Information about the Exceptional Learners By: Brandi King

What will we be covering today? ▪ Concepts I think are important for the child’s Parents/Guardians to about their child and how to help bring the student to their best potential. – IEP’s – IFSP’s – Systematic Instruction – Traveling Notebook ▪ After I explain these, I am going to show places parents can go for support. ▪ Closing remarks

What is an IEP? ▪ An IEP is code for Individualized Education Program and this is “a legal document that describes the educational services a student receives” (Hallahan Et Al, p. 26). ▪ When making an IEP, parents should be involved with the educaitors to help make a plan for the student and teacher to use to best assist the students learning. ▪ When making an IEP the teacher will/ should make them based on the state standards. ▪ Before placing a child in a program, the student is evaluated, then gets an IEP, and then is placed.

IEP cont... ▪ With an IEP, there has to be a team that comes with it. ▪ This team is the parent of the child, one educator, one special education teacher, and a couple more individuals that are representations of a local agency. ▪ Also, when making an IEP, a teacher will write specific goals for the student involved ( Hallahan Et Al, p. 27).

What is an IFSP? ▪ This is an Individualized family service plan! ▪ An IFSP is to help not just a child with a disability, but the family as well! ▪ A plan is made so that the family is involved in on what is going on with the child at school. A family teacher relationship is important because they should be working together to find the best possible way to educate the child and/or have the best goals in mind for this child and family (Hallahan Et Al, p.67).

Systematic Instructions ▪ Systematic instruction is when teachers are involved in the childs learning. ▪ This could be making a plan/goal for an individual or a group of kids. ▪ Some examples of goals with systematic instruction could be how to do the dishes, how to check out at the store, and how to know where certain pieces of clothing go after folding them. ▪ This is important for the kids because this is based on real life situations that they will be faced with. ▪ The teacher may keep a close eye on how the student is completing these tasks and may jump in to help ever so often or just let the student be and see how they do on their own.

Systematic Instruction cont.... When the students are completing these actions of putting clothes away, checking out, and etc. the teacher and/or the parent can give them some cues like “the cereals box is blue” or “the bananas are on the bottom shelf.” (Hallahan Et Al, p. 99)

The Traveling Notebook! ▪ A Traveling notebook is a great aspect to have so that the educators and the parents can talk to one another. ▪ The traveling notebook go home and come to school with the student with notes from each. ▪ This helps to keep progress growing and the parents and teacher can know what each is doing with the child. Both can build off of that to give the students the best education.

Any questions and for extra support and testing centers. ▪ A place any parent can go to for help finding a testing center would be Brain Balance Achievement Center. You can find information about this place at disorders/?gclid=CjwKEAjw2MOhBRCq-Nr87_j- lDASJAAl4FNh7pVp88hxHXpQcz80UcKllIsUMP7lq84V5bJgNBQ6SxoC 45_w_wcBhttp:// disorders/?gclid=CjwKEAjw2MOhBRCq-Nr87_j- lDASJAAl4FNh7pVp88hxHXpQcz80UcKllIsUMP7lq84V5bJgNBQ6SxoC 45_w_wcB ▪ Another place that parents may go for support with a child with a disability would be Kids Health at

More places a parent can receive support and educational programs for a student with a disability ▪ Another place for a parent to go to find activities would be Best Buddies Programs. ▪ Best Buddies is a program that helps students get involved with other students like themselves and students that do not have a disability to ensure fun and inclusion. ▪ You can find more information at k.4027/WE_ARE_BEST_BUDDIES8482.htm k.4027/WE_ARE_BEST_BUDDIES8482.htm ▪ You can also find schools that have Best Buddies in their cooperation on this site.

Closing remarks ▪ I hope all of you learned something new today ▪ IEP’s, IFSP’s, Systematic Instruction, and the traveling notebook are all important concepts to have for a student/ child with a disability. ▪ Please go to the sites listed to find more information ▪ Thank you and have a nice day!

Reflection ▪ I chose the topics above because they are all of the things I would want to know about if I were a parent of a child with a disability. IEP’s are very important to know about because they are what the special education teachers are going off of when teaching these children and the parents should be aware of what they are looking at. Another reason I chose the topics I did was they all had something to do with the involvement if the parent and the teacher. I feel as though Parent/teacher contact is one of the most important factors in ensuring a great education for a child with or without a disability. Lastly, I chose the links at the end of the power point because I have had to use them once or twice myself and these sites give really great advice and information for parents or anyone to know about disabilities.

References ▪ Hallahan, D., Kauffman, J., & Pullen, P. (2009). Exceptional learners: An introduction to special education (13th ed.). Boston, Mass.: Pearson Education. ▪ Help for Learning Disorders Without Medication. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, disorders/?gclid=CjwKEAjw2MOhBRCq-Nr87_j- lDASJAAl4FNh7pVp88hxHXpQcz80UcKllIsUMP7lq84V5bJgNBQ6SxoC45_w_ wcB ▪ New, M. (2012, August 1). Support for Parents of Kids With Special Needs. Retrieved October 6, 2014, from

References cont... ▪ WE ARE BEST BUDDIES™ - Best Buddies Indiana. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2014, from k.4027/WE_ARE_BEST_BUDDIES8482.htm