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Tag: IEP

  • Free IEP Template (Fully Editable and Printable)

    Free IEP Template (Fully Editable and Printable)

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    An individualized education program (IEP) is a big document! It helps to have a guide to make sure you’re including all the necessary information. Grab our free IEP Google Docs template to help walk you through the process of writing the document by filling out the form on this landing page. Then read on to learn more about how to use it.

    An IEP lays out an individual plan for a child’s education. IEPs are written for students who have disabilities that impact their ability to access the general education curriculum. This means anything from a child who is blind and requires instruction in braille to a child who has ADHD and requires small-group instruction in math. The information in each IEP will be unique to the student, but every IEP contains some core components.

    What sections are included in the IEP template?

    We Are Teachers; Myranda McDonald

    By law, an IEP has to include certain information. The purpose of an IEP is to set goals for the child’s education, and to explain the special education and related services the child will receive. Services include specially designed instruction (or instruction from a special education teacher either in a separate classroom or in the general classroom) and therapy like speech or occupational therapy. So, the IEP outlines what the child will experience across a school day and how the team will know the child is progressing (their goals).

    When an IEP team sits down to develop an IEP, they will consider all aspects, even if one does not apply to the child. So, a transition plan will be included in the IEP, even if the only text is that the child does not require a transition plan at this time. That’s because each IEP must include information that’s required by IDEA, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.

    Our IEP template includes all the things that need to be included to provide a well-thought-out, complete IEP, including the following:

    Student Profile

    An overview about the student, their strengths, and parents’ concerns.

    Assessment Information

    IEP example template page 7.
    We Are Teachers; Myranda McDonald

    An overview of the assessments that were administered to the student. These may include psychological assessments, academic assessments, information from doctors’ evaluations, school-level grades and tests, and vision and hearing screening information.

    Statement of Eligibility

    Each IEP must have a statement explaining why the student is eligible for special education services. This statement outlines why the student requires support to access the general education curriculum.

    Areas of Support

    The team will use the assessment data to identify areas of support that the student needs. For example, if a student with a learning disability has an academic deficit in reading but not math, the IEP will provide services in reading but not math.

    Present Levels of Performance

    Present Levels of Performance are a statement of the child’s present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, or PLOP. This section explains what the child is able to do for each area of support and helps develop goals that are appropriate.

    Goals

    IEP example template page 4.
    We Are Teachers; Myranda McDonald

    Goals must be measurable and achievable within a school year. The goals can be academic or functional. Each goal must be measurable and include a description of how it will be measured and when progress reports will be provided to parents. Goals may also have objectives, depending on the student’s disability and level of the goal. For example, students who are provided with services in a full-day special education classroom will have objectives that help monitor their IEP goal progress because more of their education is provided in the special education setting.

    Special Education and Related Services

    This is a description of which special education and related services will be provided, when, and where. Each description must provide the frequency, location, and duration of services. This includes an explanation of how much time the child will spend outside of general education, if any.  

    Accommodations and Modifications

    IEP example template page 3.
    We Are Teachers; Myranda McDonald

    This is an overview of the accommodations and modifications that will be provided, and specifics about how teachers will provide them. This includes information like the training needed for teachers. There is also space for testing accommodations.

    If the child is not participating in the state tests or is taking alternate assessments, the IEP will include a statement about why they cannot participate in the regular assessment.

    Transition Services

    Transition services are outlined when a child is making a transition in their education. This could be from early childhood services to elementary school, middle to high school, or high school to life after school. When a child is transitioning out of school, starting when they are 16, an IEP must include measurable post-secondary goals and transition services needed to assist the child in reaching their goals.

    Why use an IEP template?

    Using a template for planning an IEP ensures that each IEP includes all the necessary information that’s required by law. It also ensures teachers have all the information that they need to help each student progress in their education.

    Additional resources to use with your IEP template

    Here are some more resources to use with the IEP template to write a great IEP every time:

    Get your free IEP template printable!

    GIF of laptop scrolling through the pages of an IEP template.
    We Are Teachers; Myranda McDonald

    To get your free Google Docs IEP template, just fill out the simple form on this page for instant access.

    For more articles like this, be sure to sign up for our newsletters to find out when they’re posted!

