Considerations for Individualizing an Individualized Education Plan

Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

Sam Marion Counseling and Consulting

First Presenter’s Email Address

sam@sammarion.com

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Sam Marion, MSW, LCSW is the owner and therapist at Sam Marion Counseling and Consulting located in Buford, GA. He received his MSW from the University of Georgia. Sam has been in clinical and leadership roles in levels of care ranging from private practice to inpatient, and he has worked in settings from a large corporate-owned treatment center, a statewide agency, and his own solo practice. He works with many professionals from various disciplines and neurodivergent individuals of all ages. Sam has an interest in neurodivergence and sorts through available trainings and material to find material that is presented in a neurodiversity affirming manner. As he is able to filter available information, he packages it with his experience as a clinician and his lived experience as a multiply neurodivergent individual, and he offers the distilled information to others through a social media presence and his own online workshops. Sam attained a Certificate in Traumatic Stress Studies through the Trauma Center at JRI, is trained in EMDR, SandTray, and Art-Based Supervision. Sam frequently integrates expressive approaches with traditional therapies to bridge limitations of spoken language and is specifically interested in the intersection of neurodivergence and trauma.

Second Presenter's Institution

Eleos Counseling

Second Presenter’s Email Address

elizabeth@eleosathens.com

Second Presenter's Brief Biography

Elizabeth Marston is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker living in Athens, Georgia. She completed her MSW at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has pursued advanced training in trauma and completed a certificate in Medical Trauma Informed Care from Xavier University (Cincinnati). In her private practice, she works primarily with emerging adults. She specializes in complex trauma and medical-related trauma and provides consultation services to systems aiming to implement trauma-informed care.

Location

Session Three

Strand #1

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Strand #2

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Relevance

This proposal relates to Head because the primary focus is on successful special education accommodations to promote inclusion. It relates to Heart because emotional health is supported when student's academic needs are supported.

Brief Program Description

Many students with an Individualized Education Plan or 504 have the same accommodations such as extra time on tests and small group testing, but these are not effective for all students nor are they individualized. This presentation will help attendees conceptualize the underlying struggles faced by diverse students in a way that will support effective accommodations frequently requiring less resources from educators.

Summary

Since the passing of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1975, the percentage of students enrolled in special education in the United States has doubled. Each of these students has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) which requires substantial resources from a school to simply bring all the team members together in order to create the plan. This increase in IEPs has coincided with a decrease in special education teachers which creates an even greater strain on the systems than either an increase in demand or decrease in resources would alone. As a result, many educational institutions, from elementary schools to universities, offer qualifying students the opportunity to choose from the same list of accommodations, and in many cases this was done out of necessity.

During this time, and especially during a significant uptick in IEPs over the last decade, new understandings have emerged about many of the diagnoses and challenges the students are having accommodated. The research and publishing is being outpaced by the systems that are teaching and training educators, and an increasing trend is that parents are requesting accommodations based upon information the educators were never exposed to. Schools find themselves pushing back on the requests out of confusion and fear of extra burdens placed on the already taxed staff, and in some cases this has led to conflict between schools and their own attorneys.

This presentation aims to help attendees understand what is underlying many of the common reasons for IEPs, and this can help schools formulate truly individualized plans for students. This different understanding can help schools be more proactive in their planning in ways that ultimately place less demands on the educators and support staff. While some specific disabilities will be discussed, the goal will be to maintain a more general approach in order to help attendees feel more broadly prepared. Finally, this presentation will be interactive in nature in order to give attendees the opportunity to discuss hypothetical situations they face on a daily basis.

Evidence

This proposal is based on research that comes from a few separate sources. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics will be used to demonstrate the scope of the challenge being faced. Research from education sources will demonstrate the limited individuality of so many Individualized Education Plans. Finally, research from mental health sources will be used to demonstrate the efficacy of alternate student accommodations.

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed., text rev.).

Ashburn, M. & Edwards, J. (2023). I will die on this hill: Autistic adults, autism parents, and the children who deserve a better world. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Brown, T. (2008, February). Executive functions - describing six aspects of a complex syndrome. CHADD, 12-17.

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2012, June 18). InBrief: Executive Function: Skills for Life and Learning [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efCq_vHUMqs

Lupien, S., Maheu, F., Tu, M., Fiocco, A., Schramek, T. (2007). The Effects of stress and stress hormones on human cognition: Implications for the field of brain and cognition. Brain and Cognition, 65(3), 209–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2007.02.007

National Center for Education Statistics (2023). Children 3 to 21 years old served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B, by type of disability: Selected school years, 1976-77 through 2021-22 [Data set]. Institute of Education Sciences. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_204.30.asp

Patriquin, E., Hartwig, E., Friedman, B., Porges, S., Scarpa, A. (2019). Autonomic response in autism spectrum disorder: Relationship to social and cognitive functioning. Biological Psychology, 145, 185-197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.05.004.

Porges, S. (2021). Polyvagal Theory: A biobehavioral journey to sociality. Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology, 7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100069.

Price, D. (2022). Unmasking autism: discovering the new faces of neurodiversity (First edition.). Harmony Books.

Rogers, A. (2023). Thriving together: An essential guide: finding support and mastering self-care for caregivers of children with differences and disabilities.

Rogers, S., Dawson, G., Vismara, L. (2012). An early start for your child with autism: using everyday activities to help kids connect, communicate, and learn (First edition.). Guilford Press.

Van Reusen, A.& Bos, C. (1994). Facilitating student participation in individualized education programs through motivation strategy instruction. Exceptional Children, 60(5), 466-475. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440299406000510

Vogel, S., and Schwabe, L. (2016). Learning and memory under stress: Implications for the classroom. Npj | Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/npjscilearn.2016.11

Learning Objective 1

Participants will be able to identify concrete reasons for the increased stress felt by educators related to IEP demands.

Learning Objective 2

Participants will be able to identify common challenges students face that require accommodations that are not diagnosis specific.

Learning Objective 3

Participants will be able to use gained knowledge in order to support students with truly individualized academic accommodations that can be more effective and efficient than commonly seen accommodations.

Keyword Descriptors

IDEA, IEP, 504, Individualized Education Plan, ADA, accommodations

Presentation Year

2024

Start Date

3-4-2024 2:15 PM

End Date

3-4-2024 2:45 PM

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Mar 4th, 2:15 PM Mar 4th, 2:45 PM

Considerations for Individualizing an Individualized Education Plan

Session Three

Many students with an Individualized Education Plan or 504 have the same accommodations such as extra time on tests and small group testing, but these are not effective for all students nor are they individualized. This presentation will help attendees conceptualize the underlying struggles faced by diverse students in a way that will support effective accommodations frequently requiring less resources from educators.