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A Student Portfolio
It's that time of year again. The kids will soon be back in the classroom. If your child is in the process of moving to a new building and you're facing the prospect of new teachers who don't know your child, a new building administration with an unknown personality and possibly the addition of new children from other schools, it can be a terrifying venture for the kids, as well as the parents.
My oldest daughter, Kim, who has Autism will be entering high school at the end of August. We ended last year without signing the IEP. They proposed a one page, very vague IEP and said she would take the regular proficiency test. I, very politely, said she wouldn't be capable of that since she doesn't read and hasn't been exposed to most of that material. Plus, the stress for her would be overwhelming. I offered to work with her teacher at that time and come up with some reasonable goals and objectives, which I did. I checked with the special education director, who said they seemed reasonable and sent them back to the school. The school sent back my goals and objectives with a cover sheet for me to sign. The only problem was that they'd failed to fill out, who, where, how often, etc. I didn't sign it. It was decided that we would meet with all the teachers a week or so before school started to fill in the missing pieces and get the IEP signed.
That works for me. Teachers will know what they are teaching, where they are teaching it, and the schedule will be in place. If there have been any staff changes, it will be help for those new teachers to be part of this process. However, I am still concerned about how they will react to her. Her IEP goals and objectives are quite detailed, but I'm not sure that the IEP alone will give them an accurate picture of Kim. They won't know about the amazing progress she has made over the years or that this kid with an IQ in the forties can appropriately and consistently use "dollar" words in her conversations.
A few examples: I fell off a step ladder the other day. She asked if I was injured. She will say, "This is the pig's snout," or "I know my attitude wasn't appropriate."
I decided to present them with a more detailed account of Kim. It will be her portfolio and it will highlight her accomplishments and her short-comings in a way the IEP and testing reports cannot. I thought a long time about the format I wanted to use. I finally decided to use a notebook, with dividers that would be a quick and easy reference. I also wanted it to be something that Kim could understand and explain about herself so I've added a few pictures which will cue her to what it's about. The actual portfolio will probably have more pictures with captions. You can add medical information if it's appropriate and some info on your child's specific disability too. Samples of homework are also a good idea. You will need to decide exactly what and how you want to present your own child's information.