How many kids have IEP's? (private schools, autism, IEPs, logic)

[SuzyQ123]

I see several posts about students with IEP's. Does anyone know how many kids have these. Are they all really necessary? How does a teacher handle a class if several students have them?

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by SuzyQ123

I see several posts about students with IEP's. Does anyone know how many kids have these. Are they all really necessary? How does a teacher handle a class if several students have them?

How many kids have IEPs depends on how many kids have needs that justify the need for them. Different exceptionalities that may require IEPs include students with autism spectrum disorders, emotional disturbance, behavioral disorders, hearing impairment, mental retardation, orthopedic impairment, other medical/health impairment, specific learning disabilities, speech/language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment, but there are others. And not every student with the above issues may have it severely impact his or her learning so much that he or she needs an individualized educational program to modify the way he or she is taught or how his or her learning is evaluated and progress is measured.

IEPs are not only necessary, they're required by law. People who don't need them generally don't WANT them, in most cases...they're very complex. Teachers are required to make whatever accommodations and modifications are specified by the IEP, which is different for every student (hence Individualized Education Program).

[Hemlock140]

At the local elementary school it's about 30 of 600 students, or 5%. Those able to exist in the regular classroom are given some special attention for part of the day but about half are in a transitional classroom with much more supervision and specialized teaching. Whether or not they are necessary parents know the law and often hire either a lawyer or a student advocate to help them navigate through the red tape to get what they are entitled to by law for their kids.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by SuzyQ123

I see several posts about students with IEP's. Does anyone know how many kids have these. Are they all really necessary? How does a teacher handle a class if several students have them?

The number of children with IEPs will vary depending upon the evaluations that are provided and the parent's ability to negotiate the system.

Each disability will have different kinds of accommodations and different services that the schools provide.

It is important that the teacher reads IEPs and understands what the individual child needs to work on and how to help them get the appropriate academic material. Often children with IEPs are bright, but learn differently, so the teacher might have a picture schedule that shows the child what is expected. For a child with hearing problems, the teacher might need to use an FM system so that the child can hear the instructions more easily. For a child with visual problems, the child might need a braille or might just need to be seated closer to the board or to have instructions written on a paper that he can read himself. For some children, IEPs mean having an aide in the classroom or being pulled out for resource room instruction or speech therapy, etc.

[Bob's Burgers]

An IEP is for a learning disabled student that is placed in a special education program.

[zthatzmanz28]

Originally Posted by slowbill

An IEP is for a learning disabled student that is placed in a special education program.

An IEP is for any student with a LEARNING CHALLENGE. They can be cognitively imapaired, emotionally impaired, SLD, ADHD, or a few other "different abilities" or health issues. It can be physical, or psychological.

An IEP provides for the students needs via modifications, adaptations and accomodations in the general education setting.

An IEP tells the school what it must do to create an environment thet maximizes the student learning opportunities.

Done correctly, it levels the playing field for those who otherwise used to attend classes under the stairway, in the broom closet and at the end of the long dark hallway everyone was terrified to walkdown.

Oh, it also allows the IEP student to ride the bus, eat lunch with the rest of the school and run around the playground in elementary school.

[jojo61397]

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

An IEP is for any student with a LEARNING CHALLENGE. They can be cognitively imapaired, emotionally impaired, SLD, ADHD, or a few other "different abilities" or health issues. It can be physical, or psychological.

An IEP provides for the students needs via modifications, adaptations and accomodations in the general education setting.

An IEP tells the school what it must do to create an environment thet maximizes the student learning opportunities.

Done correctly, it levels the playing field for those who otherwise used to attend classes under the stairway, in the broom closet and at the end of the long dark hallway everyone was terrified to walkdown.

Oh, it also allows the IEP student to ride the bus, eat lunch with the rest of the school and run around the playground in elementary school.

Depends on the district. My son has an IEP, and he still is in a broom closet under the stairs.

[jasper12]

I have worked in every spectrum of Special Education, from schools where all the children there were on IEP's, to exclusive private schools, that had only a small handful of students with IEP's.

A typical elementary room, with 25 students usually has three to five kids on an IEP, usually minor speech issues, learning disablities. In a large high school usually has about 400 students with IEP's or 504 plans.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by slowbill

An IEP is for a learning disabled student that is placed in a special education program.

Absolutely false. One need not be learning disabled to be eligible for individualized education.

[Dressy]

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

An IEP is for any student with a LEARNING CHALLENGE. They can be cognitively imapaired, emotionally impaired, SLD, ADHD, or a few other "different abilities" or health issues. It can be physical, or psychological.

Learning IS a challenge for everyone.