A Portrait

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Write a Portrait of Your Child

To be an effective advocate for your child you must learn how to be on an equal

footing in IEP meetings. You must be able to articulate your concerns and

thoughts, which means careful preparation. Such preparation, while time

consuming will pay off handsomely. Preparation will give you a good headstart on

getting your concerns and recommendations documented and considered by the rest

of the IEP team members. The written record of the meeting is what counts if

there is ever a dispute about what was said or what happened during an IEP

meeting. While the district takes the official minutes, you as the parent are

entitled to have your input included in the record. The best way to ensure your

concerns and recommendations are in the record are to take them to the meeting

in writing. You can then ask to read it outloud and request it be included with

the minutes as part of your parent input to the meeting. The following

strategies can assist you in accomplishing this task.

Writing " A Portrait "

Writing what amounts to a portrait of your child is a powerful tool for parents

to use. Such a document can help keep the team directed towards your child's

strengths, weaknesses, and educational needs. It is important to get your child

front and center quickly at an IEP meeting. By reading your " Portrait " at the

very beginning of the meeting you will immediately see the focus shift to its

appropriate place, the needs of your child.

Both the U.S. Department of Education and a State Department of Education have

described to me a new way of writing a present level of performance that

describes the whole child, his strengths, weaknesses, and needs. Rather than one

PLOP here and one there, this new approach, while not required, paints a

powerful portrait of the whole child. Parents can adopt this technique, thus

helping the team see their child in a new way. By writing a " Portrait " , you can

see that no strengths, weaknesses, or needs as you know them are overlooked by

the team. While the team will write the official present levels of performance,

such input from a parent is very powerful. IDEA recognizes that parents have

unique knowledge of their child, knowledge that is crucial to successful

planning of placement and services.

Benefits for both parents and the district

Such parent documentation can help keep districts in compliance with the law,

since all information, including parent input, is to be carefully considered.

Since parents are equal participants, a written record of parent input can

clarify issues and concerns, and reduce the level of confusion sometimes present

at a meeting. Parents can request that this document becomes part of their

official parent input to the meeting by making that request in writing, at the

end of their " Portrait " . Districts have been very cooperative in this effort to

see that parent input is treated as equal in importance to district minutes.

As a parent, I know how very difficult it can be to tie down your parental

concerns to specifics. But as you go through this exercise you may find your

vision of your child and his or her needs come into sharper focus. You may be

surprised at how much you learn about your child as you create your portrait.

You will better prepared at the meeting to ask those all important questions

regarding how your child's needs will be met. Your knowledge of his or her

strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, fears, and dreams, is unique and very

necessary to the total picture of the child.

Step One: Document all of your child's needs in writing

Since the team is required to address all of the child's needs, it is necessary

to assemble all of the pertinent information you have, including the last multi

disciplinary evaluation, any medical or therapist's evaluations, information

from good articles or books that pertain to your child's disability and possible

needs, and your own invaluable knowledge of the needs. As you thumb through all

this information, pick out all the needs you think are pertinent at this time.

Write down each one as you find it. Since this is detailed work, it is best to

do this exercise before you write your portrait. Think of it as assembling the

essential materials before you start painting.If you try to skip this step, you

may get bogged down in the details and " not see the forest for the trees " when

it is time to complete the portrait.

Step two: Paint the background

Think of the background of your portrait as would an artist. You want to show

the overall colors that will set the scene for the details. For your portrait,

you will write a description of your child, his personality and nature, how the

disability impacts education and/or social skills, and describe any fears or

frustrations. Weave into the background just a few education specifics at this

time.

You will likely find it very difficult to accomplish the next step, which is to

cut it down to no more than one third of a page! The shorter you make it the

greater the impact will be on the team. They are more likely to pay attention.

Now you will have to slash and burn, but it will be with purpose. You must

choose only the most important facts.

