{"id":145,"date":"2009-02-20T13:43:38","date_gmt":"2009-02-20T18:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=145"},"modified":"2018-08-09T11:18:59","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T15:18:59","slug":"should-poor-organizational-skills-be-accommodated-in-an-iep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/should-poor-organizational-skills-be-accommodated-in-an-iep\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Poor Organizational Skills be Accommodated in an IEP?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Should%20Poor%20Organizational%20Skills%20be%20Accommodated%20in%20an%20IEP%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><blockquote><p>What can be included in the IEP accommodations? Can we stipulate in my son&#8217;s IEP that he will not be required to keep an assignment notebook, but will have the assignments posted on the web or emailed each day? Would the school legally be required to adhere to it?<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 1px solid black; margin: 5px; float: center;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/images\/bs\/boy.thinks.clsroom.jpg\" alt=\"student assignment notebook\" \/>My son is 13 with PDD-NOS and is frequently missing assignments or turning them in late for 1\/2 credit because he is not getting all of his assignments written in his assignment book for each class.<\/p>\n<p>We would obviously love to see him be able to do the assignment book on his own, but he has extremely poor organizational skills and really struggles with the time constraints of changing classrooms. I believe he is being graded on his ability to organize rather than his ability to learn and reflect his knowledge.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What struck me about your question is that what you want &#8211; that your child&#8217;s teachers provide you, his parent, with information about his *homework* assignments &#8211; is simply good teaching.<\/p>\n<p>Providing a daily assignment list is a reasonable accommodation.<\/p>\n<p>Your request for assignments shows that you are involved with your child&#8217;s education. You know that you and the school share the responsibility for educating him. Since teachers often complain about &#8220;uninvolved parents,&#8221; they should be happy to talk with you and comply with your request.<\/p>\n<p>These teachers need to recognize that children mature at very different rates. A child should not be judged harshly or penalized because he is a late bloomer.<\/p>\n<p>Some children have good organizational skills when they enter school. Some learn modest organizational skills along the way to adulthood. Others will always need some coaching.<\/p>\n<p>My husband Pete falls into the latter category &#8211; memory and organization have never been his strong suits. His brain is not wired that way.<\/p>\n<p>Over Pete&#8217;s lifetime, he learned ways to compensate, at least partially. His tutor TAUGHT him ways to compensate. His &#8220;weaknesses&#8221; are balanced by strengths in other areas that enabled him to be a great trial lawyer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I have met too many teachers who view memory and organizational problems as being under the child&#8217;s control.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If they make life painful enough, by punishing and blaming, the child will step up to the plate and these issues will no longer be problems. He will &#8220;choose&#8221; to be a well-organized person with a good working memory who is aware of deadlines.<em> This is not going to happen.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>His problems may improve if his teachers and parents spend time TEACHING him strategies to compensate, without being judgmental, harsh, or punitive.<\/p>\n<p>Even with consistent teaching of strategies, your son&#8217;s areas of weakness will probably never be strengths. <strong>It&#8217;s time for the school to identify and focus on his strengths, and help him find ways to compensate with the problem areas.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m surprised that he is still diagnosed with PDD-NOS at age 13. Have you had a psycho-educational evaluation of your son by an expert in the private sector? If not, this is a good time to have an evaluation done.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A good evaluator <\/strong>can<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>describe his strengths and weaknesses,<\/li>\n<li>what he needs in an educational program, including accommodations, and<\/li>\n<li>what will happen if the school won&#8217;t provide the help he needs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Be sure to find an evaluator who has a good reputation with this population.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reasonable Accommodations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Providing a daily assignment list is a reasonable accommodation.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the school our grandchildren attend uses their website to post assignments for all students. This helps ensure that the school and parents are on the same page and enhances positive relationships. There is no reason NOT to provide information about assignments and may make it more likely that assignments are completed.<\/p>\n<p>These articles should answer more questions about accommodations.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sec504.accoms.mods.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">&#8220;Accommodations &amp; Modifications&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/a> at <span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><a style=\"color: #0066cc;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sec504.accoms.mods.pdf\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sec504.accoms.mods.pdf<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Some students with disabilities need accommodations or modifications to their educational program. This short article defines these terms and provides helpful suggestions for changes in textbooks and curriculum, the classroom environment, instruction and assignments, and behavior expectations. (4 pages, pdf)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/osepideasthatwork.org\/node\/109\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">&#8220;Accommodations Manual: How to Select, Administer, and Evaluate Use of Accommodations for Instruction and Assessment of Students with Disabilities&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/a> at <span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><a style=\"color: #0066cc;\" href=\"https:\/\/osepideasthatwork.org\/node\/109\">https:\/\/osepideasthatwork.org\/node\/109<\/a><\/span><br \/>\nDeveloped by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards Assessing Special Education Students.<\/p>\n<p>For more information about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sec504.index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">accommodations<\/span><\/span><\/a>, read articles on this page: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sec504.index.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/sec504.index.htm<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What can be included in the IEP accommodations? Can we stipulate in my son&#8217;s IEP that he will not be required to keep an assignment notebook, but will have the <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/should-poor-organizational-skills-be-accommodated-in-an-iep\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,3,63,136,161],"tags":[53,279,1299,280,278,277],"class_list":["post-145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accommodations-modifications","category-advocacy","category-independent-evaluations","category-strategies","category-teachers","tag-accommodations","tag-homework-assignments","tag-ieps","tag-independent-educational-evalution","tag-organizational-skills","tag-pdd"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23179,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions\/23179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}