Many of you have Individual Education Plans (IEP’s) in place for your loved one with Complex Needs if they are still being served in school. These are yearly plans for your loved one’s education that includes goals and objectives that are to be met over the year this document is in place. The goals written on the IEP should be SMART goals-Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. When it comes to our students with Complex Needs, including Rett Syndrome, this can be difficult due to the complexity of their needs.
Because our loved one’s needs in terms of their bodies are so complex, writing goals can become a difficult task. Many times, the goals written are not appropriate for our loved ones or do not include the supports they need in order to achieve the goals and objectives that are written. As we all know, our loved ones have difficulty with hand use yet we often see goals written about hand use. This would not be considered attainable or realistic for our loved ones. We want to make sure the goals written are appropriate for our loved ones and give them the best possible outcome for their education. Our goal at Rett University is for your loved one to be communicating and literate. We want them to be able to write and use both soft and high-tech communication to interact with the world around them. Literacy and communication is going to open up a whole world to our loved ones but their education and their goals need to be geared towards that goal.
If you need assistance or would like to get more information, please email Kourtney at Kourtney@gp2c.org. We have a course on Rett University regarding IEP’s (Click Here to register for the Rett U “All About IEP Meeting Recorded Webinar”) and both Susan and Kourtney will look over IEP’s and help draft goals for your loved one. We are here to support your loved one’s learning.
