IEP and Reading Comprehension

[Anonymous]

For anyone with relevant experience -- what IEP goals have helped most with reading comprehension, for an upper elementary student testing well below GL due to comprehension issues (but decoding and expression is fine) and how were you able to figure out if the school was doing what it could to meet those?

I'm frustrated that for my kid the claim is she's received years of support and not made adequate progress, but then they don't appear to have any clue what program is most appropriate for her issues. We also supplement a lot at home and that is a given, but it would be good if the time at school was directed most efficiently.

[Anonymous]

I've found the online "Goal Bank" to be a good resource. There are other web sites with sample goals you can search for.

Here's what came up for reading comprehension goals

http://thegoalbank.com/index1main/index1/reading_comp.html

[Anonymous]

This is an impossible question to answer without more information because difficulties with reading comprehension can have multiple causes. Does your child have ADD? Autism? Poor fluency?

What programs/approaches have been trialed?

[Anonymous]

OP -- ADHD (diagnosed, on meds for several years) and possible language based learning disability (not diagnosed).

Fluency and expression not an issue.

Issues are: primarily inferences using text clues and personal knowledge, predictions, summarizing, sometimes main idea, sometimes author's purpose. Context clues and vocabulary.

The IEP says she will use reading strategies throughout the reading process to monitor comprehension with 80% accuracy, and she will make simple inferences using textual information as support with 80% accuracy, and make, confirm, or revised predictions with 80% accuracy, all on 3 out of 4 opportunities as documented monthly.

The goal seems a bit too vague to me.

[Anonymous]

Are there short term objective with that goal?

[Anonymous]

I would get a good eval if you have not recently.

[Anonymous]

The inferences and the predictions are the short term goals.
That's it.

We probably will get an evaluation (last one done four years ago) but even with the results I think I'd have to come up with the suggestions (with the psychologist possibly) to be more specific.

[Anonymous]

What reading comprehension strategies has she learned and is she using them? If they cannot tell you which strategies they have taught her, then there aren't any. But, for a student who has ADD, strategies for engagement and self-monitoring are appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP -- ADHD (diagnosed, on meds for several years) and possible language based learning disability (not diagnosed).

Fluency and expression not an issue.

Issues are: primarily inferences using text clues and personal knowledge, predictions, summarizing, sometimes main idea, sometimes author's purpose. Context clues and vocabulary.

The IEP says she will use reading strategies throughout the reading process to monitor comprehension with 80% accuracy, and she will make simple inferences using textual information as support with 80% accuracy, and make, confirm, or revised predictions with 80% accuracy, all on 3 out of 4 opportunities as documented monthly.

The goal seems a bit too vague to me.

I'm a principal and I always push back when I see a goal like that because it doesn't name the reading level. So for that goal, I would add something like,"Given text at a mid-fourth grade level, Larla will be able to answer higher level comprehension questions (inferencing, author's purpose & message) with 80% accuracy on 4/5 opportunities."

Would something like that help, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP -- ADHD (diagnosed, on meds for several years) and possible language based learning disability (not diagnosed).

Fluency and expression not an issue.

Issues are: primarily inferences using text clues and personal knowledge, predictions, summarizing, sometimes main idea, sometimes author's purpose. Context clues and vocabulary.

The IEP says she will use reading strategies throughout the reading process to monitor comprehension with 80% accuracy, and she will make simple inferences using textual information as support with 80% accuracy, and make, confirm, or revised predictions with 80% accuracy, all on 3 out of 4 opportunities as documented monthly.

The goal seems a bit too vague to me.

I'm a principal and I always push back when I see a goal like that because it doesn't name the reading level. So for that goal, I would add something like,"Given text at a mid-fourth grade level, Larla will be able to answer higher level comprehension questions (inferencing, author's purpose & message) with 80% accuracy on 4/5 opportunities."

Would something like that help, OP?

Special ed teacher here and your goal is also not that great. What does 'will be able' even mean. You want words like 'at her instructional reading level, larla can correctly answer inferencing questions at 80% accuracy across 5 reading sessions. Your 80% at 4/5 says she can do it at 80% accuracy 80% of the time- that's not very accurate.. Also, don't measure more than one thing in a goal or else it is less likely to be mastered an exposed you to risk. Do you have a special ed background? By all means push back, but do so with a goal that can be measured and isn't open to fuzzy interpretation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP -- ADHD (diagnosed, on meds for several years) and possible language based learning disability (not diagnosed).

Fluency and expression not an issue.

Issues are: primarily inferences using text clues and personal knowledge, predictions, summarizing, sometimes main idea, sometimes author's purpose. Context clues and vocabulary.

The IEP says she will use reading strategies throughout the reading process to monitor comprehension with 80% accuracy, and she will make simple inferences using textual information as support with 80% accuracy, and make, confirm, or revised predictions with 80% accuracy, all on 3 out of 4 opportunities as documented monthly.

The goal seems a bit too vague to me.

I'm a principal and I always push back when I see a goal like that because it doesn't name the reading level. So for that goal, I would add something like,"Given text at a mid-fourth grade level, Larla will be able to answer higher level comprehension questions (inferencing, author's purpose & message) with 80% accuracy on 4/5 opportunities."

Would something like that help, OP?

