Annual Goals and PLAAFP

Ana's Verbal Abilities

Ana's verbal abilities appear to have been impacted by her delayed physical growth. She is able to compose entire phrases, but she is unable to finish paragraphs that have a topic sentence after them. This prevents her from participating in every component of the full education curriculum. She does not maintain friendships; all she wants to do is play sports. Her social abilities have been negatively impacted by the delayed physical growth, which prevents her from interacting with her peers (Etscheidt & Curran, 2010).

Strengths in Writing and Mathematical Fluency

She can write complete sentences, which is one of her strengths, according to her English teacher. Also, based on the Woodcock-Johnson 111 Tests her mathematical fluency score is at a high of 101 which means that she is capable of solving simple subtraction, addition, and multiplication facts fast. The fact that she also scored 104 on applied problems implies that she is in a better position to analyze and solve mathematical problems. But when she was evaluated using the nonverbal (UNIT) and verbal (WISC) IQ testing, her intelligence range was 105 which is an average intelligence range.

Challenges in Class and Family Influences

Her performance in class is poor because she has a lot of problems writing notes in class and her grades are very low. All these are supported by the fact that she cannot complete paragraphs, she makes spelling mistakes, she cannot sound out words properly and this has immensely affected her fluency in reading. All these weaknesses mean that she has trouble coping in class and in the long makes her grades drop. But as a child who has delayed physical growth, Ana's behavior also appears to be influenced by her family background. For instance, her mother got pregnant while in high school and only completed her GED after giving birth. To some extent, this fact does not motivate her enough to stay in school. Also, the fact that her mother is a full-time employee means that there is nobody to watch Ana while at her because she does not make contact with her father.

Interests and Self-Concept

Generally, Ana only appears to be interested in high school sports. She has failed to make friends because most of her peers make fun of her small size. She, therefore, prefers communicating with adults because they do not judge her. It is clear that she has not made any problems at school and at home but she has mostly lost her self-concept.

Annual Goals

Considering Ana's behavior and school performance, measurable goals will be set to improve Ana's behavior. The first goal states that Ana will grow her skills for social communication by initiating different topics with other students at a frequency of five opportunities that will be provided by a teacher (Drasgow et al., 1999). She will also initiate communicative interactions with other students by asking questions on an average of 3/4 opportunities. The objective of this goal is to improve Ana's communication skills so that she can interact with other students in school. The second behavioral goal states that Ana will portray productive school behavior on a daily basis by attending school consistently for the entire term and year and complete assigned work on a daily basis. At the end of the year, Ana will have reduced cases of absenteeism and also improved in the way she does her assignments (Soman & Cheema, 2004).

Measurable Academic Goals

Two measurable academic goals will also be used and the first one states that Ana will be able to read seventh-grade materials at a speed of 90-110 WPM with a 96% accuracy. This goal will be measured by probing her reading and counting the errors that she makes (Bateman & Herr 2011). At the end of the year, she will have improved her skills in reading. The second measurable academic goal indicates that Ana will grow her skills for English readiness, particularly in comprehension and decoding, by probing her regularly and providing her with samples for comprehension at a frequency of three times a week (Jones & Wells, 2007). At the end of the year, she will be able to sound out words, write complete sentences, and improve how she reads comprehensions.

Rationale

According to the PLAAFP, Ana is presented as a student who lacks self-worth and this is mostly because most of her peers joke about her small size. And while she participates in sports which are a social activity, the fact that she only communicates with adults indicates that she has poor socializing skills. In most occasions, she hides away from social situations and avoids things which she finds challenging such as assignments.

Therefore, it is clear that Ana needs help. Because as she avoids taking part in community activities and talking to peers she, this is only a short-term solution to avoiding difficult and challenging situations. In the long term, it will reinforce her lack of self-worth. It is, therefore, important to increase her communication skills so that she can communicate well with other students and make new friends. For that reason, the first behavioral goal will allow Ana to initiate various topics and interactions with other students by asking questions regularly. This is an important process because, in the end, it will improve her interaction with other students in school (Capizzi, 2008). Ana also has an escalated pattern of absenteeism and for that reason, the second behavioral goal requires her to portray productive school behavior on a daily basis. She is required to attend school consistently for the whole term and also complete all assigned tasks. In the long run, her cases of absenteeism will reduce, and she will be able to do her assignments.

On the other hand, Ana has a reading problem because she can only read 40WPM correctly at a seventh-grade level. For that reason, the first measurable academic goal is to provide her with materials from the seventh grade which she will read at 90-110 WPM with a 96% accuracy. In the process, the goal will be measured by probing her reading and counting the errors that she makes (Bateman & Herr) so that by the end of the year, she improves her reading skills. Ana also has a problem sounding out words and this immensely influences her fluency in reading and understanding. Therefore, to solve this problem the second measurable academic goal will improve her skills for reading readiness in the sectors of interpreting and understanding (Etscheidt & Curran, 2010). In this case, her fluency will be measured by regular probing, comprehension samples at a frequency of three times a week. It is an important process because at the end of the year, she will be able to sound out words, write complete sentences, and improve how she reads comprehensions.

References

Bateman, B. D., & Herr, C. M. (2011). Writing measurable IEP goals and objectives. Attainment Company Inc.

Capizzi, A. M. (2008). From assessment to annual goal: Engaging a decision-making process in writing measurable IEPs. Teaching Exceptional Children, 41(1), 18-25.

Drasgow, E., Yell, M. L., Bradley, R., & Shriner, J. G. (1999). The IDEA amendments of 1997: A school-wide model for conducting functional behavioral assessments and developing behavior intervention plans. Education and Treatment of Children, 244-266.

Etscheidt, S., & Curran, C. M. (2010). Peer-reviewed research and individualized education programs (IEPs): An examination of intent and impact. Exceptionality, 18(3), 138-150.

Jones, L., & Wells, K. (2007). Strategies for academic and clinician engagement in community-participatory partnered research. Jama, 297(4), 407-410.

Soman, D., & Cheema, A. (2004). When goals are counterproductive: The effects of the violation of a behavioral goal on subsequent performance. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(1), 52-62.