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    Samantha Cleaver, PhD, Special Education & Reading Intervention

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  • Icahn Enterprises’ stock slides 30% after company halves quarterly distribution to $1 per unit

    Icahn Enterprises’ stock slides 30% after company halves quarterly distribution to $1 per unit

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    Icahn Enterprises L.P.’s stock tumbled 30% on Friday, after the company said it’s cutting its quarterly distribution to $1 from $2 previously.

    The company
    IEP,
    -23.23%
    made the announcement as it reported a surprise quarterly loss with Chairman Carl Icahn, the billionaire activist investor, blaming the news squarely on one thing.

    “I believe the second quarter partially reflected the impact of short selling on companies we control or invest in, which I attribute to the misleading and self-serving Hindenburg report concerning our company, “Icahn said in a statement.

    “It also reflected the size of the hedge book relative to our activist strategy.”

    Icahn was referring to a report by short seller Hindenburg Research published on May 2 that accused IEP, Icahn’s publicly traded investing arm, of overstating asset values. Hindenburg also revealed that Icahn himself had borrowed from the company, among other issues.

    That had been disclosed in a footnote to financials that Wall Street had overlooked.

    Read: What we know about Carl Icahn’s margin loan

    See also: Carl Icahn rebuts short seller Hindenburg Research’s report. It’s already cost his company $6 billion in market cap.

    The report shaved billions off IEP’s market cap and was firmly rebutted by Icahn, who recently said he has finalized amended loan agreements with banks that untie his personal loans from the trading price of his company’s shares.

    Icahn said IEP has paid out distributions for 73 continuous quarters and does not intend for a “misleading” report to interfere with that practice.

    “The payment of future distributions will be determined by the board of directors quarterly, based upon current economic conditions and business performance and other factors that it deems relevant at the time that declaration of a distribution is considered,” said Icahn.

    On a call with analysts, IEP’s Chief Executive David Willetts highlighted the long-term “lumpiness” of the business, given its many moving parts.

    “We have large wins at times and we have volatility, we’re not a company that necessarily has predictable cash flow, there are no guarantees,” he told analysts.

    But IEP is not changing its strategy on distributions, he added.

    The stock was headed for the biggest one-day selloff since it went public 36 years ago. The next biggest drop was 20.0% on May 2, when the Hindenburg Research report was released.

    The company, which is 84% owned by Icahn and his son, Brett, offers exposure to Icahn’s personal portfolio of public and private companies, including petroleum refineries, car-parts makers, food-packaging companies and real estate. Its unit holders are mostly retail investors.

    The fund has performed poorly in the past decade. For many years Icahn has publicly expressed suspicion of the bull market that raged around him. He shorted the stock market in a big way as a hedge against his long activist positions. Going into 2021, for example, Icahn’s investment fund had a short exposure of 142%, SEC filings show.

    For more, see: Carl Icahn admits he was wrong to take a huge short position on the market that lost $9 billion

    Hindenburg, the short selling firm founded by Nate Anderson, took a victory lap on Elon Musk’s X platform, the renamed Twitter, noting that it had predicted that IEP’s poor investment performance would eventually force it to cut the distribution.

    Icahn has himself waged endless activist campaigns against companies and their management teams, and most recently succeeded in his effort to shake up management at gene sequencing test maker Illumina Inc.
    ILMN,
    +1.26%

    In June, that company accepted the resignation of its Chief Executive and director, Francis DeSouza, ending a monthslong heated battle over its $7.1 billion acquisition of cancer test maker Grail that has faced regulatory hurdles, as the Associated Press reported.

    Icahn had urged shareholders to vote out its chairman, John Thompson, and DeSouza. Company shareholders voted out Thompson in late May.

    Past activist campaigns by Icahn’s company have generated billions of dollars for shareholders and helped boards and CEOs capture untapped value, Icahn has argued, citing Reynolds, Netflix
    NFLX,
    +0.14%    ,
    Forest Labs, Apple
    AAPL,
    -4.80%    ,
     CVR Energy 
    CVI,
    -0.98%    ,
     Herbalife
    HLF,
    -0.69%
    eBay
    EBAY,
    -1.28%    ,
     Tropicana, Cheniere
    LNG,
    -0.95%
    and Occidental 
    OXY,
    +2.11%
     as examples.

