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Until 1975, no child with a disability was allowed to attend public school, let alone with any educational aid. Around 40 years later, every student in public schools has access to the support needed to graduate with a high school diploma.
One of these specific aids is the Individual Education Program, or IEP, which are personalized plans for students with some form of disability to provide help and support in a school setting.
The Utah State Board of Education states the purpose of IEPs as, “designed to meet the student’s unique needs based on their disability, and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living.”
An IEP comes after a student has been diagnosed with a disability or has a medical issue that impedes their ability to learn. The IEP is designed personally for each student to meet their needs. In the United States, 15 percent of students have an IEP and in Utah, 13 percent of students age 3-21 have a plan. At NS, just over 12 percent of students have been eligible and received an IEP.
“In Special Education, you deal with Individualized Education Programs, which are IEPs,” said Nic Evans, Board Certified Behavioral Analyst and former SPED teacher at NS. “You work more one-on-one, providing support that they need. … depending on their needs so they can succeed academically and also socially. ”
The needs of each student change on a case-to-case basis, but there are shared and common accommodations that most IEPs offer to help students in the classroom.
Those accommodations can make a big difference in the lives of students who receive that support.
“Actually, it’s helped a lot,” freshman Swazeylynn Bills, a student with an IEP, said, “I get extra time on tests and assignments and stuff like that or alternative locations where I can go into a different classroom if I need to.”
While it is common to have accommodations inside the standard education classroom, NS also offers an additional class focused solely on helping students accomplish their goals. The learning strategies both help students with homework as well as learning life skills to use after high school.
“[Learning Strategies] teaches you all of the things you need,” Bills said, “but they can also help you with your homework when you have questions and they can sit down with you more one-on-one than in a normal classroom and help you, which I really enjoy.”
The goal of education, especially special education, is to help students excel after high school because it’s focused on students and what happens after they graduate.
“Statistics show that kids with ADHD and mild-to-severe autism have a hard time holding down jobs,” special education teacher Carrie Cox said. “So it’s also giving them access to vocational rehabilitation which teaches them skills to be good at working and to be good in a career field.”
Making connections and providing support to every student in special education is the goal of an IEP but what matters in the end is the students’ success in life after high school.
“I start by telling them I don’t really care about school,” Evans said, “the four years don’t matter to me. We can get through four years, I’m more worried about the forty years after… That’s where success comes; when they know they have the opportunity to succeed in life.”
