How to Construct and Individualized Education Program (IEP) for reading and spelling

The AVKO "Almost" Jargon-Free Reading/Spelling I.E.P.
(Individual Educational Program)

Statement Of What The AVKO "Almost" Jargon-Free Reading/Spelling I.E.P. Is & Is Not:

IS	IS NOT
a *tool* to help the I.E.P.C. (Individual Educational Program Committee) draw up an *effective* .E.P. in and *ONLY* in the crucial areas of *reading* and *spelling*.	a complete I.E.P. form to be filled in and then signed willy-nilly by the parents.

CONTAINS:	DOES NOT CONTAIN:
a clear statement of the child's present level of performance in reading and spellingl. It also contains short term instructional objectives that can be understood by and measured by the child and parent.	statements concerning the child's present level of performance in areas other than reading and spelling, annual goals and short term objectives for areas other than reading and spelling, the statement of the extent to which the child will be able to participate in the regular program, the statement of the specific educational services to be provided, the statement of appropriate criteria, evaluation procedures, and schedules to be used in verifying an annual review of instructional goals except in reading and spelling, and the projected date for initiation and the anticipated duration of such services. These all belong in the full I.E.P.

AVKO SAMPLE I.E.P.
Filled Out for a Mythical Student
Attending a Mythical School

as an illustration of how an I.E.P. should and can target specific measureable objectives.

THE READING/SPELLING

Individual Educational Program (I.E.P.) for

Alfred E. Neumann Grade 5

Reading Level: 2.3 Based on the W.R.A.T.

Date Given: 9/18/00

Spelling Level: 1.8 Based on the W.R.A.T.

These tests only tell us ABOUT how well or ABOUT how badly your child is doing in schools as compared to others of the same age. They do NOT tell us EXACTLY where your child is having problems, what they are, or why.

In order to find out exactly which words are giving problems to your child, we gave him/her the following tests: AVKO Diagnostic Spelling Tests

After examining these tests, your child teacher, Mrs. Smith, has recommended that we adopt the following behavioral objectives (goals based on your child's individual needs and goals which can be measured):

AVKO I.E.P. TYPE #1 Basic Words

(The words whose base has only one syllable
and that follow basic rules of phonics) .

For a complete explanation of the "Simple" words read Chapters 25, "The Mechanics of English Spelling" and chapter 34 "English Spelling, The Simple, the Fancy, the Insane, the Tricky, and the Scrunched Up" in The Teaching of Reading: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College

In the next 8 weeks, your child[1] will learn to read and spell 90% of all the basic words that belong to the following word families. Please note: Just because not many families are listed below doesn't mean that only a few words will be learned by your child. On the contrary, a word family such as the -ake family has over sixty words that belong to it, words such as:

bake	bakes	baked	baking	baker	bakers	bakery
take	takes		taking	taker	takers	bakeries
rake	rakes	raked	raking
brake	brakes	braked	braking
shake	shakes		shaking	shaker	shakers

Word Families	Sample Words that represent many, many other words
in	win	tin	twin	begin	pin	spin, etc.
at	cat	hat	rat	sat	bat	chat, etc.
ub	rub	tub	stub	rubber	cub	flub, etc.
all	tall	stall	call	ball	fall	small, etc.
ill	pill	spill	Bill	kill	will	still, etc.

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Note: Leave several blank lines to give the impression that the goal is achievable with reasonable effort — not maximum.

AVKO I.E.P. TYPE #2 WORDS

(The words whose base contains more than one syllable
and that often follow "FANCY" phonic patterns
rather than the basic phonic rules.")

For a complete explanation of the "FANCY" words read Chapters 25, "The Mechanics of English Spelling" and chapter 34 "English Spelling, The Simple, the Fancy, the Insane, the Tricky, and the Scrunched Up" in The Teaching of Reading: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College

In the next 8 weeks, your child[2] will learn to read and spell 90% of all the basic words that belong to the following word families. Please note: Not many families are listed below because these words and the phonic patterns in them need a much greater amount of drill than the others.

