Practice-based Coaching to Enhance Preschool Teachers’ IEP Program Planning Competency for Students with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Practice-Based Coaching (PBC) in improving the competence of preschool teachers in planning Individualized Education Programs (IEP) for students with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD) in an inclusive school setting. A total of 35 teachers (Mage = 32.8; SD = 1.16) participated in three cycles of PBC training: (T1) enhancing conceptual knowledge about IEP, (T2) developing data collection and synthesis skills based on Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP), and (T3) improving the quality of IEP planning based on SMART goals and family collaboration. Teacher outcomes were measured using a 15-item multiple-choice test of IEP conceptual knowledge in the first cycle, a Pre-IEP Assessment Performance Rubric for PLAAFP-based data collection and synthesis in the second cycle , and an IEP Collaborative Project Evaluation Rubric to rate the quality of SMART-goal-oriented, family-collaborative IEP plans in the third cycle (T3).The results showed significant increase in teachers' conceptual knowledge, t(34) = 9.29, p < .001, with a very large effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.57). More than 85% of participants achieved the proficient category in Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP) data analysis, and 82.86% produced high-quality IEP plans. Beyond expanding the global literature on PBC, these findings substantiate its efficacy for IEP-focused professional development within Indonesian inclusive preschools. Crucially, the study provides an empirical framework for tailoring context-responsive support for preschool teachers working with children with NDD.