PLOP – An Inseparable Part While Setting IEP Goals and Objectives

Present Level of Performance or PLOP statement is an important section of an IEP. It carries a lot of useful information on the limitations and abilities of the child. Parents should understand the PLOP statement word by word to ensure progress of their child.

An important section of the IEP, PLOP statement describes the nature of the disability the child is suffering from and how it affects the performance level of the child. It is a statement that describes the strength and achievement areas of the child along with the areas of improvement. The development of an IEP depends on the PLOP statement that describes student’s functional performance and academic achievement levels clearly.

A general PLOP statement may include recent test scores of the child, grades, strengths, areas of improvement, medical conditions, medications, child’s specific needs, etc. In a nutshell, a PLOP statement should include all data used to evaluate the performance of the student in relation to the standards of the grade. It therefore gives an indication to the teacher/parent as to what the child has learned and mastered and what needs to be taught in the upcoming session.

The strengths of the child can be one or all of the following – specific academic skills, social skills, learning style, physical achievements, etc. A present level of performance statement should include the summary of the evaluation data that plays a critical role in defining IEP goals and objectives. Writing performance levels for IEP is a daunting task for every teacher.

An ideal PLOP statement should have the following characteristics:

• It should contain objective information
• It should highlight the abilities and the limitations of the student in clear terms
• It should define how the student’s limitations affect his overall performance/progress and how these limitations can be done away with
• It should describe what helps in the learning processes of the student.
• An ideal PLOP statement should have some inputs from the parents as well. A free form of an IEP, PLOP can act as a foundation for an IEP only if the parents give continuous feedback and provide good source of information about their children.

Considering the importance of PLOP in the overall IEP process, make sure that as a parent you contribute something for your child’s early progress, in a PLOP. As a teacher, make sure that you do not forget to pen down important observations of the student in a PLOP.