Collaborating to design and implement Individual Education Plans (IEPs) is a concrete example of collective teacher efficacy; when a team of educators come together, unify their efforts, and believe in their combined, intentional efforts, significantly higher levels of student academic achievement result and student trajectories are profoundly changed (Bandura, 1993; Hattie, 2018).

Accessible: The meeting, planning and plan should be accessible and practical. Consider side-by-side informal chats with students, personal connections with families and a 1-2-page IEP Snapshot with key interests/motivators, strategies, and adaptations as examples of ways to elevate accessibility to the process.

Concise and manageable: How many goal areas are manageable at one time? Consider 1-3 goals and 2-3 objectives per goal, so that there is focus that enables goals to be achieved and the living document to be amended. The written IEP document is essentially an organized summary of the IEP meeting conversations. 

Student-centered planning: The act of having meaningful, collaborative conversation(s) between student, family, school team members and possibly others (i.e. outside agencies, itinerants, etc.) is crucial. Designing student learning with our knowledge of the student and their greatest potential, together with the student's own voice at the center promotes greater student efficacy. See Colleague Collaboration for ideas. 

Involving Parents: Including parents in meaningful ways may be unique for each individual family. Key factors influencing successful partnerships include:
1. Welcoming Relationships, built through consistent, informal interactions, and frequent positive communication that occurs through the year, to nurture trust and support through various means (ie 2x10)
2. Active Listening – valuing and honouring the voice of the family, and including their voice in planning.
3. Shared Context of the Purpose and Process of IEP Meetings helps to ensure the family and school team have similar expectations and understandings of what the IEP meeting will entail, including the meeting goal.
4. Adaptability of Team Members and a willingness to learn and change, when needed (regardless of expertise/years of experience)
5. Demonstrating Empathy for Parents and their Knowledge of self/child/parent rights related to IEPs 

NEXT MEETING - Thursday, November 12, 2:00-3:00
Topic: IEPs and Student-centered Planning

Upcoming Thursday LST Meeting Dates:
November 12 
December 10 
February 11 
April 8
May 13 
June 10 

Optional LST Workshops:
Tuesday, November 24 - CAPP Webpage 3:15 – 4:00 pm
Thursday, November 26 - Behaviour as Communication 3:15 – 4:00 pm
Wednesday, December 9 - Person Centered Planning 3:15 – 4:00 pm

Inclusion Outreach (IO) assists school teams and families to develop meaningful and functional programming for students with complex intellectual and physical disabilities within inclusive schools K-12. IO builds capacity in schools by providing direct training and ongoing distance mentoring support to District partners, teachers, therapists, itinerants and educational assistants. Support is focused on all educational programming enhancing students‘ current and future quality of life, based on 5 quality of life indicators - presence, choice, competence, respect, and inclusion. The IO site dives into programming, offers resources, and details the criteria and referral process for accessing their support for your team and students. School teams can access more information or submit referrals through Laurissa Evancio at levanico@sd61.bc.ca

Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI)  encompasses a wide range of supports for students with visual impairments and their educational teams. These include alternate format instructional materials, specialized equipment, professional resource publications, braille services, materials produced by PRCVI, training for educational assistants and transcribers, and PRCVI outreach coordinators. School teams can access more information or the the PRCVI team through Megan Jantz at mjantz@sd61.bc.ca

Family Support Institute of BC (FSI), built on a foundation of “families supporting families,” they are always available to help any family, whether working through or waiting for a new diagnosis, struggling navigating the systems they are involved in, or just needing someone to talk to about their journey. FSI offers a range of ongoing workshops/webinars. Check out for website for more info: www.familysupportbc.com

After attending Shelley Moore‘s IEP-based ProD, I wanted to make my IEPs more student-centered. To do this, I created “I can” statements for each goal, based on our IEP meetings, and shared these with the team and the students. Sharing “I can” goals and objectives with students was done through 1:1 informal check-ins and conversations, like walk-and-talks. These were helpful ways to gain a better understanding of students' personal awareness of their learning, goals and, in some circumstances, led to changing objectives. This approach is definitely a work in progress and, as the year goes on, I hope to involve students more to review their goals, set new ones, and add their voice to IEP meetings. To learn more or to collaborate, contact Holly Richey at hrichey@sd61.bc.ca

Lessons are available at no cost for Primary (K–3) and Intermediate (4–7) educators. EASE Online includes six sections:
- Introducing EASE
- The Educator‘s Role in Mental Health
- Understanding Anxiety
- Anxiety in the Classroom
- Creating a Supportive Environment
- Tying It All Together

- Understanding the Individual Education Plan and Process
- Self-Regulation for Students in the Home, School, and Community
- Executive Functioning for Students in the Home, School and Community
- Inclusive Education: Knowing the School System and Options for Advocacy
- Supporting Families with Navigating Mental Health Services in BC for Children/Youth with ASD
- Social Skills for Students in the Home, School and Community

An Introduction to Social Skills Interventions Nov 19 & 20, 2020 (2-day Super Workshop, participants attend both days)

A cardinal feature of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is impairment in social interaction and communication. We know that with effective instructional strategies, children and teens with ASD can learn a range of skills to successfully engage with their social world. What social skills should we teach? How do we teach them? How will we know the interventions are effective? Drawing on social motivation theory, this 2-day interactive super-workshop will prepare participants to effectively and systematically teach this vast group of skills!

Upcoming Meeting Dates:
November 24 TIE LSA meeting and elections
January 20 TIE LSA meeting
February 24 TIE LSA meeting
April 27 TIE LSA General meeting

For more information, contact Ilda Turcotte at iturcotte@sd61.bc.ca