discuss a way to improve your child’s IEP and give action items to focus your journey.  It will still be a mountain, but I hope these tips will provide some trail markers along the way.

JUNE:

Making Use of Apps and Technology at Home

 

            School is over and whether your child receives ESY services or not, you are probably looking for ways to keep up your child’s progress during the summer months.  The good news is that educational programs and software are more accessible to families now than ever before.  There are many options for apps, games, and assistive technology that can be used at home.  If your son or daughter takes to it, you may even want to discuss the “home trial” at your next IEP meeting to explore building in similar supports during the school year.

            Below is a very basic review of some of the types of programs you can find.  There are so many out there and many more being developed all the time.  The best way to figure out what’s out there will be searching the internet and polling parents of children with special needs.  If you find something great, try to spread the news to a parent group!

            Apps for visual schedules: If you have a child who benefits from a visual schedule at school and you can’t stomach the idea of lamination and Velcro arts and crafts, these apps are a lifesaver!  Many visual schedule apps allow you to access your personal photo library (via your computer, smart phone, or tablet) to create personalized icons (for example, “our home”).  You can also search and use internet pictures (for example, you can look up a picture of Mom’s car and use it for an icon to show that after breakfast we are getting in Mom’s car).  Some allow you to save itineraries for future use, like a trip to the library.  Visual schedules are often helpful because they provide structure and preview what will happen during the day.  This can be a great way to bring the classroom into the home.

            Apps for positive behavior reinforcement: If your son or daughter benefits from a Positive Behavior Support Plan, you may want to create a plan for home.  There are many apps which will help you create positive consequences for good behavior.  There are even apps which allow you to create an avatar which models the child’s negative behaviors to provide a chance for discussion at home.  If your child benefits from deep breathing exercises, there are apps for that, too!

            Apps for visual timers: For a child who struggles with executive functioning skills, planning and organization may be particularly difficult.  This can also be true of estimating and completing tasks in a certain amount of time.  A visual representation of time can help teach and reinforce time management.

            Speech to text: If you have a tablet, your child may be able to use voice to text to try out dictation for written expression versus handwriting or typing.  This can be especially helpful for a child who struggles with fine motor skills or is slow or cumbersome at writing and typing.  Specific programs are also available for purchase, but many tablets have this feature built in.  If you are considering whether speech to text would be helpful for your child, you may want to try it out over the summer at home and then consider whether it would be worth asking the IEP team to provide Assistive Technology during the school year.

            Audio books: Audio books are readily available online and can be used in conjunction with print so your child can listen to the text as he/she visually reads and tracks along with the audio.  A child with weaker working memory may find the audio/visual pairing helpful.

June Action Items:

• Research apps, programs, games, and assistive technology online, looking for affordable and helpful tools

• Get to know the helpful features which are already available on your smartphone/tablet, if you have one

• Check out parent support groups or discussion boards for ideas

• Go to your local library to see whether they can recommend free educational activities for the summer months, for example the Free Library of Philadelphia has links to free games and apps

• Share what you learn with other families!

Potential Resources to Check Out: Please note that neither I nor McAndrews Law Offices has any affiliation with these products and we receive no compensation for including them here.  Please be advised that we cannot warrant or guarantee the appropriateness or functionality of any of the products listed below.  The following are listed for convenience only and you should fully research all possibilities before choosing any product or introducing it to your child.

• iPrompts by Handhold Adaptive, LLC

• First Then Visual Schedule by Good Karma Applications, Inc.

• Visual Schedule Planner by Good Karma Applications, Inc.

• iReward by Grembe, Inc.

• iRewardChart: Parents Reward Tracker Chore chart by Gotclues, Inc.

• Choiceworks by Bee Visual, LLC

• Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame by Sesame Street

• Settle Your Glitter by Momentous Institute

• Stop, Breathe & Think by Stop, Breathe & Think

• Social Stories Creator and Library by Touch Autism

• Time Timer by Time Timer, LLC

• Speechnotes Speech to Text

• Dragon Naturally Speaking/Dragon Dictation