Baselines, Present Levels of Performance

 

The IEP must include a description of strengths, needs, how the disability affects their ability to access educational and functional performance, what helps them learn, what interferes with learning, observations and data that describe disability, and disability’s affect on accessing education and inclusion environments.  From this section of the IEP the rest of the IEP is written.

 

(1) A statement of the child’s present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, including—

 

(i) How the child’s disability affects the child’s involvement and progress in the general education curriculum (i.e., the same curriculum as for nondisabled children); or

(ii) For preschool children, as appropriate, how the disability affects the child’s participation in appropriate activities

 

“functional performance - skills or activities that are not considered academic or related to a child’s academic achievement.” This term “is often used in the context of routine activities of everyday living.”  The reason that examples of functional skills were not included in IDEA was because “the range of functional skills is as varied as the individual needs of children with disabilities” (71 Fed. Reg. at 46661).

 

Evaluation procedures used to measure a child’s functional skills must meet the same standards as all other evaluation procedures [described in IDEA at §300.304(c)(1)]. (71 Fed. Reg. at 46661)

• ADLs - independently

• social skills across environments

• behavior skills across environments

• mobility skills across environments