Step Three: Insert your list of needs

This is your opportunity to see that the team considers each and every need

documented in all your reports, evaluations, research, and personal

observationsThis is where you go into great detail. Do not worry about the

length of the list. Do not worry about whether everyone will pay attention

throughout your reading of this portion. The important thing is to get it into

the written record of the meeting for consideration. Number each need. By

numbering each need each team member, including you, can track what needs have

been addressed and what ones have not been addressed. You have a quick reference

tool, in writing.

Parents often find reading read articles and books on the relevant disability or

disabilities helpful when assembling this list of needs. Such a book or article

can put into words what we as parents often know but have difficulty putting

into words. After all, we are not professionals. As you read pick out those

things that make you think " That's ny! " and " Yep,that is him! " or " It is

like they wrote the book about ny! " Of course not everything will apply, as

no two children are alike. Parents must be very careful to select only those

characteristics that really describe their child. This exercise can help add the

appropriate details onto your portrait canvas.

Step Four: Summing it up

It is important to end the portrait on a positive note. This is a great place to

write a brief description of your child's dreams for the future, what he or she

wants to become, whether the child wants to go to college, live independently,

etc. Include your dream for your child as well. Again, keep this paragraph very

brief if you want to keep the team's attention. Often parents want to include a

statement that they want to see their child become a successful, adult with a

career, and able to live independently.

Points to remember

· Be sure to take enough copies for everyone on the team to have their own copy.

· Keep yourself on task by reading the entire Portrait uninterrupted.

· Write on the document that you wish the Portrait to become part of the written

record, as it is part of your parent input to the meeting.

· Do not list any recommendations in this document. This is your equivalent of

your assessment of present levels of performance. Write a second document of

Recommendations for Team Consideration and present it when the team reaches the

point of considering what services and placement are needed. Trying to mix the

two into one document dilutes the effectiveness of both.

A Model

Included here is a model portrait. This portrait is a real portrait by parents

who have given their hearty permission to share it with other parents as a

model. After difficulty getting a team to see this child's needs and disability

the parents wrote this Portrait of, (for the sake of privacy), . After

the parents read the Portrait through nonstop the director of the meeting sat

back a minute, reflected, and then said, " You have just described autism! " The

portrait had empowered the whole team by bringing together many pieces of the

puzzle that until then had not made a lot of sense. The realization led to a

great meeting, serious planning, and meaningful services and placement. Everyone

appeared relieved to finally realize the wide scope of " 's " difficulties.

The teacher was empowered by being offered special training in this disability.

Previously unrecognized communication needs and social skills needs were

addressed. Therapists understand the broader range of needs in the area of

speech and language. A meeting that started out with resentment and frustration

on both sides became a dream meeting with problem solving, sharing, and mutual

agreement.

A Portrait of

IEP Meeting (Date)

is a very caring, sensitive child. He is excited about turning

seven years old this summer. He has a strong average verbal I.Q. and a high

average performance I.Q. His written language output is impacted by his slow

motor skills and a compulsion to make his work appear perfect. This results in

many erasures and false starts on his papers.

If we consider the stronger, performance IQ as the more indicative of his

true ability, he shows a 17 point or greater discrepancy in the areas of Reading

Comprehension, Oral Language, Broad Written Language, Written Expression,

Understanding Directions, Spelling, and Writing Fluency.

If we consider the full scale I.Q. of (XXX), there is a 17 point or greater

discrepancy in writing fluency, broad written language, written expression, and

spelling.

While he is very motivated to make friends, he has a hard time knowing how

to appropriately interact with the few children who will play with him. He has

a serous deficit in social skills that impact him both at school and at home.

These problems include:

Social Skills

1. He lacks understanding of social cues and tends to engage in one sided

interactions.

2. He has problems inferring the intentions of others.

3. He has difficulty appropriately initiating a conversation or

maintaining a give-and-take conversation.

4. He has great difficulty recognizing the emotions others are feeling as

he does not read nonverbal social cues, such as facial expressions or body

language.

5. He does not know how to appropriately respond to others' feelings.

6. The independent speech/language pathologist states that can

recognize a social situation, but has no clue as to how to problem solve in

social settings.

