Streamline Your IEP Process

Marisha (00:01.656)

Hey there, and I can't tell you how excited I am to continue the conversation on streamlining our workload. And today we are diving into all things IEPs. And the cool part is that a lot of the same things that we've been chatting about apply. So we want just to recap. Last week we talked about scheduling out our IEPs.

Last week was about evaluations, but look at your upcoming IEPs. How many do you have due every month? And just try to work ahead if possible. Like if you have 10 due in February and 30 due in March, then we'll wanna kind of strategize a little bit so we're not struggling a ton. And just figuring out, okay, to keep up with my IEPs, I'll need to spend.

about this much time and then like I'll need about this much time a week and then making sure that we can set aside that time. I know that our workloads are a little bit challenging. So like when I was and we obviously want to it's a tricky balance because

We want to have good work-life balance, but we also want to kind of keep up with our workload. And so it's up to you to decide where you want that balance to be. Like I was in a school district where we had some extenuating circumstances and my caseload got very, very large. And so I made the decision to...

kind of add some additional hours. And I worked with my administration on kind of strategizing behind that. But I worked additional hours to make sure that I could keep up with the workload. And so I scheduled time before school, because after school, I'm so done. And so you can decide if you are putting in extra hours when you want to do that. But I just came in a little bit early.

Marisha (02:26.412)

and I got to use like make copies and do printing and have access to the workroom when I needed it without having to wait in line or whatever. But then it was also a little bit quieter. And so I could just sit down and work on my paperwork. And you can bring noise canceling headphones if you're not able to do it like while it's quieter at school or bring yourself some treats. Like especially I used to

really struggle with Medicaid billing. And so I would have like M &Ms and skittles and things like that. And so for, I just like reinforce myself to help keep myself going. But whatever you need to set yourself up for success, maybe make it a little bit of a vibe, whatever you need to help get that done. And it doesn't have to be, obviously we don't want it to be outside of work hours if we can avoid that. So,

being able to just set aside time in your schedule and protecting that time, like closing your door, putting up a do not disturb sign, putting on those headphones, like whatever you need to be able to get that stuff done. Cause that is a really important part of our job. We need to make sure that we're getting paperwork done. Then the second thing that we've talked about every single episode in the series is like creating a checklist, a process list of all of the steps.

And we've also chatted about strategies to gather forms. for IEPs, we want to do some present levels assessments, present levels assessments. And I've mentioned this before too, but SLP Now can help with all of the forms and assessments. So you plug your IEPs into the system.

And then you load checklists based on your students needs. So we'll have some best practices. And then the checklist has all of the forms attached. It has the present levels assessments and like all the important steps that you can totally streamline the process and you can use our forms or you can use your own, but it just helps make it so much easier to keep track of where you're at with each student and

Marisha (04:51.342)

because you can see how many tasks have been completed, when it'll be due, and it just organizes that whole process, which is really amazing. And if you want to check it out, head to slpnow.com slash pod. You'll get access to a free trial and you can get all the tools to try. Okay. And then, so that is just in terms of...

Organizing your checklist and gathering like forms and present all those assessments. You can totally do this on your own or you can use SLP now to help streamline and have some of that work done for you. And then we inevitably have some physical papers, whether you're doing your all of your forms like using paper or if you're collecting work samples and parent consent in whatever other documents.

There will be some physical papers, so we'll want to think of a way to keep those organized. So some ways that you can do that. If you have a file cabinet, you can just create a folder for each student. And I like to have this separate from their special education records. So I just like to have a folder with all of the papers for the current IEP or evaluation.

Just so I have access, I don't have to dig through a bunch of stuff. I just have access to the things that I need. So you can use file folders. Hanging file folders or hanging file organizers are really nice too. If you just want to keep, like I used to have a hanging file organizer next to my desk so I could see like the top priority IEPs and evaluations. And anytime I sat down to do paperwork, I would just grab the first folder.

in the organizer and do what I could. And then if I got to a stopping point, I would just grab the next one. I would rinse and repeat. You can also use a binder with folders for all of your pending IEPs and evaluations. Or you can use sheet protectors. Like there's tons of options to keep, like basically any tool that helps you keep track of paper organizer or to keep track of papers and keep them sorted and organized.

Marisha (07:14.2)

can help just make it so that you're not having to spend half of your paperwork time digging around your desk trying to find the papers and just pick what feels best to you and what you'd naturally be able to use the most. so that was what we had for, so so far we talked about scheduling it out, creating checklists, gathering the resources, the forums, the present levels, assessments, and then strategies to organize the physical papers.

And last episode, I told you I would share some strategies to make it easier to actually write the IEP. So I have three tips that will make it easier to actually get to that. Like now that we have the process organized, we've collected all the information we need. We just need to plug it into the IEP. So one.

