Advocate Mommy

Between progress reports and before your IEP meeting its a good idea to give your IEP a check up.  Using this chart you can do a simple look over to see if things are kosher.   Do you have questions about the IEP?  If so (right this second) email the special education teacher.  Do you have concerns about the IEP?  If so (right this second) email the special education teacher.  After emailing the teacher if you are still feeling lost? contact me, I can help Do you think things are looking fine but not completely confident in your knowledge of the document?  contact me, I can help with that too. Grab a copy of this chart here

Take a look at your child's IEP goals.  Do they prepare your child for further education, employment and/or independent living? Do you remember asking your teacher "when are we ever going to need this in real life"?  Learning how to use a graphing calculator helped complete my high school math requirements (ie further education).  Learning how to add and subtract help me figure out my finances and understand what I can afford at the store.  Cooperative learning helped me in my career.  There are some curriculum goals though that are not necessary for further education, employment and independent living.   Counting coins.  Is this a good skill to learn in second grade...sure why not.  Is understanting the value of coins an appropriate IEP goal?  No.  Can you get through your education without knowing a dime is worth 10c?  Yes, you may miss a few questions on a test but in the long run it won't effect your education.  Can you get a job without being able to identify coi

 It can be incredibly intimidating becoming a part of a team of professionals who all know each other and have been doing this for years.  You are essentially the outsider and the subject of this meeting is your child.  It's highly emotional and combined with the initial intimidation...ooof.   You may find yourself nodding along to whatever is said while inside you are extremely confused.   Solutions:  1) Ask a lot of questions, every question that pops into your head as it comes up.  Stopping the conversation to ask a question so you can have clarity is EXACTLY the right thing to do. 2) Hire an advocate.  An advocate is there to help you understand and to make sure that all the correct supports are in place, appropriate goals are included and that the IEP is implemented correctly.   3) Do your own research, there is a ton of stuff out there but your school should give you a parents rights packet, you can start there, Google IDEA law and look over the actual legislation, listen to

Does your child have a hard time when the schedule changes last minute?  Heck do you struggle when your schedule now includes finding childcare or working from home while your children have a pseudo vacation day?   Planning for a random snow day doesn't have to be torture on all of you.  I like to have a few special treats set aside for snow days that are a) not a lot of extra work for me and b) something the kids can look forward to and start the day knowing what the schedule may be.   If your kid needs a set schedule for the whole day, come up with something that can be used multiple times and each snow day.  If your child is ok with an unscheduled day but needs some structure have a few tricks up your sleeve that only come out on a random day off.   Here are some simple and realistic ideas: 1) Midday movies with popcorn and hot chocolate 2) Watercolor paints (my favorite because they are super easy to clean) 3) A special puzzle  4) Pancake breakfast with snow (powdered sugar) on

 After actually starting public pre-k and getting to know the teachers and seeing progress, I felt better about NEEDING a team of people to help me take care of my kid (because really I'm his mom and it's basically my only job right????  What does it mean when I can't give him EVERYTHING he needs myself).  I still felt all knotted up and ready for a fight before IEP meetings.  I was all "This is My Fight Song" and "Eye of the Tiger" on the way to meetings.   Once I walked in the conference room door and saw the pre-k teacher's sweet smiling face and a phone with the speech therapist's voice (she was out with the flu but wanted to give her part...which could have easily been done when she was better) and the VP who actually knows who my kid is...that I realized these are great people.  These are my people, they are my son's people.  They are not here to fight me, they are here for the EXACT same reason I am...they are here because they want to

  You have had questions about your child's development and either people have brushed off your concerns or are not much help.  The reality is, yes sometimes kids develop skills later than others, yes, sometimes toddlers have sleep issues they grow out of, yes, sometimes dropping dairy does the trick.  The thing is...sometimes it's more than that and your parent gut is telling you it's more.  There are things you can do to help with sleep and development etc...but what do you do, how do you do it, and how do you know if it's working?  Hard Truth: it's a lot of guess work and trial and error. But what do you do first.  Well...that I can help with.  First if your child is under age 3 look up your county  Early Intervention Program, your pediatrician can refer your child or you can refer your child.  They will do a FREE developmental evaluation.  I referred 2 out of 4 of my own children and had a great experience with them both times.  They will also help you find and