7. He can have very rigid expectations of what other people should do in a

seemingly prescripted social setting. Hi is improving slightly in this area.

8. He has great difficulty understanding when others use figures of speech

and abstract concepts. He understands only concrete information.

9. He is very protective of personal space and does not understand how to

appropriately enforce the space when he feels the need.

10. He requires a long processing time and may not respond in the time usually

allotted by peers for a response.

11. He does not understand unwritten rules, and that what may be the rule in

one setting does not apply to all settings. This can cause problems in change

of teachers or change of classrooms as well as in peer interactions.

12. The rules he does understand he applies rigidly, both to himself and to

others.

13. When extremely frustrated or over stimulated, will present as

catatonic until he calms down.

14. Indicators that his state is imminent are subtle and easily missed by

adults, much less by his peers.

These social deficits have resulted in his being puzzled and hurt when

rebuffed by other children. He does not understand why they do not want to play

with him. There have also been some unhappy incidents on the playground at

school. Unless social skill deficits are addressed intensively, with adult

coaching for understanding, implementation, and generalization, we have serous

concerns about his future self-esteem. Without step by step instruction and

coaching, at school as well as at home, may be at risk as an adult

seeking higher education and'/or a profession or vocation. The ability to

successfully interact socially is a prerequisite to success as an adult. We are

concerned that teachers be trained to sort out behaviors that result from an

incompetency related to the disability, rather than view all misbehavior as

noncompliance.

Sensory Issues

15. has always been very sensitive to noises, especially " sharp "

noises, or loud background noises.

16. He is very sensitive to maintaining his personal space, which is very

obvious when he is stressed out or overwhelmed.

17. He is very sensitive to many tastes and has just a few foods he will eat.

He is very gradually improving in this area.

Learning

18. Difficulty or slowness in retrieving specific answers to questions.

Recalls large chunks of information more efficiently, giving the appearance of

efficient memory skills.

19. Needs plenty of time to retrieve such information. Sometimes needs cuing

to successfully retrieve information

20. Motor difficulties that require OT services.(OT eval ….date)

21. Poor organizational skills.

22. Poor planning skills.

23. Difficulty in breaking large tasks into manageable chunks.

24. Difficulty with sustained attention (Psych ed eval…date)

25. Difficulty with exerting mental control (Psych ed eval…date)

26. Difficulty with concentration (Psych ed eval …Date)

27. Difficulty adapting to new situations(Psych Ed eval…Date)

28. Pragmatic skill difficulties requiring speech/language

therapy.(Speech/language eval…date)

29. Relative weakness in visual processing speed may make the task of

comprehending novel information more time consuming and difficult. (Psych ed

eval,…date)

30. Detecting essential details in visually presented material and

differentiating them from nonessential materials. (Psych ed eval, …date)

31. Responding to questions about common events, objects, places, and people.

(Psych ed eval,..Date)

32. Weakness in understanding number concepts, including unite and geometric

measurement and simple one-step word problems.(Psych ed eval,…date)

Strengths

· Can organize visual information analyzing part-whole relationships

when information is presented spatially. (Psych ed eval,…date)

· Ability to detect essential details in visually presented material and

to differentiate them from nonessential details. (Psych ed eval…date)

· Numerical operations (Psych ed eval,…date)

· Completing nonverbal tasks

· Vocabulary (Psych ed eval, …date)

· Replicating a three dimensional figure from a two dimensional visual

cue such as a picture.

· Creating imaginative stories and expressing them verbally

· Appreciates obviously silly and absurd humor

· Is very caring about family members, friends, and even strangers

· Is very tender hearted

Future Hopes

We hope will keep his enthusiasm for learning. We want him to be

a productive, independent member of society. We wish for him to have a great

support network of good friends, and hope that by the time he is an adult,

Vincnet

will have the ability to read social situations realistically and problem solve

appropriately.

We respectfully request this Portrait of be included in the written

record of this meeting as part of our parent input.