FANCY PATTERN	SAMPLE WORDS THAT REPRESENT MANY, MANY OTHER WORDS
on = "un"	London, apron, carbon,
ion = "yun"	onion, union, million, billion
ous = "us"	nervous, generous, famous, tremendous, marvelous, stupendous

Note: Leave several blank lines to give the impression that the goal is achievable with reasonable effort — not maximum.

______________________________________________________________________________

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AVKO I.E.P. TYPE #3 WORDS
("INSANE" or "OUTLAW" Words That Refuse to Follow Either Basic Rules or Fancy Rules of Phonics)

For a complete explanation of the "INSANE" words read Chapters 25, "The Mechanics of English Spelling" and chapter 34 "English Spelling, The Simple, the Fancy, the Insane, the Tricky, and the Scrunched Up" in The Teaching of Reading: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College

In the next 8 , weeks, your child[3] will learn to read and spell 90% of all the following words. There aren't many of these words listed below because these words are very hard to learn to read and spell. However, we do expect that your child will learn them for life — not just for a single test on a given Friday.

does

doesn’t

should

shouldn’t

was

wasn’t

NOTE: Both parents and children can sense more accomplishment if MASTERY takes place before the time limit and additional objectives are reached.

__________________________________________________________________________

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AVKO I.E.P. TYPE #4 WORDS

(The "TRICKY" Words which we teachers
usually refer to as homonyms)

For a complete explanation of the "TRICKY" words read Chapters 25, "The Mechanics of English Spelling" and chapter 34 "English Spelling, The Simple, the Fancy, the Insane, the Tricky, and the Scrunched Up" in The Teaching of Reading: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College

In the next 8 , weeks, your child will learn to read and spell 90% of the following words 90% of the time as measured by their compositions and tests.

be , bee , Bea ,

ant , aunt Aunt Bea

see sea si

A SUMMARY OF THE BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES

The goals of having your child[4] read and/or spell the words listed above are called behavioral objectives because they CAN BE MEASURED. In other words, you can easily check to see if your child achieved the goals we, as a team, have set for your child.

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All you have to do is ask your child to read the words or to spell them.

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When we report back to you at the end of next 8 , weeks and tell you that your child has learned these words, what we mean is that we have tested your child not just once on these words, but many, many times, and that we are as positive as we can be that your child will never forget them.

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AVKO I.E.P. OTHER BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES

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Because most educational researchers are in basic agreement that no one knows what reading comprehension really is and that reading comprehension objectives cannot truly be stated in behavioral terms, we list it as part of our non-behavioral objectives. See below:

NON-BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES

By non-behavioral objectives we mean those goals that we set for your child which cannot be truly measured. However, just because we can't measure them, it does NOT mean that they are unimportant. In fact, we believe that the following objectives are very important —even if we can't measure them and determine whether or not your child achieved the goals.

In the next ______ weeks we will try to help your child

l _________________________________________________________________________________

AVKO I.E.P.

PARENTS — Please initial that which happened during this I.E.P.C.

_____ I read this I.E.P.

_____ I helped develop this I.E.P.

_____ I had this I.E.P. explained to me.

_____ I agreed with the objectives of this I.E.P.

_____ I did NOT agree with all the objectives of this I.E.P. because:

l _________________________________________________________________________________

Additional paper to continue the reasons for your disagreement will be provided if you need more.

______________________________________________________________________________

(Parents' or Guardians' signatures) ________________________________ Date___________

I.E.P.C. Member Signature - Title _________________________________Date___________

I.E.P.C. Member Signature - Title __________________________________ Date__________

I.E.P.C. Member Signature - Title __________________________________ Date_________

FOOTNOTES

[1] Notice the effect of substituting the words “my students” for “your child.” This IEP could be the basis for the reading component of language arts objectives for any elementary classroom.

[2] Notice the effect of substituting the words “my students” for “your child.” This IEP could be the basis for the reading component of language arts objectives for any elementary classroom.

[3] Notice the effect of substituting the words “my students” for “your child.” This IEP could be the basis for the reading component of language arts objectives for any elementary classroom.

[4] Notice the effect of substituting the words “my students” for “your child.” This IEP could be the basis for the reading component of language arts objectives for any elementary classroom.