Parents and IEPs

Building successful relationships with our children’s schools

Our themes

• Where are we, as parents, coming from?• What tools can we bring?• What do we know?• Putting it into practice

Where are we coming from?

• Imagine that you have been in a car accident and you have lost a leg.

• How does this affect your life?

Parents tell us …

• Anger• Frustration• Guilt• Loss of control• Change in relationships• Dependence on others• Fear of the unknown

Who comes into our life?

• Doctors• Therapists – OT and PT• Social services• Rehabilitation specialists• Support groups• Employment counsellors

Let’s look at the difference

• Parents talk about their “heart”• Service providers talk about “service”

How do we tie these together?• Acknowledge the difference• Build relationships

Relationships – home and school

• Key to making an IEP work• An IEP is a formal “piece of paper”• Relationship is what turns that piece of paper

into a “living document”• Relationship turns it from something to fear

into something to work on together

Building that relationship

Qualities parents want:• Openness• Sharing of good and bad• Problem solving – together• Learning from failure• Learning from success

What you want also applies to school.

Tips to foster collaboration

• Keep your meeting small.• Know who will attend.• Use a visual to track what is being said.• Talk about what helps you to be involved.• Share your feelings.• Keep goals simple.• Make failure okay.• Ask questions.

Eduspeak

• Sometimes schools use words that make it hard for us to contribute.

• You know how your child learns.• You know what you do to tell your child

something important.

My child learns best when …

• She has a chance to watch something being done before trying it herself.

• She sits close to the teacher.• Instructions are simple.• He can talk about it first.• He works with others.• He has quiet time to absorb.

Building goals together

• Keep to 4 or 5 goals.• Prioritize what is important.• Include both short term and long term goals.• Look at how you will measure the goal.• Set up a process for reviewing the draft.• Ensure goals include what you know about

your child.

Sample IEP goal

Josh is entering kindergarten. He has physical handicaps and a severe speech delay. At home, you use sign language to help him communicate. He uses a wheelchair and has leg braces.

The goal is to help Josh develop relationships with other students in the class.

Putting the goal into practice

• The teacher will use selected words in sign language with the class, beginning with “hello” and “goodbye.”

• Josh will illustrate the signs for other students.• The parent will bring in a simple sign language

book for the class.• The speech pathologist will teach the class a

song in sign language.

• The parent will bring in Josh’s old leg braces to add to the dress-up corner of the class.

• The classroom will be organized so that Josh sits in the middle of the class, with a small group of boys.

• Other students will be invited to have a turn helping the aide to push Josh’s chair to the library and the gym.

In summary

• The IEP is a tool to help our child succeed.• It comes alive when we build relationships to

support our child.• The IEP is the beginning – not the end.• Working together, we put our child first.