I’ve got a new student with autism.  He’s a fourth grader, and he moved here from another state last year.  The IEP he came with was quite specific about his mechanical reading skills (working on long and short vowels, etc) and reported minimal progress toward decoding and phonemic awareness over the previous year. 

He spent the second half of last year in our lower-grades Special Day Class, and now he’s with me.  I took a look at his IEPs for the past several years, and I must say I’m disappointed. 

Allow me to step up to my soap box for a bit and voice some concerns about the IEP process and how we think about our readers with autism.

I do not know how it is possible for anyone to create an IEP that only addresses one part of the reading process.  If I am going to support a child in reading, there are many things I want to know besides the simple decoding skills he or she has or does not have: I want to know about whether the child

• enjoys being read to,
• enjoys looking at books,
• comprehension levels,
• questions the child might ask,
• topics of interest,
• favorite characters in books, and
• genres. 

A reader is not simply a person who can read words; a reader is a person who has expectations of text, has preferences in text, and has experience in text.

A kid who cannot decode long “O” and “I” sounds can still delight in having Captain Underpants read to him.  A kid who cannot focus on the written word for more than 15 seconds at a whack can bring me a copy of The Indian in the Cupboard  and ask me to read it to him over and over and over.  A child who doesn’t know that a book starts on the left side and not the right can squeal with delight when we read Frog and Toad books.

We need to know as much about what a child can do as what he cannot do.  Yet.

When we are working with a child on comprehension in reading, we build on the skills that exist now.  I cannot devise a plan of action unless I know what the child already knows, and what he almost knows.

Think about it:  how much does knowing that I cannot use an electric screwdriver without stripping screws, cannot thread the needle on a sewing machine, cannot keep track of socks, and often fail to keep plastic containers together with their lids really tell you about what it would be like to come to my house for dinner?  Not much, I expect.

Note toParents:

Parents are part of the IEP team, and if the case manager doesn’t include the skills your child already has, you have not only the right but the obligation to make sure it’s added.  It’s as simple as asking whether the case manager could please add a list of the reading/math/writing/whatever skills the child does have to the description of “present levels.”  If your child is present at the IEP, ask him or her to contribute a list of strengths. 

I’ve had it up to here with IEPs that do not accurately describe a child, or which leave enormous blanks in the picture of the child I am teaching.    We’re talking about a person, not a skill-set, and not a file in a drawer.   Anyone who participates in an IEP meeting must consider how the child is portrayed, and if it is as complete a portrayal as possible in the document.  If you are unsure, consider whether, if the subject of the IEP was you, people would be able to see you as you are.

Related posts:

1. The problem of the read-aloud
2. Role of the classroom aide: To help the child toward independence
3. Don’t stop advocating for the child with autism!