Vision, hearing and other low-incidence needs
Students with low-incidence disabilities are often the only one on a teacher's caseload, and the specialists who know their needs may visit once a week. The IEP has to carry that knowledge into every classroom.
These guides cover goals and supports for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, blind or low vision, deaf-blind, or who have orthopedic impairments or traumatic brain injury. They include the expanded core curriculum, hearing and assistive technology, orientation and mobility, and how teachers of the deaf and teachers of the visually impaired fit into the services page.
Start here
- Low-incidence disabilities in the IEP: vision, hearing, deaf-blindness and physical needs
What low-incidence disabilities are, how vision, hearing, deaf-blindness and physical needs differ in the IEP, who owns each part, and sample goals.
How-to guides
- How to measure listening checks and hearing technology goals
How to collect hearing aid check data: a daily equipment log, Ling sound results, student self-check task analysis, and a worked example with real numbers.
- How to measure O&M route goals with an orientation and mobility data sheet
Build an orientation and mobility data sheet for route goals: map the route, write the task analysis, score prompts and safety, and graph a worked example.
Examples
- Abacus for blind students: instruction and IEP goals
How the abacus works for students who are blind, a teaching sequence from setting numbers to division and decimals, and 24 abacus IEP goals with measures.
- Accommodations for deaf and hard of hearing students
16 deaf and hard of hearing accommodations written for the IEP, from remote microphones and captions to interpreters and testing, with grading effects.
- Accommodations for visual impairment, written for the IEP
12 visual impairment accommodations written the way they should read in the IEP, with who provides each, when, and whether it changes grading or testing.
- Auditory skills hierarchy for IEP goals
The auditory skills hierarchy of detection, discrimination, identification and comprehension, with 12 listening IEP goals and how to measure each level.
- Braille IEP goals from pre-braille to contracted braille
24 braille IEP goals from tactile readiness to contracted braille and notetakers, plus how the IEP braille consideration works and how to measure progress.
- Cane skills progression for O&M goals
The long cane skills progression from protective techniques to street crossings, with 16 O&M IEP goals, baselines, criteria and task analysis measures.
- CVI IEP goals
24 CVI IEP goals grouped by how the student uses vision now, from building visual attention to reading in clutter, with baselines, criteria and measures.
- Deafblind IEP goals for communication
16 deafblind IEP goals for communication, from touch and object cues to tactile sign, calendar systems and social interaction, with baselines and measures.
- Expanded core curriculum goals by area
20 expanded core curriculum IEP goals across all nine ECC areas, with a decision table, baselines, criteria and who teaches each area for blind students.
- IEP goals for deaf and hard of hearing students
16 IEP goals for deaf and hard of hearing students in listening, ASL and English, literacy and self-advocacy, each with a baseline, criterion and measure.
- IEP goals for sighted guide (human guide)
20 sighted guide IEP goals, also called human guide, from the basic grip to doors, stairs, seating and directing a new guide, with task analysis measures.
- IEP goals for students with cerebral palsy: 12 examples
12 IEP goals for students with cerebral palsy across mobility, hand use and AT access, communication and self-care, each with baseline, criterion and measure.
- IEP goals for students with visual impairments
12 IEP goals for students who are blind or have low vision: braille and print literacy, math access, low vision devices and travel, with baselines and measures.
- IEP goals for understanding your audiogram
20 audiogram IEP goals that teach deaf and hard of hearing students to read their own audiogram, explain their hearing and devices, and speak up for access.
- Low vision IEP goals for magnifiers, telescopes and screen tools
12 low vision IEP goals for handheld and video magnifiers, monocular telescopes, screen zoom and glare control, with baselines, criteria and data sheets.
- Speechreading IEP goals
16 speechreading IEP goals for deaf and hard of hearing students, from watching the face to using context and handling conversations, with measures.
- Working with an educational interpreter: student IEP goals
24 IEP goals that teach deaf and hard of hearing students to use an interpreter well: positioning, clarifying, preparing, discussion and self-advocacy.
Templates
- Communication plans for deaf and hard of hearing students
A fill-in communication plan for deaf and hard of hearing students, a completed example, and notes on what reviewers and parents look for in each section.
Explainers
- Braille reading rate: how to measure it
How to measure braille reading rate: passage choice, timing, scoring words correct per minute, tracking behaviors, one student's data across a year.
- Hearing impairment and deafness: the IEP categories explained
How hearing impairment and deafness work as IEP categories: the federal definitions, what the evaluation includes, one student's path and state differences.
- Remote microphone systems: student goals and teacher use
How a remote microphone system fits in the IEP: who recommends it, how to write it as assistive technology, teacher use, student goals and a worked case.
- Self-advocacy goals for deaf and hard of hearing students
Self-advocacy goals for deaf and hard of hearing students: the skill sequence by grade, one student's year with data, goal wording and where state rules differ.
- Traumatic brain injury at school: eligibility and accommodations
TBI IEP accommodations by need area, the federal definition of traumatic brain injury, one student's return to school with dates, and where state rules differ.
- Visual impairment eligibility and the learning media assessment
How visual impairment IEP eligibility works: the federal definition, eye report, functional vision evaluation and learning media assessment, with one case.
IEP Atlas Pro
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