Where the Rubber Hits the RoadIntegrating Strength-Based Strategies into a

Student’s IEP in the Brave New World of Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards

Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.

www.institute4learning.com

Arizona’s Fourteenth Annual Transition Conference

Promote Strengths & Inspire Success

Scottsdale, AZ

August 25, 2014

Common Core State Standards

• Strength-Based Learning Strategies• Student Interests• Alternative Means of Expression• Alternative Texts

• Assistive Technologies/UDL• Enhanced Human Resources• Positive Environmental Modifications• Positive Role Models

Strength-Based IEPs

• Be comprehensive when initially stating student’s strengths

• Build the language of strengths into the instructional objectives themselves• Strength-Based Strategies• Assistive Technologies/UDL• Enhanced Human Resources• Positive Environmental Modifications

AI-IEP Protocol: Questions for Discussion at IEP meetings p. 1 First, Success

1) To the student: Tell us about some of your successes this year. (If appropriate, add: What have you done well and what has worked well for you? What's been happening to make you successful?)

2) To the parent: What successes have you seen your child enjoy this year? (If appropriate add: tell us about what's been happening to help make your child successful?)

3) To the teachers and specialists: What successes have you seen for [the student]? (If appropriate, add: Tell us about what's been happening to help make him/her successful?)

4) To the group: What suggestions or changes can you think of to make [the student]'s program work even better?

AI-IEP Protocol: Questions for Discussion at IEP meetings p. 2

Second, Goals

5) To the student:* What do you think you’d most love to do when you grow up? (Or: What is your goal in life [or after school]?)

And* What do you think you’ll need to do to get to do what you love most [or to get to your goal]?

And* What have you done so far to get to do what you love most [or to move toward your goal]?

6) To the group: What kinds of support and help can you provide to make [the student]'s program work toward the goals he/she's set for him/herself?

Source: Peter Kozik, doctoral dissertation, Syracuse University, June 2008. Used with permission of author.

References• ‘’Application [of Common Core Standards] to Students with Disabilities,’’

http://www.corestandards.org/assets/application-to-students-with-disabilities.pdf

• Armstrong, Thomas. Neurodiversity in the Classroom: Strength-Based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs Succeed in School and Life. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2012.

• Armstrong, Thomas. ‘’Leonardo da Vinci’s IEP Meeting,’’ http://institute4learning.com/blog/2013/02/19/leonardo-da-vincis-iep-meeting/

• Cooperrider, David, and Diane Whitney. Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2005.

• Fisher, Sherri, ‘’Appreciative Inquiry and Strengths in the Special Education Process,’’ Positive Psychology News Daily, http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/sherri-fisher/20080405702.

• Kozik, Peter L. "Examining the Effects of Appreciative Inquiry on IEP Meetings and Transition Planning,"doctoral dissertation, Syracuse University, June 2008.

• Thurlow, Martha. ‘’Common Core State Standards: The Promise and the Peril for Students with Disabilities,’’ The Special EDge,’ Summer, 2012, vol. 25, no. 3. http://www.calstat.org/publications/pdfs/Edge_summer_2012_newsletter.pdf

• McNulty, Raymond J. and Lawrence C. Gloeckler, ‘’Fewer, Clearer, Higher Common Core State Standards Implications for Students Receiving Special Education Services,’’ International Center for Leadership in Education, February, 2011. http://www.leadered.com/pdf/Special%20Ed%20&%20CCSS%20white%20paper.pdf

Contact Information

• Email: thomas@institute4learning.com• Website: www.institute4learning.com• Blog: http://institute4learning.com/blog/• Twitter: @Dr_Armstrong