    IEP said it had a loss of $269 million, or 72 cents per depositary unit, for the second quarter, wider than the loss of $128 million, or 41 cents per depositary unit, posted in the year-earlier period.

    Revenue fell to $2.684 billion from $3.796 billion.

    The FactSet consensus was for income of 25 cents per depositary unit and revenue of $2.657 billion.

    Meanwhile, investors are waiting to see the outcome of a federal probe of IEP’s corporate governance and other issues, which was disclosed along with first-quarter earnings.

    IEP’s stock is down 35% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
    SPX
    has gained 18%.

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  • Carl Icahn’s investing arm slides another 3% Friday to bring month-to-date losses to 61%

    Carl Icahn’s investing arm slides another 3% Friday to bring month-to-date losses to 61%

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    Icahn Enterprises LP’s stock
    IEP,
    +0.10%
    fell another 3% Friday to extend its month-to-date losses to 61%. The stock has been under pressure since a May 2 report by short-selling firm Hindenburg Research that accused Icahn’s publicly traded investment vehicl eof inflating asset values and causing his company to trade at a large premium. The report from May 2 has cost IEP more than $10.9 billion in lost market cap. The stock took another downturn on Thursday, after Bill Ackman, founder and chief executive of Pershing Square Capital Management, weighed in on the Hindenburg report with some thoughts of his own, that revived a longstanding fued between the two billionaires. Ackman taunted his rival by reiterating Icahn’s oft-quoted Wall Street saying that if you need a friend, get a dog. “Over his storied career, Icahn has made many enemies. I don’t know that he has any real friends. He could use one here,” Ackman wrote in a lengthy tweet. IEP shares are down 38.5% this week alone.

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  • Illumina shareholders vote to elect one of Carl Icahn’s candidates to its board after proxy fight

    Illumina shareholders vote to elect one of Carl Icahn’s candidates to its board after proxy fight

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    Illumina Inc.
    ILMN,
    -9.08%
    shareholders voted Thursday to elect one of activist investor Carl Icahn’s nominees to its board, and voted against the re-election of company Chairman John Thompson, according to media reports on Thursday. The genomics company has been engaged in a proxy battle with Icahn since March, who was seeking to unseat its chairman and chief executive and add three of his own candidates to the board. Illumina had blasted back that Icahn’s board nominees were “unqualified,” urging shareholders to reject all three and instead support its “highly qualified” nominees. Icahn had said that Chief Executive Francis de Souza and other “protectors” seem “dead set on destroying the company.” Illumina had defended its own track record. “Illumina is the only pure-play genomics company with profitable revenue growth,” it said in an early May statement. Icahn started the proxy fight with Illumina in March, criticizing the company’s plan to buy cancer-screening company Grail Inc. But Icahn himself is in a weakened position, under fire from a recent report from short seller Hindenburg Research accusing the firm of inflating asset values and causing his company to trade at a large premium. The report has cost IEP $10.9 billion in lost market cap since it was published on May 2. Last week, the storied investor admitted he was wrong to take a huge short position that led to losses of $9 billion. And earlier this month, IEP disclosed a federal probe into its corporate governance and other issues. It’s not clear if that was related to the Hindenburg report.

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  • Bill Ackman resurrects billionaire feud, saying Carl Icahn needs a friend. Icahn’s company’s stock tumbles 21%.

    Bill Ackman resurrects billionaire feud, saying Carl Icahn needs a friend. Icahn’s company’s stock tumbles 21%.

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    “‘Icahn’s favorite Wall Street saying: “If you want a friend, get a dog.” Over his storied career, Icahn has made many enemies. I don’t know that he has any real friends. He could use one here.’”


    — Bill Ackman, Pershing Square Capital Management

    That was billionaire hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman, founder and chief executive of Pershing Square Capital Management, resurrecting his longstanding feud with billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn in a tweet Wednesday.

