Development of the Individualized Education Program
 

If a child has been diagnosed as having ASD, he or she will likely receive specialized services and/or supports in school settings. If this child received their ASD diagnosis earlier, they may have received supports through Early Intervention (EI) services (0-3) and/or Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) 3-5. These services and supports are provided through a set of laws under the the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA, which was first established in 1975 and reauthorized in 2004. If the child received EI/ECSE, then all of their supports and services were outlined within a document called the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). In the school setting, the document that details a plan for the provision of services and supports is called the individualized education plan (IEP). An IEP is a legal document that lists 1) what services and supports the child will receive, 2) who is responsible for carrying them out, 3) how often the services will be received, and 4) how data will be collected. Teachers (special education and general education), parents and caregivers, specialists, related service providers (such as occupational therapists and speech language therapists),medical personnel, as well as the student with ASD can all be part of the team that develops this important document. These are developed during individualized educational planning meetings, also referred to as IEP meetings. The IEP is used as a blueprint for the instruction that will occur. Two essential components of the IEP are the goals and objectivesthat are developed for the student. These goals and objectives outline the activities and skills the student will be working on. Below, you'll find a primer on the parts of the IEP. You'll also see samples of well-written goals and objectives.

Six Required Parts of the IEP

Creating Goals and Objectives

When writing goals and objectives, you are specifying the details of what you're trying to accomplish. These should be created collaboratively with the entire team of teachers, school personnel, LEA representative, caregivers, and the student.Goals and objectives must be measurable and observable; this is critical for data collection and the ability to report student progress. Remember the acronym S.M.A.R.T.I.E.-, which helps us to remember that goals should be specific, measurable, achievable (or ambitious), realistic, time-bound, inclusive, and equitable. We have already mentioned smart and measurable; you also want to create goals that will promote outcomes and progress, no matter how significant their support needs are. You should have strong and ambitious expectations, while also thinking about what your student can achieve, with their individualized needs (instruction, support, accommodation, tools, or modifications) in mind. You also want to think about when you can realistically or reasonably expect this to happen, with a specific and explicit time-frame You also want to think about being inclusive, thinking of how goals and objectives can be met for the student while also maximizing inclusion in meaningful ways, across environments and with their peers with and without ASD. Finally, you also want this to be fair and equitable, knowing that students with ASD may be subjected to stereotyped assumptions and stigma. What can you do to make sure you are not contributing to this through the goals you help create and the expectations you have for them? Was the students’ input considered in the creation of these goals, or that of their family members?

Well-written objectives must contain the following four pieces of information:

• the learner: Who is performing the behavior? Be specific and list the student's name.
• the behavior: This is the specific, operationally defined (i.e., observable, measurable, and repeatable) behavior that the learner will be required to display.
• the condition: Under what settings will the learner be expected to perform the behavior? Be specific as to what cues, materials, settings, and other people will be present.
• the criteria: These define how it will be determined that the student has displayed the behavior. Criteria can include number of times the learner must perform the behavior, the level of independence that must exist during the performance, and the time period across which the performances must occur.