My first big tip is to create templates, especially as a newer SLP. I remember just staring at an IEP and those blank boxes were kind of overwhelming. And I was like, I don't know what to write. I would just procrastinate and waste so much time. And so when it comes to creating templates, so I would start off, just open up a blank document.

and open up a blank IEP and write down all the sections that you have to fill in. And if it's just a drop down section, don't put that unless you like need help and like wanna write tips on helping you decide how to choose the drop down. But I would just focus on adding the sections that you actually have to write information in and then just...

So the first step is to write all of those headings down. And then anytime you're working on an IEP or you're reviewing other IEPs, maybe you wanna like ask your, like just pull up a handful of IEPs that you think were well written to just quickly fill in those sections. But you'll want to like, let's say like for present levels,

Marisha (09:35.886)

the present level section, you can copy and paste present levels from past IEPs or from IEPs as you're writing them if there were sections that you really liked. And so over time, you'll be copying and pasting more great content into all of the sections of the IEP. So then next time you're stuck, you can pull up this document and kind of use some of your

previous like templates to help fill in those sections. And of course we need, we don't want to copy and paste every single IEP. We need them to be individualized, but we want to make sure that we have those core components of, we have an episode coming up about like good present levels and strategies for that and what you want to include. But there are certain

elements that we want to make sure that we include and having those templates can make it easier to get like our bases covered and then have more energy and cognitive bandwidth to really do the student justice and really explain what's going on and what we're seeing in doing that analysis. And so that can be super helpful. And this is a great activity to do with a group of SLPs if possible.

So you can write down, like I said, write down all of the sections that you have to write content in for the IEP. And then just all, you can all copy and paste your favorite snippets so that you can reference them as you're writing future IEPs. And if you have some of those snippets, you can get feedback from your administrator or if you have any like legal support or whatnot, you can get some feedback.

use that to like step up your paperwork too if you want. then so having these templates is really awesome, but the document can quickly get very very very out of hand. And so that's what I came across when I first implemented this. Like I ended up with a hundred page document with tons of things which is probably overkill. But it was a really helpful process for me to kind of

Marisha (12:01.08)

work on narrowing down what, like the most important elements of the IEP and what I want to include. But in some districts have like templates and everything built in. So just use this for the sections of the IEPs that you struggle with. might, if your district has really cool software that has a bunch of templates, you might not have to do a lot of this, but there's likely still some sections or some like little pieces of text where you're always getting stuck.

So this is where this can come in handy, where in terms of creating the templates and then using a text expander. So first, what is a text expander? A text expander is a tool that you can use. So if I type like a shortcut, so it might be like dot I L C and you can decide what the shortcut is, but you want it to be something that you don't typically type.

because if I type .ilc, I can set that up as a template or a shortcut in my text expander. And so when I type that, I can have it expand to say, I love chocolate. So instead of having to type, I love chocolate, every time I just do .ilc and then it goes bloop and then it puts in that whole snippet of text.

and so if you have like a template for a present levels for articulation or like speech sound disorders, like I can make a shortcut called like dot P L.

or dot PL SSD or whatever I want the shortcut to be and when I type that in it goes bloop and then it has like the whole template for present levels for a student with speech-tongue disorders for example. This is pretty easy to set up. I have a blog post with more details and like a little cheat sheet and all of that so I'll link that in the show notes but yeah.

Marisha (14:07.478)

So that saved me a ton of time because it helped me process my massive document and kind of simplify it a little bit. then you can search if you're not quite sure what the shortcut is. You learn it really quickly, especially if you're writing a lot of IEPs. And if you make

Like if you choose smart shortcuts, like if anything related to present level starts with dot PL, then that'll help me out. but then yeah, you can, you can always search your templates if you're like, I'm looking for a present levels one, but I don't remember what I called it. you can just look at your whole list of templates and then they're just like nice little line items and it just makes.

It makes things so much easier. saves so much time. So instead of having to open up my template document and scroll through and find the right section and copy and paste it, all I do is type like dot PLA and then it fills in the template. And then I have the cognitive bandwidth to really customize it for that student and enter their specific details. and it just speed speeds up my report writing by a ton.

One other strategy to help speed things up is to use find and replace. you might not, if you have, it depends on what software you're using, but sometimes you're not able to use this in like a web browser or certain softwares. But I know that it always works in a Word document. if you're like, especially for the bigger sections of the IEP,

Like if you're drafting the present levels, you might just want to start it in a Word document and then like put in your template, like use your text expander, put in your template and start to customize it. And in my templates, I like to use placeholders because there's nothing worse than having the wrong student's name in the present levels or the wrong pronoun. So I remove all names and pronouns from my templates.

