TN Pulse IEP, Section by Section:
Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP)
The Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP), sometimes referred to as “present levels,” is a vital component to your child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). The first PLAAFP for your child is a reflection of their skills and abilities, stemming from their initial special education evaluation, but changes as your child progresses in the public school system. It is essential that the PLAAFP comprehensively covers all aspects of your child’s development where additional support may be required.
During the annual IEP meeting, the IEP team, which includes caregivers, discusses the following questions:
- What are the specific challenges related to your child’s disability that impact their progress and participation in the general education curriculum?
- At what academic and functional levels is your child currently performing?
- Which strategies, accommodations and assistive technology have yielded success in your child’s learning? Has an assistive technology (AT) assessment been conducted?
- What are the academic standards for your child’s grade, and how do their skills compare to these standards?
- Is your child demonstrating age-appropriate developmental skills in behavior and learning?
- How does your child perform in non-school settings?
- What is your child’s perspective on what is effective or ineffective during the school day?
- Is there any other information that should be provided to present a comprehensive portrait of your child?
The responses to these questions are recorded annually as the PLAAFP statement within the IEP. The annual IEP serves as the roadmap guiding your child from their initial performance levels toward higher performance levels, summarizing IEP goals. While the PLAAFPs are addressed at minimum annually, these levels can be reviewed at any point where substantial progress (or regression) has been made and adjusted accordingly.
The primary objective of the PLAAFP is to pinpoint the specific special education services required for your child. The PLAAFP statement encompasses details on how your child’s disability impacts or would impact their involvement in the general education curriculum. For preschool-aged children, the PLAAFP concentrates on how their disability influences their participation in typical preschool activities and development. The team discusses the influence of your child’s disability on their capacity to acquire and perform tasks that children without disabilities typically engage in. This information is subsequently integrated into the IEP.
The PLAAFP statement offers a snapshot of your child at a particular moment and context, describing their current academic and functional levels, including both strengths and areas of need. The team considers a wide array of domains, including academic, communication, functional, general intelligence, health, motor or physical skills, sensory abilities (such as vision or hearing), social and emotional competencies, and the transition to postsecondary adult living (beginning at 13 years old).
Educators and other professionals working with your child contribute insights garnered from observing their daily school activities. As a parent, you play an important role in providing information that shapes the PLAAFP statement.
An effectively crafted PLAAFP statement should include:
- Performance levels achieved in the previous year’s goals.
- Any newly obtained results from special education assessments
- Performance on district and statewide assessments, including identification of skills and knowledge relative to academic grade-level standards.
- Classroom grades and observations, including behavior data.
- Input from the student and parents (since environments and situations may reveal varied perspectives of your child)
- Interests and strengths, encompassing non-curricular areas, which can offer valuable insights into your child’s abilities, learning potential, and motivators.
- Strategies, accommodations, assistive technology devices, or services that have demonstrated effectiveness.
The content within the PLAAFP section of the IEP should be articulated in concise, clear, and factual statements, offering sufficient information to reveal your child’s current skill levels in a quantifiable manner. If scores are presented, they should be either self-explanatory or accompanied by an explanation.
It is important to acknowledge the significant role of your child’s regular education teacher, a mandatory part of the IEP team:
- This teacher possesses a familiarity with grade-level and age-level expectations, enabling them to assess your child’s performance in comparison to their peers.
- Ensuring the regular education teacher brings pertinent information to the Iep meeting is essential. For instance, while an art teacher may serve as a child’s regular education teacher, they may not possess insights into your child’s reading and math abilities.
- Depending on the timing of the meeting, a regular education teacher for the next grade level may offer the most relevant information pertaining to regular education.
- Other teachers may also attend or provide written input.
Examples of PLAAFP Statements (Provided by the PACER Center):
- Jason has a reading disability. He is in seventh grade and reads independently at a third-grade level. He has grade-level comprehension of materials read to him. Jason needs to improve his reading skills.
- Lisa has ADHD. Her organizational skills are not well developed. She loses assignments and notes for her academic classes approximately 75 percent of the tie and as a result comes to class without the necessary materials. Due to these behaviors, Lisa is not able to complete grade level work. Lisa needs instruction on organizational skills.
- Connor has ASD. His academic skills are above grade level, but his social and communication skills are more than two years behind those of his grade-level peers. Connor needs instruction to understand nonverbal social and communication cues.
The PLAAFP statement serves as the foundation for crafting annual goals, accommodations, modifications, and other Iep services. It is imperative that all IEP goals align with the PLAAFP statement. Caregivers, equipped with a thorough understanding of the PLAAFP statement and IEP process, can effectively contribute to the IEP team, aiding their child’s progress toward higher achievement.