    Ackman was referencing the fallout from the recent report by short-selling firm Hindenburg Research that accused Icahn’s publicly traded investment vehicle, Icahn Enterprise Partners LP
    IEP,
    -13.83%    ,
    of inflating asset values and causing his company to trade at a large premium. The report from May 2 has cost IEP about $10.9 billion in lost market cap, after the stock tumbled another 21% on Thursday.

    For more: Carl Icahn rebuts short seller Hindenburg Research’s report. It’s already cost his company $6 billion in market cap.

    Ackman said he is neither long or short IEP but merely “watching from a distance.”

    But he seemed to agree with Hindenburg’s founder and CEO, Nate Anderson, who questioned margin loans extended to Icahn using his roughly 85% stake in IEP as collateral. Icahn has not disclosed the terms of those loans although he recently told the Financial Times that he used the money to make additional investments outside of his publicly traded vehicle.

    “Over the years I have made a great deal of money with money,” he was quoted as having said. “I like to have a war chest, and doing that gave me more of a war chest.”

    Ackman said the margin lender or lenders “must be extremely concerned with the situation,” particularly after IEP has disclosed a federal investigation of its business and corporate governance.

    For his part, Icahn has called Hindenburg’s analysis “misleading and self-serving” and said it was designed solely to hurt long-term IEP shareholders.

    Ackman compared the situation to that of failed investment fund Archegos, “where the swap counterparties were comforted by each having relatively smaller exposures to the situation.”

    “The problem is that multiple lenders make for a more chaotic situation. All it takes is for one lender to break ranks and liquidate shares or attempt to hedge, before the house comes falling down. Here, the patsy is the last lender to liquidate.”

    Ackman also expressed his surprise that Icahn has not disclosed the margin-loan terms, or even said who provided them. “My understanding of 13D SEC rules is that they require disclosure of sources of financing and even copies of financing agreements, although many investors ignore these requirements.”

    Ackman also questioned how IEP’s large dividend yield is feasible, as it’s not supported by operating cash flows.

    “The yield is generated by returning capital to outside shareholders, which is in turn funded by the company selling stock to investors,” said Ackman.

    Icahn’s problem now is that his system has been outed by the short seller, Ackman wrote.

    “Transparency is not the friend of $IEP having caused a more than 50% decline in the shares, which has caused Icahn to post more shares, now more than 65% of his holdings,” he said in the tweet.

    The bad blood between Icahn and Ackman goes back to a business dispute the two had over a 2003 deal involving Hallwood Realty. The litigation between them went on for years. 

    But their animosity for one another hit a crescendo in 2013, when Bill Ackman publicly waged a $1 billion short-selling campaign against Herbalife. Sensing weakness, Icahn took a long position in Herbalife’s stock
    HLF,
    -5.21%
    and helped deal Ackman significant losses on his bet over time.

    The two claimed they had made up in 2014, sharing a stage at a conference broadcast by CNBC.

    Ackman had previously had taken a soft shot at Icahn over the Hindenburg report, saying there was a “karmic quality” to it. But now their battle of Wall Street titans appears to be back in full force.

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  • Carl Icahn admits he was wrong to take a huge short position on the market that lost $9 billion

    Carl Icahn admits he was wrong to take a huge short position on the market that lost $9 billion

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    “‘I’ve always told people there is nobody who can really pick the market on a short-term or an intermediate-term basis. Maybe I made the mistake of not adhering to my own advice in recent years.’”


    — Carl Icahn, activist investor

    That’s Carl Icahn, legendary activist investor and billionaire, admitting in a Financial Times interview that he was wrong when he made a massive bet that the stock market would crash.

    In 2017, his bet lost about $1.8 billion on hedging positions, according to FT calculations, that would have made money if asset prices had fallen. The trade lost another $7 billion between 2018 and the first quarter of 2023, according to the paper.

    Icahn’s investing arm Icahn Enterprises LP
    IEP,
    +0.06%
    started to short the market after the 2008 financial crisis, and became more aggressive in subsequent years. The company used a strategy of shorting broad market indexes, individual companies, commercial mortgages and debt securities.

    “You never get the perfect hedge, but if I kept the parameters I always believed in . . . I would have been fine,” he said. “But I didn’t.”

