Bear has a fall birthday, so we get to do her IEP in a couple of weeks. This is the third review of the current plan. She is in her third year of preschool. It works well.
shirt from Zazzle
Our goal meetings take hours. We have four specialists and at least 25 pages to cover. I am very grateful we have a loving and helpful preschool teacher. Bear is treated by
- Vision teacher
- Orientation & Mobility
- Occupational Therapy
- Speech & Language
It’s hard to keep all her goals straight. She is going into Kindergarten next year. We have to keep that in mind as we gather our thoughts on what goals she will benefit from the most.
IEP planning tips for preschool developmentally delayed children:
- Begin writing down your ideas about it 4-6 weeks ahead of the usual meeting time. I email our preschool teacher
- Compare notes with your outpatient therapy providers if possible. You can sign a form that allows the school providers and private therapy to communicate as well.
- Visit your developmental pediatrician 1-2 weeks before and share his/her notes with the team.
- Choose which aspect of development you would like the preschool teacher to focus on for the year based on your child and your home life: Academic, Social or Motor. Remember that your child will get all of theses things just by attending developmental preschool, no matter which you choose. We’re going with academic this year and last year was social, year before was motor.
- Consider the future, aim high and leave room for reality. It’s great to want your child to achieve big things but often our kids are different animals at school than home. I tell my husband that we are just “penciling in” our goals until the end of the meeting.
I am excited for this year’s meeting. Bear has gone through some major changes from last year’s mid-year meeting.
What are your tips for preschool IEPs?
Astacia is a highly caffeinated mother of two. She is Seattle Special Needs Kids Examiner and a contributor in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Power Moms. She blogs atmamikaze.
This is so helpful — it’s great to see everything in one place. It’s also great to see someone with a positive attitude who has had positive experiences.
My IEP tips -
~ never go alone (I’m a single parent)
~ be positive
~ assume that everyone in the room is doing the best they can
~ remember, the school generally is looking at the next year, while us parents need to look at the bigger picture
~ depending on the age of the child, have them write or you write an introductory letter, with pictures telling the IEP team who your child is, what they like to do, what their strengths are (you want to build on strengths), tell them the funny things your child does.
~ to get services you must talk deficits, this is hard because we know how wonderful our child is. Acknowledge this and take a box of Kleenex if you need to.
~ when the school says that can’t because it is against policy, politely ask them for a copy of the policy.
Thanks for the tips. I am about to go through this for the first time in the next couple months.
We’re looking at re-doing our IEP/IFSP due to some difficulties that have come up…and my son is only 16 months old. More tips, please!
Love this! We just went through our first IEP as Addison entered preschool. We’re currently battling transportation because their proposal was that she ride 60-90 minutes one way with a transfer. It’s amazing that they are now re-vamping the entire system, probably because we mentioned that we had talked to Addison’s physicians, an attorney, and organizations who support children with special needs and all agreed that the current system was NOT okay.
I say take your state’s law (Indiana’s is called Article 7 and is 147 pages long) and now your rights.
Stay focused on the positive of your child, listen to that voice in your head. If you don’t think you are being heard, give some complements.(Then ask for what you want)
blogging has really helped me not send out mean and nasty emails! :0)
Also mention that your child is not defiant,and ask the staff to not take the behaviors personally. Bring someone with you, even if they just are quiet and take notes–
Be prepared, bring enough copies of any recent testing or paperwork from outside sources.
Try to come to the meeting with ideas on how to work in tandom with all the people invovled.
blog about it after words?!
You all have such wonderful tips! Thanks
I am going to compile them for next week.
Janet- IFSPs are a different animal. Often, you can get services simply by asking. Team up with your teacher and/or FSC and get the details of what’s required to get the services you feel your child needs. Sometimes you need a letter of necessity written by a therapist or doctor. Often, it’s just that the FSC is trained not to offer anything unless requested.
I agree about being positive. It seems in the past that they have had so much negative (what he’s not doing, what he should be doing, what he does wrong) to say about my son that at the end of the meetings, I’d ask them all to tell me one positive thing about my son……
I think walking in with confidence and knowing who your child really is is half the battle.
[...] comments from my post last week were so fantastic, I must share them with everyone. Here is a compiled list of tips for IEP [...]
[...] – I found the cute t-shirt in the picture at http://www.5minutesforspecialneeds.com. Check it [...]