What Is an IEP (BEP)? What It Changes for a Student With ADHD

Once a decision comes out of the RAM (the Guidance and Research Center) process, the thing that concretely changes at school is called the BEP: the Bireyselleştirilmiş Eğitim Programı, or Individualized Education Program (IEP).

This article is about what an IEP is, what it turns into for a student with ADHD and where a parent can take part. Practice can vary from school to school; what binds is what your school and RAM say.

What a BEP means

A BEP is a written program prepared on the basis of the developmental characteristics, educational needs and current performance of a student with special education needs. The IEP development unit at the school prepares it, and teachers, the parent and the relevant specialists take part in the preparation.

Two of its words matter:

• Individualized. Not for the whole class, for that student.
• Written. Not spoken goodwill; goals and adjustments tied to a document.

Its legal basis is the Special Education Services Regulation. The IEP became part of the school system in Turkey through a regulation that came into force in 2000.

What is in it

A BEP usually carries these components:

• The student's current level of performance: how much of which skill they can do.
• Long-term and short-term goals: written in a measurable way.
• Methods and materials to be used.
• Support services: such as the support education room.
• The form and timing of assessment: whether the goal was reached, how it will be measured.
• People responsible: which teacher will do what.

The last item is the one most often skipped. A goal with no one written down as responsible is on its way to being a goal that was not carried out.

What a BEP looks like in ADHD

In ADHD the student's capacity to learn the academic content is often intact. The difficulty is in being able to use that capacity in the classroom setting. That is why the adjustments in an IEP usually target how things work, not the content.

Common adaptations:

• Seating. Close to the teacher, away from the window and door traffic.
• Breaking down instructions. One-step instructions instead of a three-step instruction all at once.
• Written instructions. Having a counterpart on the board or on paper for a spoken instruction.
• Time and breaks. A pause during long tasks, extra time when needed.
• Splitting homework. A long assignment divided into parts and followed through interim submissions.
• Adaptation in exams. A quiet setting, the questions spread across the page, adjusted exam time.
• More frequent feedback. Small, frequent feedback that does not wait for the end of the term.

The meta-analysis by DuPaul and colleagues (2012), which pooled school-based interventions, shows that classroom adjustments and behavioral interventions produce significant benefit on academic and behavioral measures. So these are not "favors," they are practices whose effect has been measured.

Taking part in the process as a parent

A parent has a place in preparing the IEP, and it should not be a place that exists only on paper.

Ask to attend the preparation meeting. You know best what your child can and cannot do at home, and that information is half of the current performance section.

Bring concrete examples. Instead of "their attention drifts," "after twenty minutes they drop the homework, and when they take a break they come back to it." What is concrete can become a goal.

Ask for the goals to be measurable. "Will be more careful" is not a goal. "Will complete a three-step instruction when it is given in writing" is a goal.

Note the review date. An IEP is assessed periodically. Talking about what has worked when that date comes keeps the program alive.

What to do when it is not applied

This is the most common complaint: the IEP was written, it sits in the file, nothing changed in the classroom.

The places to go, in order: the class teacher, the school counselor, the school administration and, if needed, RAM. Being in writing makes a difference in these conversations: noting which goal is not being applied and on what date you talked about it.

Talking with the teacher is a skill in itself; I covered it in the article on talking with the teacher.

What it should not be confused with

It is not the same as the RAM decision. RAM carries out the educational assessment and determines the placement; the IEP is prepared at the school. The RAM article describes that process.

It is not the same as a disability report. That falls under separate legislation; I wrote about it in the disability report article.

It is not gifting grades. An IEP arranges the way in which the student can show what they have learned; it does not count what they have not learned as learned.

What is left to me

The most valuable thing about an IEP is that it is written. Because spoken understandings are lost when the teacher changes; a written program stays in the file.

So the most useful thing to do as a parent is to hold on to two things: a copy of the IEP and the review dates. These two keep you from having to explain the process from the beginning every new term.

The information here is a general framework. Because practice can vary by school and by province, confirm with your school and with the RAM you are attached to.