This is the question of the month as featured in Issue Number 10
Question: Can bullying being put into an IEP?
Answer:
In the USA and the UK bullying can be addressed in the IEP (Individualized Education Program). In the USA, IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) requires public schools to provide FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education in the least restrictive environment to their individual needs through an IEP (Individualized Education Plan.) According to Special Education Attorney Jennifer Laviano, “Bullying is a special education issue when it involves disability based harassment and/or because their disability prevents them from responding in an appropriate way to being treated cruelly.” They need the tools to handle harassing confrontations. You need to be able to feel safe in school. Not recognizing mean behavior is one of the major components. Not being able to quickly process and find an appropriate response or even be able to respond are all major components for ASD kids.
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AUTISM BULLYING
If there was a major incident or if bullying isn’t being addressed then it needs to be put into the IEP. If it was one minor incident and the school handled it quickly and efficiently then maybe you don’t need to call a PPT meeting and have it put into your child’s IEP. If you do decide that bullying needs to be addressed using the IEP, here are some things to note.
In the IEP it needs to be stated that:
- The child is more vulnerable socially and needs help with social skills“>social skills
- Needs to be noted that the parents are concerned
- Look at coping strategies as well.
- There needs to be clear goals and objectives. The goals need to broken-down into socially pragmatic skills. Give them a social tool box to handle socially difficult situations.
- Examples of specific objectives for an IEP include but are not limited to: he/she will learn when she is being excluded, she/he will learn how to advocate for herself when she is being isolated, he/she will seek adult support when recognizing mean behavior.
- Getting the classroom teacher the school psychologists and the speech pathologists to all work together to help your child learn coping mechanisms, as well as, appropriate responses.
