As sure as the first flowers are arriving, so IEP time.

It almost sounds celebratory….but for those who have a special needs child, we know it is not like that.

You are there for an important reason, at a table with many people and the tension.

So with an Elizabeth lifetime of IEP prep times, meetings, re-evaluations and IEP adjustments, I wanted to tell you what I have learned and maybe this will help someone who needs to hear it.

FOCUS ON WHAT YOUR CHILD CAN DO
If Elizabeth was given a standardized test, I know her scores would not be what we want to see. But, if we were talking with her and helping her organize her thoughts about things like budgets and safety scenarios, she would answer really well.
So my take away, is to focus on how well she can do when her needed supports are in place. Because that is what she truly needs and how she does best. So when an IEP time comes, take a good, truthful look at things like this and gain strength from recognizing growth.

FOCUS ON WHAT THEY HAVE ACCOMPLISHED

If she did not fully reach a goal and it reappears on the IEP, instead of feeling defeated ( as I would have many years ago) I tell myself to look at the gains made toward the goal itself. Meaning did she do more steps toward independence? How many steps did she meet?
I try to see the gains made not what is left until the goals are completely met. This way I try to see what she has accomplished instead of what she did not. And I have learned over the years just how important it is to do this and keep shooting for future successes.

FOCUS ON ADVOCACY
If I have any real concerns then I did not hesitate to bring them up or if I had any goals that I know are more in line with Elizabeth’s wishes then again, I did not hesitate to address them.
Often, goals and experiences can be geared on a default setting kind of mind set, meaning, that they are not as tailored to someone’s wishes as much as, I feel, they could be.

FOCUS ON HOW FAR THEY’VE COME
-LASTLY and I did not do this often, but I allowed myself to think back to where we started and then think of where she has gotten to right now. I do this to keep perspective, to see how far she has come and to know she will continue to succeed. Will it be at the pace of a child who does not have special needs? Probably not. But do we know our children will continue to succeed? I truly believe ….ABSOLUTELY!

Trust me, I know how hard the experiences are. But preparing a good mindset before and allowing yourself to feel whatever you feel after the meeting is really important to successfully getting through another IEP season.

And just like the early Spring flowers that are here then fade away, the IEP season does the same thing.

Good luck to all as you prepare and greet the season,

I wish everyone a peaceful week,

Michele Gianetti author of Elizabeth Believes in Herself

I have a wonderful friend and this wonderful friend has the energy of 5 people and loves to organize and clean.

Wonderful qualities and they kind of keep inspiring me to dig in a tackle some cleaning projects that I might have otherwise otherwise looked the other way about.

Ok, truth be told, I DID look the other way about.

I want to say that life kept me from having the extra time to do these BIG projects. I always feel that I have to be in the moment with Elizabeth and keep my eye on all of her needs, therapies etc, my other children, husband and ill family members.

I think I am sometimes so much in the day to day that I just don’t think, feel or want to tackle something else big. Let alone several something big.

But the thing is once I started tacking these projects one step at a time I saw them change from huge things to manageable things.

And then I would look at the next project in the same manner.

I think the key is to see them as something that can be broken down into steps.

(It is funny because as I write this, it sounds like the way that we do things for Elizabeth when she is learning a new task or working on a skill. For those who don’t know, Elizabeth is my daughter with special needs. She has sensory processing disorder and global dyspraxia. Both disorders affect her life daily.)

Decluttering:

This is something that I think is so important to do with all the papers and forms we get for our children, especially those with special needs. After all, to properly address a situation at school means we need to be able to find the daily communications to refer to. To properly prepare for an IEP meeting means being able to access the progress reports that have been coming in all year.

And Spring is the perfect time to do this since the IEP season will be quickly upon us.

Here are some tips to help declutter and get organized with your school papers

–DON’T LOOK AT THE WHOLE PROJECT AT ONCE– Break it down into steps and do them when you say you are going to, no procrastination allowed

–MAKE SPACE– You need to be able to see all that you have before you can categorize and organize things. So find some real estate in your house and use it well.

–GET FOLDERS/CONTAINER– As you sort, those papers need to go into a folder so that all the information is easily accessible when you need it. Labeled folders into containers is a great way to keep a lot of papers well organized.

–BE PREPARED TO TOSS- Ask my friend, I seem to have a bit of difficulty parting with “memories” but once I began to do this, I could see what I really wanted to keep and it became easier to let go of others. So prepare yourself to toss some things in the name of keeping things well organized for the work you need to do for your child.

–KNOW WHERE THE LANDING SPACE IS- Picking a place for your container(s) to go is important. I wanted mine to go somewhere where it was easily accessible but not right out in the open either.

-PLAN TO DO THIS YEARLY– glup yes! yearly. A container or folder for each year. Trust me on this one. You never know when you might be called to look at previous IEP goals as a reference point and it will be so easy to find when you have everything in order.

I hope these help you feel a bit better about a task that can be overwhelming but that really needs done to make sure all records and forms stay at the ready for your child.

I wish everyone a peaceful week.

Michele Gianetti author of Elizabeth Believes in Herself