# Getting the Most Out of IEPs

## Quality Educational Outcomes and Annual Goals
providing school- and community-based experiences, developing person-centered plans, and embedding state standards into IEP goals and activities.

### Teach Self-Determination Across the Age Range

Figure 7.2 demonstrates that self-determination is the key building block for students to meaningfully identify their desired personalized educational outcomes. Early on in their education, many students experience school as a place where they must do whatever the teacher tells them. Then, as if by magic, they enter high school, where they are expected to suddenly make choices and identify personalized career, living, transportation, and recreation/leisure goals. In other words, with no previous experience in making plans or setting goals, students suddenly have to direct a complex process in which they have to make a long-term plan for their own lives. It seems a bit much to ask students to move from total compliance to full self-determination simply by virtue of changing school.

| Offer choices of pencils or crayons (for younger students) when writing, locations to complete independent work, snack, recess activities, order of seatwork, and so forth. |
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| When students make a nonpreferred choice by accident, allow them to problem-solve to make a new choice. |
| Begin by offering choices between two preferred items or activities, then gradually offer choices between less desired preferences. |
| Begin with two options and gradually increase number of options presented. |
| Honor student choices even when the teacher knows the student prefers a different option. |
| For students with limited verbal communication skills, choice making can also result in an increase in communication skills. |
| Assign small projects that require students to construct everyday items from common home and school supplies (e.g., construct a car out of toilet paper rolls, construction paper, and pencils). |
| Have students list the pros and cons of playing outside versus inside during recess. |
| Have students decide how to organize their daily schedules. |
| Have students decide how long to engage in a school or play task. |
| When students make a poor decision, help them identify why it was a poor decision and what they could do differently the next time. |
| Talk through your own decisions to model decision making for students. |
| Have students talk about their decisions and how their plan worked out for them. |
| Develop a picture sequence to show how to make a decision, and practice this sequence many times a day. |

### Provide School- and Community-Based Experiences to Identify Student Preferences

This chapter has detailed the importance of students with disabilities having a long-term vision to guide the development of their IEP and transition plan. Students cannot formulate that vision if they have not had life experiences. For example, if a student has never worked, then that student may not know where he or she wants to work. Thus, another practical aspect of long-term educational planning is providing a rich variety of experiences to students of all ages (e.g., completing jobs; engaging in daily living skills, such as cooking, cleaning, and personal hygiene; engaging in leisure; interacting with others who share their interests). This is a relatively simple task for students who are able to talk and be fully engaged. The teacher has to set up school- and community-based experiences, teach students how to complete those experiences using structured teaching methods, and assist the students in evaluating their experiences. For students who do not use verbal language to communicate or who have more significant disabilities, however, this can be more difficult. In this case, teachers must observe their students to identify sensations, activities, and tasks that the students seek out. For example, Alejandra’s teacher wants to make sure that she offers her choices to encourage the development of self-determination, but she is stuck because Alejandra seems to like very few activities in her classroom. In fact, the only activities that she appears to like are smelling things and playing in the water when she washes her hands. Her teacher wonders what work and leisure tasks she could do from such limited activities. The first task that comes to mind is washing dishes. The dish soap usually smells good. Also, there is a lot of time to put your hands in the water to find the dishes, rub them off, and rinse them. A leisure activity that Alejandra might like is swimming.