Jordan Going

SoVaTa Final Write-up

The student I chose as my test subject is Mark, a 17 year-old boy still in high school who has
severe Autism. Mark likes to smile and laugh and can talk a little bit. He loves greeting people, and gets
excited going anywhere new! Mark lives with his family on the outside of town where they have animals
including dogs, cats, chickens, and horses.

For the interviewing portion of this project, I interviewed mostly his parents, along with his older
sister, and even asked Mark himself a few questions. With these family members of his, I was able to
better understand Marks life, his strengths and weaknesses, and also how much his family cares for him
and wants the best for him. Mark already plays a part in his family in chores and their social life, but his
family hopes for him to be able to develop more responsibilities and achieve them consistently.

Currently, Mark is in a Special Education classroom full-time at his high school. Right now, his
family is planning for him to stay in high school until the age of 21, to give him as many educational
opportunities as possible. Mark is independent in getting himself ready in the morning, but requires
always requires full-time supervision. He follows prompts very obediently, but just needs them quite
often. He is completely physically able, and helps out with his familys animal chores of feeding the
chickens and horses, but cannot quite do it alone yet. He also is able to read (at an elementary grade
level), but needs reminders in order to do it, and easily gets distracted, needing prompts to keep on tasks.
Mark also much positive energy and excitement, especially when he is able to get out of the house. He is
familiar with and likes riding the public bus in his town and going grocery shopping with his parents, but
can be loud at times and run when it would be more appropriate for him to walk. With verbal prompts, he
is able to switch to talking softer and walking, but forgets without those prompts. Overall though, Mark
has made much progress throughout the years, now able to make his bed, shower, and brush his teeth
independently in the morning, just needing reminders in what he does throughout his day. Mark is a very
happy boy who loves his family and his dogs especially!

Before this course, creating or writing an IEP in any form seemed overwhelming to me. But now
being able to do it, and breaking it down step by step to write, I see that is just writing where the student
is currently functioning (PLOPs), and then writing appropriate goals (IEP goals) in all the areas needed,
including academics, social, fine motor, and transition goals. Once you get to know a student, it is easy to
assess where they are and then just write it down easily, but appropriately. I more fully understand that an
IEP is an official record for an individual student on where they are, their strengths, and their goals. I
want to have this attitude as I become an official Special Education teacher, and as I write, amend, and
edit IEPs for the students I am over. I believe if I look at the IEPs not as a whole, but work on it just one
part a time like I have mentioned above, it will be less overwhelming to me as I will most likely have
several IEPs and students.

Marks goals were created in five different areas: Fundamental Academics, Community Access,
Independent Living, Transportation and Employment. In all of these areas from the time these goals were
created for Mark to how he is doing now, is included in the following chart and graph:

Categories: Goal PLOP

Functional Academics 50% 65%
Community Access 40% 48%
Independent Living 75% 80%
Transportation 50% 52%
Employment 35% 35%

90%
80%
Mark's Progress Analysis
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
Goal
20%
10% PLOP
0%

As shown, Mark has either improved in all five areas, or remained at the same level. He has improved the
most in Fundamental Academics and Community Access, with also a little improvement in Independent
Living and Transportation, while he stayed at the same level of Employment. Overall, Marks family and
I feel he is doing great and making more than adequate progress for himself!
 The first part of the individual project for Mark was conducting the SoVaTa assessment for Mark.
I liked how it was organized into different parts so it was easy to see what areas he was stronger in, and
perhaps future goals that could be made from where he scored lower. It also helped me to develop a
clearer view of who Mark was and how I might be able to help him. It gave me a whole new perspective
about him and his life, looking at more than just the fact that he has severe Autism.

The hardest part of the project for me was conducting the interview with the assessment. I dont
live by Mark or his family, so we both had to set aside enough time to do it by skype, which Marks
parents also had to keep an eye on him at the same time, as well as his siblings. But we got it done, and it
worked out! I feel that overall this project went really well for me and for Mark. Perhaps though I could
have gone and double-checked all my PLOPs and IEP goals to make sure they were right on track for
Mark. I also could have stayed in touch with Marks family more often, being able to document more
clearly where Mark is at and what he still needs to work on.

With this project, I really liked how we got to focus on just on test subject, one person, and then
build the IEP from there. I also liked how we didnt have to build the IEP all at once, but were able to
break it down so we (I) could understand and practice key parts of the IEP such as the PLOPS, transition
goals, and goals. I appreciated the videos/recordings on I-learn showing how to write all these things, and
also how it gave examples. I hope to remember all that I have learned as I write IEPs as a future Special
Education teacher!