I know it’s summer and you don’t want to be thinking about school, but I thought in these dog days of summer you could create your own unofficial “Home IEP.” This Home IEP would be your own blueprint for the coming school year.
To write your Home IEP, I’d suggest you go outside in the shade, pour yourself a glass of iced tea, and spend some time reflecting. What are the things that would represent real change for your child (and you as the parent) if they were done by the end of the year?
Here are a few sample goals for the child and parent (set to 85% mastery level) to help jog your thought process:
Child
- With minimal whining, child will manage homework independently.
- Child will ask for assistance when needed only after attempting on his/her own.
- Child will put papers in folder or binder for the next day 85% of the time.
- Child will spend a half hour a night reading a book at his independent level before playing video games or going on internet.
- Child will get self out of bed, get dressed and ready for school with minimal parental input.
Parent
- 85% of the time, the parent will recognize that it is the child’s problem.
- Parent will reduce yelling 85% of the time and speak in more objective, matter of fact terms (e.g., “Gee, I’m sorry you didn’t cooperate, now we are not going to the store for that thing you wanted.”).
- When child forgets books at school, parent will reduce tendency to rush to school to get forgotten books.
- Parent will reduce frequency of emailing teacher to once every other week (at the most).
- Parent will only use a labeling term (e.g., ADHD, Dyslexia, Autism, Asperger’s, Sensory issues, etc.) once every other day.
- Parent will only check grades on the school’s internet site once a month.
If any of these apply, feel free to include them in your own “Home IEP.”