Marisha (16:31.372)

and I use placeholders instead. So I like to use three asterisks for students' names. I use two asterisks for subjective pronouns and one asterisk for possessive pronouns. And you can use whatever placeholders you want. when I'm editing that template, will, if you're on a Mac, you'll do command F, or if you're on a PC, you'll do control F.

and then you'll type in, like you'll start with the three asterisks. So you'll type in three asterisks, then that'll search for all of the like sequences of three asterisks in that template. And then you can go to the replace option and you'll type in the student's name and then you'll hit enter and it'll replace all of the asterisks with the student's names. Then you'll do, you'll like search

you'll use the find function to look for two asterisks and replace that with the subjective pronouns and then to like search for one asterisk for the possessive pronouns, et cetera, et cetera. So you just rinse and repeat and then you have all of the correct pronouns and names with just a couple of clicks instead of having to like scroll through and scan and miss them or forget to do that. Cause it's pretty obvious that an asterisk doesn't fit.

fit in there, but if we're using names, that just gets a little messy. So find and replace is an SLP's best friend. And you might have to do that in a Word document, but it's definitely worth it. so that will help. Those three tips are helping us write our IEPs more quickly and have higher quality IEPs.

And then I guess another component related to that is writing Epic goals. So if you're using the SLP now workload feature, like it gives you the checklist of all the items you want to complete for your IEP and it helps you collect that data. but the next thing that we do, if you use our like present levels, assessment, curriculum based assessments, it'll recommend goals based on how your students are performing.

Marisha (18:57.742)

and based on their actual data on those assessments. And so it'll recommend goals. You'll have easy access to probes too for those goals. So you can like actually have accurate baseline data and those probes will always be attached to the goal so that you can have consistent progress monitoring by using SLP. Now you'll have like strategic decision making.

based on your assessments, what goals you want to target. And of course you'll want to factor in like teacher or parent input work samples, all of the things that you're observing to like make the final decisions around goals. But this will help you like go through the recommended goals and you can decide what makes sense and what doesn't. Again, you can collect that baseline data, have that progress monitoring set up for future.

like for progress reports and all of that. And we also have evidence-backed materials for all of the goals, as well as strategies, to help you target them effectively. So it's kind of like all in one solution. and if you ever have, like, if it's, if you're, if you are identifying a goal that you need a refresher on,

Like I said, we have access to courses with strategies. We have evidence sheets with specific strategies. this is super helpful if you're feeling nervous going into the IEP. You can review the evidence sheet super quick, and then you can reference the research if you want, if parents or teachers have any questions. But it's just the ultimate confidence booster and just like.

streamlining tool to make this whole process super, super easy. And then just making sure that you're able to operate at the top of your license without having to break your neck and just having easy access to everything at your fingertips. So if you want to give that a try, head to slpnow.com slash pod and you'll get access to a free trial so you can.

Marisha (21:21.528)

Take it for a whirl and try this with your upcoming IEP. Load your checklist template, go through the paperwork steps, write the easiest IEP you've ever written, and feel super confident about your goals and being ready to jump into intervention. It's just, yeah, great strategy. Okay, and then we talked about this a little bit throughout the other episodes, but I just wanted to make sure that we touched on handouts too.

those can make it really, really easy to have more effective IEP meetings and follow through from the team. So I will link to a post with some examples of my favorite handouts, but it can be really helpful because this is really overwhelming for parents. So having some handouts that just explain the process that like,

all the acronyms that we use and kind of what to expect in terms of like IEP and all of that. And then having information on kind of specific, like if you have resources for any interventions or just explaining what you're working on with a student and why those can be really helpful or like strategies that they can implement at home.

Just any kind of parent-teacher education to help the process go more efficiently can be really impactful. So yeah, if you go to the handouts blog post linked in the show notes, it's in the description, you'll see some examples of sheets that I really like to use. There's like a bell curve visual that's super helpful in explaining evaluation results as well.

And then, yeah, I really like to organize these in a binder, in sheet protectors. And then I mentioned this previously, but I love to highlight the original so I don't accidentally give away my original. And the cool thing is if you highlight a piece of paper and run it through the copier, it doesn't pick up the highlighter. So that's a really great little cheat for us to keep track of our copies and all of that. So.

Marisha (23:51.508)

That is a wrap on the streamlining strategies for IEPs. Just a quick recap, I to make sure that we schedule out our IEPs and just have an idea of how many are coming up and then having time in our calendars to actually move through the IEPs. We'll want to create checklists for our process to make it easier.

and then gather forms and resources to help us complete those checklist items. And then organizing all of the physical documents that we're gathering, whether it's like file folder or a binder or hanging file organizer. Then the last, like we had a couple of tips on actually streamlining the writing of the IEP. So creating those templates.

using a text expander, using find and replace to save yourself some time, and then just having a strategy to write epic goals and kind of thinking ahead in terms of how you're gonna monitor progress on those goals. And then we just briefly touched on having some handouts for the IEP meeting to help things run a little bit more smoothly. So that is a wrap on our...

IEP episode. We have some special guests coming up to help us with like collecting parent input, writing strength based IEPs, writing goals. So we have some more like strategic episodes coming up to help us streamline things. But yeah, that's a wrap. I hope you have a great rest of your week.