Introduction

There is a need for children with disability to have an opportunity of living and learning effectively. There are a variety of programs that can be used in this actualization. Among them are the Individualized Education Program (IEP) and Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). These programs help children with disability to adapt to life better both in school and at home. They have the opportunity of attaining equal opportunities with their peers in the general education program. This paper will assess various aspects revolving around IFSP and IEP. The paper will first assess the components of the two programs. This will try to showcase the differences and similarities that exist between the two. This will be followed by a description of how assessments can be used to plan instruction. The paper will go ahead to illustrate how to develop IFSP and IEP goals and outcomes. A discussion on why curriculum planning ought to consider family presence and priorities in order enhance the quality of a student life will also be included. The importance of students with disabilities having access to general education curriculum will surface through the paper too. The paper will go ahead and assess various instructional methods that would facilitate students with disability to participate and make progress in the general curriculum. The paper will conclude on IFSP and IEP teams develop family-centered curriculum and why this has importance in early childhood education.

Components of IEP and IFSP

IEP and IFSP have been incorporated into school curriculums over the past years. They have some similarities, but they also differ to some extent. For IFSP, it provides a platform for documenting and planning early intervention services for children with disability and their families. The children involved here are infants up to 3 years of age. IEP, on the other hand, provides intervention for children aged between 3 and 21 years. There are also some differences when it comes to what ought to be included in each program. The IEP contains a statement that presents the current educational achievement of the student and functional performance. There is also a statement of the student’s needs and strengths coupled with the concerns that the parents might have regarding their child’s education. IFSP on the other hand includes a child’s functional ability statement across five developmental areas; cognitive, social/emotional, adaptive, physical and emotional. IFSP not only focuses on the needs of the children but those of the family too. This is because the family ought to have the ability to create a favorable environment for the child. When it comes to outcomes, IEP measures outcomes that are designed to ensure a child participates in the curriculum as their peers.  IFSP, on the other hand, tends to measure outcomes for both the family and the child with the process, timeline and criteria used to determine progress for each outcome. With service provision, IEP provides services to children with necessary program accommodations, supports, and modifications. IFSP, on the other hand, provides services that are deemed necessary to meet family’s and children’s needs including health, social and educational needs. When it comes to the environment of providing these programs, IEP ought to be provided in the least restrictive environment in order to ensure that the child participates in the general education curriculum. IFSP on its part requires that the intervention services are offered in natural environments that children are well familiar with.  IEP also needs to be reviewed once every year in order to assess the progress while IFSP is reviewed every six months. The members required for the IEP team include the general education teacher, child’s parent, special education teacher, a specialist e,g speech pathologist and the school district’s representative among others. Members of the IFSP team, on the other hand, include the service coordinator, child’s parents, translator, advocate (upon request), appropriate service providers and individuals involved with the family and child’s assessments.

Despite the differences that exist between the two programs, they seem to have a similar objective of ensuring that children with disability are provided with a favorable environment that ensures they learn in the best way possible. Both provide program supports, placement, frequency, progress reports, duration and location where the services take place.

The procedures of IFSP and IEP

IEP and IFSP tend to have similar procedures in the execution of the desired objectives. They include pre-referral, referral, identification, eligibility, development, implementation, evaluation and reviews. The pre-referral stage tends to clarify the challenges and difficulties that children encounter, it monitors their progress and evaluates the power of instructional intervention. Referral, on the other hand, could come from a social service agency, parents, day care professionals, a doctor and public health nurses. In the identification stage, evaluation is usually regarded as an important process since it involves the determination of whether a child has a disability or not. The eligibility stage normally comes after the evaluation in order to ascertain the children that require special education services. Development of IEP and IFSP is a stage that involves the development of goals and outcomes for children. Implementation, on the other hand, commemorates the commencement of the individualized programs for the children that qualified.

How assessment should be used to identify specific needs of a child with disabilities

How do we use assessment to plan instruction not eligibility but to plan or evaluate instruction, teaching, and assessing

Teachers usually have a variety of responsibilities in their capacity as professionals.  Among the responsibilities include making a plan instruction and evaluation of teaching, instruction, and assessing. Teachers have to identify the reasons for collecting information in order to assess the instruction. This is why there exist interactions planning and curriculums. Data should be collected through assessments of the child and observation after the lesson.  This is followed by analyzing the assessment results to see what the child has learned from the lesson and assess the aspects that motivate them to learn. The teacher can then use these assessment results to plan later instruction in order to support the children’s learning hence improving their performance in the next lesson.

How to develop the IEP and IFSP Goals and Outcomes

Having definitive goals for IEP and IFSP is important since it helps children to know their progress. Goals and objectives are usually developed in specific meetings by the relevant team members. The goals and objectives are usually determined by the child’s current situation and what they are striving to achieve.