    Instead, regulatory filings show that IEP lost $4.3 billion on short positions in 2020 and 2021 as the market rallied off the pandemic slump, buoyed by the Federal Reserve’s massive stimulus.

    “I obviously believed the market was in for great trouble,” Icahn said. “[But] the Fed injected trillions of dollars into the market to fight COVID and the old saying is true: ‘Don’t fight the Fed.’”

    Icahn also explained what exactly he did with margin loans he borrowed from IEP that were recently highlighted by short-seller Hindenburg Research in a stinging report.

    Also read: What we know about Carl Icahn’s margin loan

    The loans were disclosed in regulatory filings in early 2022, but few seemed to notice at the time.

    The Hindenburg report accused the company of inflating asset values and quested whether a margin call would send the company into a spiral if the stock price were to fall.

    IEP’s stock did fall after that report — at the cost of about $6 billion of market cap.

    For more, see: Carl Icahn rebuts short seller Hindenburg Research’s report. It’s already cost his company $6 billion in market cap.

    Icahn addressed the report on the day it was released and offered an update on IEP’s recent earnings, saying he was fully in compliance with loan terms.

    He told the FT he had used the money borrowed from IEP to make additional investments outside of his publicly traded vehicle.

    “Over the years I have made a great deal of money with money,” he said. “I like to have a war chest and doing that gave me more of a war chest,” he added, referring to the margin loan.

    Earlier this month, IEP disclosed a federal probe into its corporate governance and other issues. It’s not clear if that was related to the Hindenburg report.

    That same day, it posted earnings showing it swung to a loss in the first quarter from a profit a year ago, missing consensus estimates by a wide margin.

    IEP shares have fallen 32% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.94%
    has gained 9%.

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  • Icahn stock renews skid as Hindenburg says latest company disclosure raises more questions about company debt, losses

    Icahn stock renews skid as Hindenburg says latest company disclosure raises more questions about company debt, losses

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    Icahn Enterprises LP’s stock was trading down 0.7% Thursday, after short seller Hindenburg Research intensified his bearish bet on Carl Icahn’s investing arm, and said he’s now taking aim at its bonds.

    Hindenburg, run by Nate Anderson, said the latest disclosures made Wednesday by IEP raised more questions about Icahn’s personal margin loans, or debt, from the company as well as portfolio losses at IEP. The short seller also said disclosures, intended to counter Hindenburg’s May 2 report, failed to address the issues raised.

    The original report raised questions about asset valuations and Icahn’s own borrowing from the company using his units as collateral.

    Hindenburg Research, which typically aims to profit from the decline in value of the shares of companies that it writes negative reports about, kicked off such a bet against Icahn Enterprise earlier this month but has now also set its sights on the company’s debt.

    For more, see: Icahn calls Hindenburg short-seller report self-serving, as market value of his company’s stock plunges by $4 billion

    “As noted in our earlier report, Icahn had not disclosed “basic metrics around his margin loans like loan to value (LTV), maintenance thresholds, principal amount, or interest rates.” This is still the case,” said Hindenburg.

    IEP has not said why Icahn had borrowed against his holdings. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment on Thursday’s report.

    On Wednesday, IEP disclosed a federal probe into its corporate governance and other issues. It is unclear if that investigation by the Southern District of New York is related to Hindenburg’s report and allegations, but the news put further pressure on the stock.

    The bonds, which have been more active than usual since the first report, took another leg down on Thursday, as the attached charts from market-data company BondCliQ show, as Hindenburg said it has taken a short position in them.

    The longest-dated bonds, the 4.375% notes that mature in February of 2029, were trading at around 75 cents on the dollar, as of midmorning.


    IEP corporate bond prices. Source: BondCliQ


    IEP bond volumes. Source: BondCliQ

    Icahn owns 84% of IEP shares and disclosed in a 2022 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he had pledged more than 181 million units, or 60% of his holdings, for margin loans.

    On Wednesday, IEP
    IEP,
    -1.77%
    said that pledge had increased to 202 million units, which Hindenburg estimates was valued at $6.5 billion as of Wednesday’s close, based on his calculations.

    The battle between the iconic activist investor and the short seller has clobbered IEP’s stock, which has fallen 39% in the month to date at a cost of more than $6 billion of market cap.

