needs: why am I avoiding the new Individual Learning Plan (ILP)?
I’ve gone from being handed a pre-typed form to sign at the end of week 2 which I didn’t know was an ILP to having the school psych email me a draft ILP in term 4 the preceding year. Different schools and different teachers have had vastly different approaches to my girl and her ILP. On one hand you have someone discharging the school obligation to complete proforma paperwork and on the other you have a degree of support I have prayed for while crying in my car.
Last year was the first year at a new school. I was drunk with joy about the ILP experience. It was drafted before the school year started, we had time to review with our girl and for our specialists to include key strategies. After it was re-drafted, we got to approve it. It was rolled out to staff, with a notification to show it had been read. At some stage in the first days, each teacher let our girl know they had read the plan. She whispered at bedtime “school was good, the help is there invisibly”. Relief, gratitude, relief, gratitude swept over me in waves that night.
I have always wanted to draft the ILP, to have doctors weigh in, and have ideal pre-term planning in place. Yet, here we are in week 2 of a new year, and I haven’t finalised my comments on the learning plan. Why? It comes down to this: she is doing well. She is happy and strong and healthy. We all are. We’ve had a fun explosion summer and I’m not sure I can burst that bubble by looking at all the boxes of needs and strategies. I’m hiding from my fears for her, the list of to do’s and to don’ts. I am all duck and cover from those hard facts. Freakin’ denial, strong stuff and I never see it coming.
So, this is the realisation: whether her school did a terrible ILP botch job, or a stellar wonderkind ILP (current school); it is tough on her and it is tough on me. The two of us sit between the teachers and the doctors and therapists and family and friends. We piece together the things that can and cannot be. We draw strings between medication, injury, memory, proprioception, anxiety, her desire to have fun and feel good, to make friends, to keep up and learn, and mine to thwart avoidable disaster, to extinguish unfair expectations and mostly to provide support to those who help her. It’s a lot to ask of one document, and right now it’s a lot to ask of me. Above all, every day at school is a lot to ask of her, and an ILP makes it a little bit easier. So, I need to get over it.
means: Recipe for an ILP in 10 steps.
- Assemble treats. I like a combination of sweets to gobble, and bold Florence + the Machine, while I am drafting, followed by watching Gilmore Girls episodes where Rory graduates (Chilton & Yale) for straight after. I bribe and reward myself.
- Format. Schools have their own format. If I cannot get a word version of their plan, I produce something they can cut and paste easily. So, I keep my format simple.
- Strengths. Deficiencies are not her story, what she loves and does best is her story. An ILP is an opportunity to remind my girl, myself and her teachers about her strengths.
- Diagnosis/Needs. I’m clear about my dude’s needs. I keep it simple and avoid over medicalising the language. I want this to be easily understood. I use terms she is comfortable with.
- Aims. I make the plan work for my dude. If our home aim is on spelling and shoe laces, (I never thought that would happen) then I use the plan to focus on maths and a social skill.
- Strategies at home. I list anything we are doing at home to support her needs. Cooking for maths, tutoring, therapy, playdates. Its good for them to know what she is working on, and for her to be given acknowledgement by her teachers for any extra work.
- Strategies at school. School will have some. I try to eliminate the ones used generally across the class and include 2-3 at the most that are targeted to my dude’s needs. Again, less is more.
- Bring in the expert. I have her best and brightest specialist –the one she adores – review the ILP. Just knowing they had input helps her trust the ILP. If the big kahuna adds one thing, it’s worth it.
- Ask the kid. The only person who can tell me about the classroom is my dude. I ask If you could change one thing to make school learning easier what would it be? The answer is never what I or the teacher expect but it is always has the most positive impact.
- Review date. I include one.
10 commandments to making the ILP work for my dude
- Make it easy on the teacher. I try to draft the ILP before the teacher has to do it from scratch.
- Get a copy. At a minimum, if it has been prepared, I ask for a copy.
- Read it before signing it. I remind myself, I have time. The ILP is not nuclear launch codes. “I’ll get this back to you” is what I say as I walk away with it.
- Talk to my kid about the ILP. If this is going to work for her, she needs to drive it.
- No background. My girl is more than diagnosis and tests. I delete any background that drowns out the strategies.
- Keep it simple. I aim for 2 aims, and 2-3 key strategies. Too much is too onerous and reduces the possibility of being incorporated in the classroom.
- Diarise. The date of the ILP and the date for review.
- Review the ILP. I review at the start of each term and email a meeting request to the teacher.
- Review the ILP with school. Sometimes I do this by email but its better in the classroom. Teachers know more than me about how the ILP is working and what needs to change.
- Celebrate when targets are met. I need to stop, recognise and of course, cup cakes for everyone.
10 common classroom hacks for ILP’s:
In addition to specific curriculum goals here are 10 things that can improve a school day.
- Pair my dude up for group tasks, bus sport and excursions rather than asking them to partner up, sometimes they need a break from not getting picked.
- Give my dude an early start with transition times between subjects so she doesn’t start last.
- Sit my dude near the board, or upfront, or near the teacher so she can be encouraged.
- Give her manageable classroom responsibility for self-esteem.
- If noise is an issue, send her to the library on an errand to give her a break.
- Extra time for testing, or separate conditions for testing.
- Time and help to organise desk or locker to eliminate transition stress.
- Ask her to repeat instructions for the whole class to help them process the instructions.
- Modify homework to reflect goals of plan.
- Exclude homework if tutoring is being undertaken. Ask teacher to validate her additional work.