The members ought to ascertain the child’s strengths, results of the recent evaluations, a child’s performance on district and state-wide tests and the ideas that the parents have regarding the enhancement of their child’s education. A child’s current level of education performance and his/her needs ought to be determined too. This is then followed by the development of the annual goal based on the needs of each child. The final step involves the development of short-term objectives that these children will need to gain so that they can have the ability to achieve the desired goals. The relevant teams can also discus about the resources, priorities and concerns that the families have because their role in these teams is immense.

Discuss why curriculum planning should consider family preference and priorities of life skills that enhance the quality of a student life

There is a need for curriculum planning to consider family priorities and preferences while trying to enhance the quality of a student’s life. Parents tend to be imperative members of the team as they have more knowledge regarding the issues revolving around the child in question. They are well aware of the child’s needs, strengths, rights, support systems and the desire to have improved quality of life.  This makes them indispensable in the individualized programs on issues to do with assessment, development of goals, selection of appropriate services, implementation of the intervention and evaluation of intervention outcomes. Parents should be accorded the opportunity to generate intervention options and settle with the option that best fits their wishes and resources. It becomes easier to support the child fully this way.

Why is it important for students with disabilities to have access to the general curriculum?

Special education aims at ensuring that students with disability have gained the opportunity of enhancing their quality lives and gained integration with other community members. This would mean that the students ought to be included in the general education program for these objectives to be attained. Access to general education curriculum will help students with disability to improve their academic performance by ensuring that varying academic skills and knowledge has been taught. They also find it easy to assimilate with the general community due to the environment that they have been subjected to.

Suggest three instructional methods that facilitate students with disabilities to participate and make progress in the general curriculum

Children with disability might find it difficult to adapt to the general education program, and therefore there is a need to create some intervention instructional methods that would help them to participate effectively. Among the instructional methods that are available there is:

Grouping Method

This can be practiced with either small or whole groups. Grouping methods enables students with disability to collaborate and interact with their peers. They are usually expected to imitate the good behavior from their normal peers. The children are also expected to imitate the peers’ communication and social skills.

One to One Method

This is more of the activity that is between a child and a teacher. One to one form of teaching is made special by the fact that different teachers have to develop their own approaches, materials and strategies. This method is meant to ensure that the students get constant attention from the teachers.

Role Play Method

It is an activity where children tend to play varying roles within the classroom set-up. This method allows students to apply various contents as they are put in different roles. The method tends to be unique for engaging students and allows them to interact with their peers while trying to complete the assigned tasks within their specific roles.

Visual arts method

This method allows teachers to give students the opportunity of exploring different art materials. A good example is where the teacher brings different colors of paper that look like a hen, eyes and some collage to make a hen.

Learning centers method

The method helps in providing active learning experiences. A good example is how cooking at the kitchen center will help students to have a real life experience. There are a lot of activities that can take place in these learning centers. Learning centers allow for access to numerous learning materials in a productive and interesting manner. The centers are designed to augment learning of skills, topics, themes or concepts.

Describe how an IEP/IFSP team develops family-centered curriculum and why it is important to implement such a model in early childhood special education

IFSP and IEP teams tend to develop imperative programs to serve children and their families. What happens is that professionals involved in these teams tend to relinquish their expert role and end up developing partnerships with the families. All the parties bring varied form of knowledge and end up exhibiting a collaboration relationship. A family-centered curriculum is quite important in early childhood special education since it would help to understand various aspects of the family including their emphasis, strengths, control over desired resources and promotion of family choice among others. A family-centered curriculum also makes it possible to address educational and developmental needs of the children. Identification of the family’s values, cultures and traditions will be identified too hence making it possible to respect them. Family-centered practices usually help in sharing of responsibilities in order to enhance effective child development. There is a need for adequate information before any decision is made in IFSP or IEP meetings. As a result, parents should be included as active participants in the decision-making process since they know their children better than the other professionals. That is why they should take a leadership role in early intervention teams rather than being passive participants.

In conclusion, IEP and IFSP are important programs when it comes to special education. They help children with disability by providing a foundation that is appropriate for their education. The paper has assessed various aspects revolving around IFSP and IEP. The paper has first assessed the components of the two programs. It has tried to showcase the differences and similarities that exist between the two. This has been followed by a description of how assessments can be used to plan instruction. The paper has gone ahead to illustrate how to develop IFSP and IEP goals and outcomes. A discussion on why curriculum planning ought to consider family presence and priorities in order enhance the quality of a student life has also been included. The importance of students with disability having access to general education curriculum has surfaced within the paper too. The paper will go ahead and assess various instructional methods that would facilitate students with disability to participate and make progress in the general curriculum. The paper has concluded with how IFSP and IEP teams develop family-centered curriculum and why this has importance in early childhood education.

Do you need an Original High Quality Academic Custom Essay?