    Also read: What we know about Carl Icahn’s margin loan

    IEP posted an unexpected loss on Wednesday of $270 million, or 75 cents per depositary unit, for the first quarter, after income of $323 million, or $1.06 a unit, in the year-earlier period. The FactSet consensus was for income of 19 cents.

    Revenue fell to $2.758 billion from $2.968 billion a year ago, ahead of the $2.559 billion FactSet consensus. Analysts on its conference call didn’t pose any question of executives who briefly outlined the quarterly numbers.

    The company on Wednesday also issued a rebuttal of the May 2 report from Hindenburg and said it would “take all appropriate steps to protect our unit holders and fight back.”

    Icahn acknowledged that the investment segment has underperformed in recent years, which he blamed on its bearish view of the market and large net short position, which it has now scaled back.

    IEP offers exposure to Icahn’s personal portfolio of public and private companies, including petroleum refineries, car-parts makers, food-packaging companies and real estate. Its unit holders are mostly individual investors, which means the market-cap loss prompted by the report has hurt those individual investors, said Icahn.

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  • U.S. stocks struggle for direction as traders digest inflation data in April

    U.S. stocks struggle for direction as traders digest inflation data in April

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    U.S. stock indexes were little changed in choppy trade on Wednesday after data showed U.S. consumer price inflation cooled to the lowest annul rate in two years in April, though the core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, remained high.

    How are stock-indexes trading

    On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 57 points, or 0.17%, to 33562, the S&P 500 declined 19 points, or 0.46%, to 4119, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 77 points, or 0.63%, to 12180.

    What’s driving markets

    Stocks…

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  • Icahn Enterprises’ stock choppy as company moves earnings release to next week

    Icahn Enterprises’ stock choppy as company moves earnings release to next week

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    Trading in shares of Icahn Enterprises LP was choppy Thursday amid the continued fallout from a short seller’s report that was critical of the investment arm of activist investor Carl Icahn.

    The stock IEP was moving between gains and losses, but has lost 36% of its value and $6.5 billion of market cap this week in the wake of the report, which accused Icahn Enterprises of inflating its value. On Wednesday, the company said it is moving the release of first-quarter earnings to before market open on May 10. The earnings were…

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  • IEP Stock Price | Icahn Enterprises L.P. Stock Quote (U.S.: Nasdaq) | MarketWatch

    IEP Stock Price | Icahn Enterprises L.P. Stock Quote (U.S.: Nasdaq) | MarketWatch

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    Icahn Enterprises LP operates as holding company. It operates through following eight business segments: Investment, Automotive, Energy, Food Packaging, Metals, Real Estate, Home Fashion, and Pharma. The Investment segment consists of various private investment funds. The Automotive segment holds ownership in Icahn Automotive Group LLC. The Energy segment holds ownership in CVR Energy, Inc., which owns majority interests in two separate operating subsidiaries, CVR Refining, LP and CVR Partners, LP. The Food Packaging segment holds ownership in Viskase Cos., Inc., which is engaged in the production and sale of cellulosic, fibrous, and plastic casings for the processed meat and poultry industry. The Metals segment operates through PSC Metals, Inc., which engages in the business of collecting, processing, and selling ferrous and non-ferrous metals, as well as the processing and distribution of steel pipe and plate products in the Midwest and Southern U.S. The Real Estate segment consists of rental real estate, property development and resort activities. The Home Fashion segment operates through WestPoint Home LLC, which consists of manufacturing, sourcing, marketing, distributing, and selling home fashion consumer products. The Pharma segments operates through Vivus, Inc., a specialized pharmaceutical company. The company was founded on February 17, 1987 and is headquartered in Sunny Isles Beach, FL.

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  • Icahn Enterprises sheds $4.5 billion of value as short seller Hindenburg puts Carl Icahn’s company in crosshairs

    Icahn Enterprises sheds $4.5 billion of value as short seller Hindenburg puts Carl Icahn’s company in crosshairs

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    Icahn Enterprises LP stock tumbled 25% Tuesday to put it on track for a record one-day decline, after short seller Hindenburg Research issued a negative report against the investment arm of activist investor Carl Icahn.

