The Goal Driven IEP: A Parent’s Guide to What to Ask For at Your IEP Meeting - Free Workshop Wednesday, April 1st

From the Danvers SEPAC

March 25, 2015

This workshop will cover:

• Specific items and wording parents should ask for in their child’s IEP.

• Common mistakes seen in ineffective IEP plans.

• How to ask for specific goals, approaches and outcome measures that will be sensitive to whether progress is being made.

• Common best practice approaches to address: learning needs, social pragmatics, organizational skills and behavior/emotional problems (i.e.,What to ask for, how to define it and how would you know that progress is occurring).

Speaker: Dr. David Stember holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and maintains faculty appointments at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital. He is a recognized expert in cognitive behavioral/exposure-based therapy for anxiety, learning and behavioral disorders. He is the prior Director of Behavioral Medicine at North Shore Children’s Hospital, and maintains private practice offices in Salem and Arlington, MA.

When:   7:00 - 9:00pm Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Where: Holten-Richmond Middle School Library
                   55 Conant Street, Danvers, MA 01923

Babysitting: An adult with experience working with children with special needs will be available to babysit, but you must register in advance.

For more information, please contact Keri Smith Holian at keri_smith_94305@yahoo.com, or Tom Savage at tsavage@mysavagerealty.com.

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NESCA FAQ: Why does an evaluation at NESCA always address educational issues?

NESCA considers testing for both diagnostic and educational purposes to be inseparable elements of an effective evaluation. Because your child’s disability will inevitably affect his or her performance in school, it is essential to understand the nature and extent of that impact. Much of any necessary remediation may well happen in school, and we need to be able to write well-reasoned, specific recommendations about how the school should address your child’s special needs.

These recommendations must be made persuasively, in a way that maximizes the likelihood that the school will recognize the recommended services as integral parts of the "free and appropriate public education (FAPE)" that public schools are required to provide to children with special needs. In addition, your child may need, and be entitled to, accommodations for his or her disability in the academic setting, and this also needs to be carefully documented.