Special ed teacher here and your goal is also not that great. What does 'will be able' even mean. You want words like 'at her instructional reading level, larla can correctly answer inferencing questions at 80% accuracy across 5 reading sessions. Your 80% at 4/5 says she can do it at 80% accuracy 80% of the time- that's not very accurate.. Also, don't measure more than one thing in a goal or else it is less likely to be mastered an exposed you to risk. Do you have a special ed background? By all means push back, but do so with a goal that can be measured and isn't open to fuzzy interpretation.

I agree with PP, but you can't answer a question with 80% accuracy -- it's either right or it's wrong. I think what she means is answers 4/5 questions in 4/5 sessions.

I also don't like the term "simple inferences" -- what does it mean? Do you and the school based team agree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP -- ADHD (diagnosed, on meds for several years) and possible language based learning disability (not diagnosed).

Fluency and expression not an issue.

Issues are: primarily inferences using text clues and personal knowledge, predictions, summarizing, sometimes main idea, sometimes author's purpose. Context clues and vocabulary.

The IEP says she will use reading strategies throughout the reading process to monitor comprehension with 80% accuracy, and she will make simple inferences using textual information as support with 80% accuracy, and make, confirm, or revised predictions with 80% accuracy, all on 3 out of 4 opportunities as documented monthly.

The goal seems a bit too vague to me.

I'm a principal and I always push back when I see a goal like that because it doesn't name the reading level. So for that goal, I would add something like,"Given text at a mid-fourth grade level, Larla will be able to answer higher level comprehension questions (inferencing, author's purpose & message) with 80% accuracy on 4/5 opportunities."

Would something like that help, OP?

Special ed teacher here and your goal is also not that great. What does 'will be able' even mean. You want words like 'at her instructional reading level, larla can correctly answer inferencing questions at 80% accuracy across 5 reading sessions. Your 80% at 4/5 says she can do it at 80% accuracy 80% of the time- that's not very accurate.. Also, don't measure more than one thing in a goal or else it is less likely to be mastered an exposed you to risk. Do you have a special ed background? By all means push back, but do so with a goal that can be measured and isn't open to fuzzy interpretation.

I agree with PP, but you can't answer a question with 80% accuracy -- it's either right or it's wrong. I think what she means is answers 4/5 questions in 4/5 sessions.

I also don't like the term "simple inferences" -- what does it mean? Do you and the school based team agree?

This is PP- That's why I said correctly. So 4 are correct out of 5. I would also have more specific goals. OP- do they have anyone trained in LMB visualizing and verbalizing? How are they teaching comprehension?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP -- ADHD (diagnosed, on meds for several years) and possible language based learning disability (not diagnosed).

Fluency and expression not an issue.

Issues are: primarily inferences using text clues and personal knowledge, predictions, summarizing, sometimes main idea, sometimes author's purpose. Context clues and vocabulary.

The IEP says she will use reading strategies throughout the reading process to monitor comprehension with 80% accuracy, and she will make simple inferences using textual information as support with 80% accuracy, and make, confirm, or revised predictions with 80% accuracy, all on 3 out of 4 opportunities as documented monthly.

The goal seems a bit too vague to me.

I'm a principal and I always push back when I see a goal like that because it doesn't name the reading level. So for that goal, I would add something like,"Given text at a mid-fourth grade level, Larla will be able to answer higher level comprehension questions (inferencing, author's purpose & message) with 80% accuracy on 4/5 opportunities."

Would something like that help, OP?

Special ed teacher here and your goal is also not that great. What does 'will be able' even mean. You want words like 'at her instructional reading level, larla can correctly answer inferencing questions at 80% accuracy across 5 reading sessions. Your 80% at 4/5 says she can do it at 80% accuracy 80% of the time- that's not very accurate.. Also, don't measure more than one thing in a goal or else it is less likely to be mastered an exposed you to risk. Do you have a special ed background? By all means push back, but do so with a goal that can be measured and isn't open to fuzzy interpretation.

I agree with PP, but you can't answer a question with 80% accuracy -- it's either right or it's wrong. I think what she means is answers 4/5 questions in 4/5 sessions.

I also don't like the term "simple inferences" -- what does it mean? Do you and the school based team agree?

The reworded goal uses the plural: questionS. So if Larla was given a text with 5 higher level comprehension questions, she could answer 4 out of 5 of them correctly and thus achieve 80% accuracy. The next week, she could read a passage and answer 8 out 10 higher level comprehension questions correctly and again achieve 80% accuracy. The goal is measuring one thing: Larla's ability to answer higher-level comprehension questions.

Not sure where you're reading the phrase "simple inferences."

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestions. They've never put in the level because she tests low, but we know she can understand at a higher level than she tests. What I was looking for is more the list of specific techniques and subparts of inference that were in the link, so I'll think about proposing some modifications around those. I also think they should specify some strategies they will teach, like TWA or something similar.

They just switched from "Language!" (which is apparently not a comprehension-focused program) to "Reading Success." I do Verbalizing and Visualizing at home once a week typically and have told that I do it (workbooks, not as someone trained in it), but they've never indicated that is something the county does. To be honest, the particular school does not seem to be well-versed in how to deal with comprehension problems specifically, and they've only this year sought help from the county because they realized they weren't using the right program but had no idea which program to use (that is permitted for them).

[Anonymous]

Np - the principal and special ed teacher are great! I just realized my high school kid's goals suck!