    The stock’s previous one-day record decline was a loss of 19.5% on Nov. 20, 2008. The market cap loss today is about $4.48 billion.

    Icahn…

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  • Make Sure Your Child Is Supported at School

    Make Sure Your Child Is Supported at School

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    If you have a child with SMA Type 3 (SMA3), there are some extra steps you’ll need to take to make sure that their school gives them the environment they need to learn and flourish academically as well as a youngster without this condition.

    “While children with all forms of SMA have some physical limitations, it shouldn’t affect them from being able to access their classroom and learning next to their peers,” says Selene Almazan, legal director of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, an organization that protects the legal and civil rights of students with disabilities and their families.

    The Early Years

    When your child is between the ages of 1 and 3, they‘ll get services such as physical or occupational therapy through your state’s Early Intervention (EI) Program. After that, as they enter the school system, they’ll be eligible for an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or a 504 Plan. These plans spell out the specific services, modifications, and accommodations that your child will get from the school district.

    Children with SMA are often eligible for free preschool through the public school system to provide needed services, Almazan says. The district will most likely assign them a paraprofessional or aide at this time. This person will help them get around, lift or move objects, and use the bathroom.

    You and the aide will want to keep in mind that your child will most likely want to socialize and do everything their peers do. “My daughter couldn’t ride a tricycle, but when her friends in preschool all rode theirs, her aide would push her in her wheelchair so she could follow along on the same little path,” recalls Victoria Strong, an SMA advocate whose oldest daughter, Gwendolyn, had SMA Type 1.

    Navigating the Classroom

    Your child may start kindergarten with SMA3, or they may be just getting that diagnosis in elementary or middle school. Either way, it’s important to remember that your school district is legally required to make any classroom modifications necessary to accommodate your child’s physical needs, stresses Almazan. The district is also required give your instruction in what’s called the least restrictive environment (LRE). This usually means in the general education classroom with their peers, she adds.

    There are some other things to ask your district for:

    Reasonable access to the school and classroom. When Jennifer Miller’s daughter, Madison, who has SMA Type 2, entered kindergarten, Miller was shocked that there was only one wheelchair-accessible entrance to the local elementary school, and that was all the way in the back. “My first thought was what would we do if it was pouring rain?” Miller recalls. She was able to switch her daughter to another school in the district that was more accessible.

    By age 14, about half of kids with SMA3 aren’t able to walk. Even if your child isn’t in a wheelchair, there should still be accommodations, says Almazan. This may include making sure all classrooms they go to are close together, to lessen the distance they have to travel. If the school has more than one level, there should also be an elevator.

    The school’s Emergency Evacuation Plan should also take your child’s needs under consideration. For example, it should state who will go with them in the event of an emergency. Also, a “safe room” for them to go to in the case of fire should be set up for them with the help of your local fire department.

    Adaptive equipment. Kids with SMA3 often find that their legs are weaker than their arms, and that it affects the muscles closer to the center of their body more severely. Your school’s occupational therapist should recommend adaptations to desks and chairs so that your child can be comfortable in their classroom. They may also need modified written assignments or computer technology that uses voice command typing.

    Home-bound instruction. Children and teens with SMA3 may be more likely to have complications from respiratory infections because their respiratory muscles are weaker. This may mean that they need to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic, or during the annual flu season, says Almazan.

    If this is the case, your school is legally required to provide what’s known as a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) for the student at home. “Unfortunately, many schools will only do the bare minimum the state requires, and it’s up to parents to push for more,” says Almazan.

    Adaptive physical education. Your school’s physical therapist can help modify gym and recess time so your child can take part. They may also create goals for the IEP that focus on helping your child maintain their physical strength and endurance, as well as their flexibility and range of motion.

    Modified school events.  Field trips and school events should take your child’s needs into account. For any event, the school should make sure that your child doesn’t have to travel too far from the bus to the door and that the event is wheelchair- and walker-accessible.

    To help your child’s classmates understand this condition, it may help to create a letter to them and their parents. This can include information like:

    • SMA isn’t contagious.
    • What your child can and can’t do.
    • Why your child has an aide.
    • Why it’s dangerous for your child to catch a cold.
    • How to reach you with questions or concerns.

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