Category: Uncategorized

I am so excited for 2024! I am looking forward to being positive, proactive, and purposeful in all I say and do! As I enter into another year of advocacy, I love that I collect great stories to share with other teams about collaboration and how our success rate will skyrocket if we all work together. Here is a sample of the AMAZING things I heard in IEP meetings in 2023:

I just finished a class in Morphology, and I am so excited to start incorporating what I learned into your child’s daily learning.

I think we need to increase service hours on their IEP. I am just not seeing enough progress. 30 minutes three times a week could be increased to 30 minutes every day. This will reinforce all our new strategies daily.

I wanted to share the 6 weeks of data I collected. Here it is in bar graph form based on subject, time of day, structure of learning, and level of support. I think we can see some clear patterns of what is working and what we might need to change to keep them moving in a positive direction. (This is seriously my favorite school to work with. They could teach a master class in professionalism.)

Let’s meet again in 6 weeks to review the data and continue to make changes to meet their individual needs.

I am seeing some sensory needs, let’s add a full OT evaluation.

To the parents: Have you been getting my weekly emails of positive things and improvements I noticed in your child? I hope you are enjoying the funny stories I share.

I notice an FBA has never been done. I think we should do one to get some insight into these behaviors so we can start intervening appropriately.

Your child is not responding to this curriculum based on our data. Here is what the district has available to try but we would also like your suggestions of different curriculum for us to consider as a team.

If your child needs it, we will find a way to provide it, please do not worry about it, a scarcity mindset it detrimental to their plan.

I would welcome some training from your ABA therapist. I think it would help everyone.

Would you be willing to meet with your child’s para to give them insight on what works at home?

This child can absolutely graduate. Let’s develop a plan to make that happen.

I see your child is struggling with morning transition. I am here at 7:30. They can come in and sit with me and “warm-up” to their day whenever they need to.

Jackie, what are your thoughts? (No one ever asks the advocate to speak and share their opinion. I share them anyway, but it is wonderful when they do!)

I truly value collaboration. I love it when like minded individuals come together and start offering ideas and solutions based on facts, research, training, input from others, and experience. I love it when we all set our intention to do whatever it takes to help a child succeed. I love it when I can defer to someone who is an expert in a certain field, and I can learn from them. I love it when we are all excited about a plan and are willing to execute it with fidelity. Yes, education can be this good. I have experienced it. I want to keep this kind of mindset and momentum going. Join me! Here is to 2024!

I hear atrocious, law breaking comments at many IEP meetings. I thought it might open some eyes if I took those comments and transferred them to a different profession. Imagine hearing the following from your pediatrician when your child is sick:

I know we had an appointment, but this is running long, and I have to go. Let’s reschedule.

I know your child is sick, but we do not have the staffing or the funding to treat them.

There is nothing wrong with your child because we just don’t see these symptoms when he is in the office.

Your child does have a cough but you only mentioned the sneeze so we cannot treat the cough.

We don’t need to test her for the flu because it’s obvious she does not have that.

I don’t think we will need another appointment; no follow-up is needed based on the decisions we make today.

I didn’t collect any data on your child’s height, weight, or development but I know what I am doing will work because I am a well-trained doctor.

I have never helped a child with a rare disease before, but I have multiple degrees in medicine, so I am confident I know what I am doing. A specialist in this area is not needed.

We cannot get caught up in thinking about what will happen in the future, I don’t have a crystal ball so I can only treat your child based on today, I cannot worry about tomorrow.

I cannot control what other doctors or nurses will say or do so I do not want to put that in your child’s medical record.

I don’t want to put too much detail in their medical record because that is too much information and limits what future doctors can do.

You have paid a great deal of money to hear you were right about your child’s illness, but I just don’t agree with these test results.

If you ask me to treat your child I will quit, and you can find another doctor.

Your child is seeing many doctors and is on many medications I better call child protective services or the police because it’s clear these doctors and these meds are not “fixing” them.

Translated into what I REALLY heard at IEP meeting this year:

I know we scheduled this meeting, but it is running long, and my contract hours are done in about 5 minutes. I will have to leave. Let’s reschedule.

I know your child has Autism, but we do not have the staffing or funding to support them.

There is nothing wrong with your child because we do not see these symptoms at school.

Your child does struggle with Writing but you only mentioned Reading so we cannot help her with Writing.

We don’t need to test her for Dyslexia because it is obvious she does not have Dyslexia.

I don’t think we will need another IEP meeting this year, no follow-up will be needed based on the decisions we make today.

I didn’t collect any data on your child’s behavior, reading progress, ect… but I know what I am doing will work because I am a well-trained teacher.

I have never helped a child with such a rare disability before, but I have an advanced degree in education, so I am confident I know what I am doing. A specialist in this particular disability is not needed.

We cannot get caught up in thinking about what will happen in the future, I don’t have a crystal ball so I can only teach your child based on today, I cannot worry about tomorrow.

I cannot control what other teachers or paras will say or do so I do not want to put that in your child’s IEP.

I don’t want to put too much detail in their IEP because that is too much information and limits what future teachers can do.

You have paid a great deal of money to hear you were right about your child’s disability, but I just don’t agree with these evaluations.

If you ask me to use short term objectives, I will quit, and your child can find another case manager.

Your child is seeing many teachers and specialists and is on many medications I better call child protective services or the police because it’s clear these teachers, specialists, and these meds are not “fixing” them.

The first half of this school year has been tough. This is just a sampling from my notes. There are many more terrible, unprofessional comments to share. Teams are less willing to collaborate and doubling down on their “my way or the highway” attitude. I have filed more state complaints and OCR complaints in the last 3 months than I have in the last two years. (BTW, all are being investigated and so far each one has come back finding in FAVOR of the families.) This post is to show what families with disabilities often face and feel they have no right to share because they actually DO support public education and teachers just as I do. I know staff is underpaid, undervalued, and have too much on their plates but so am I and I don’t take it out on other people, let alone children. We need to do better, have some empathy for the children and families, and be open to possibilities that we may not have all the answers. We need to invest in public education NOW! We need more support staff, better pay, better training, and be open to the fact that people on the outside are trying to help.

Tomorrow I will share the complete opposite, the WONDERFUL and RARE people I have worked with at school.