What Are the Three Main Components of an Individualized Education Program?

An individualized education plan is commonly referred to as an IEP. This is a legal document for students with special needs. IEPs are often twenty to forty pages or even longer. There is a lot of important information included in an IEP. Knowing what to look for ahead of time will help you better determine the accuracy and potential effectiveness of the document. There are three main sections to an IEP; the assessments and student's needs, the goals and objectives to meet those needs, and the service delivery and support services to meet the goals and objectives.

Formal and/or informal assessments are completed and the data is compiled for every IEP meeting. This data is used to help the team assess where your child is in comparison to other children his/her age and grade level. This information is used to create a list of educational needs for your child. Your child may have needs in only one area such as speech or in many areas depending on their educational profile and their disability.

After the needs have been determined by the team annual goals with specific, measurable objectives are created that outline what your child will be taught with the expected level of mastery by the ending date of the IEP. IEP goals are based on core content standards that apply to all children in public schools. IEP objectives should state specific skills within the goal that will be met, how progress will be measured and the level of progress that is expected and/or considered acceptable for your child.

The final section of the IEP lays out who will provide what services to your child and how often this will occur. This will include whether the service delivery will take place within the general education setting, a special education setting or a therapists office. This is also, where you will find information concerning a behavior plan or communication plan if either of those documents is necessary. This section includes all of the accommodations and modifications your child needs in order to gain educational benefit both in and out of the general education setting. Additionally there will be information about district, state and federal testing.

As you can see, the IEP is a complex legal document that is a binding agreement between you and the school district. IEPs are formatted based on state and federal laws. It is important for you to understand what should be included in an IEP so that your child receives the assistance he/she needs in order to gain as much educational benefit as possible.

Safe Driving Education Program

Do you think that someone who has passed a driver's test is really knowledgeable enough and safe enough to go on the road? Ideally, they have also gotten a proper driver's education. When someone goes through a driver's education program, they learn the skills and facts needed to become a responsible driver. They will be less likely to be involved in an accident as well.

This is a great way for parents to help their kids be safe drivers. When teens can get a driver's license as early as 14 years old, it's critical to help them understand the right attitude to have behind the wheel. They are not yet mature enough to realize this on their own.

Because of this, they are more likely to be involved in very serious crashes. Teens really need the insight and direction that is provided by a driver's education program. They will be so much more likely to accurately grasp the responsibility that driving really is.

When teens learn this early in their driving career, they develop good driving habits that will last. For older persons, driver's education is also valuable. Most drivers could benefit from a brush up on their driving skills and their knowledge of traffic laws.

What do you get out of a driver's education program? Well, the first thing is you get more safety from learning how to safely operate your car, and what the new rules of the road are.

You also learn many other skills: safe driving methods, proper distance between vehicles, the implications of drinking and driving, repercussions of using a cell phone, and so on. All of these lessons are important for safe driving in the real world.

Don't think that you have to go sit in a classroom to get a valid driver's education. You can get one in a number of different ways. Of course you can attend a driver's education course in most any city.

But, you can also go online and take a driver's education course via the Internet, or sign up for a correspondence course on driver's education. You can more easily study at your own pace if you do it this way.