I make appointments to come and observe each of the school therapists individually working with Ellie...the way that they normally do. This is no small task. Ellie has PT, OT, Speech, Vision, Deaf-Blind Consultant and an Intervenor.
After I observe them, I ask how Ellie is doing on her current goals and allow them to report. I ask them to tell me Ellie's accomplishments (not short-comings). I do not go over every goal with each therapist...only the goals that mainly apply to them.
We then discuss whether we want to keep goals the same or get rid of them or alter them or add to them etc... This is where I typically will make my suggestions of what I want her goals to be.
Something that is really helpful is to think ahead of what you want the child to be able to do in 5 years. Tell the therapists these 5 year goals. Then you can figure out the steps to help them get there.
These first meetings take about 2 hours each so I make sure the therapist has that much time set aside.
I feel like these one-on-one meetings are good for us because when we used to try and have all the therapists sit down together...there were too many cooks in the kitchen. We got really side-tracked and there were just too many opinions and the meetings were super long.
Once we have narrowed down what we want the goals to be, the therapist agrees to write the goals that pertain to their area of expertise and they email them those particular goals to me. I go over the goals with a fine tooth comb and send back suggestions to that particular therapist. We email back and forth a few times until we have the goal pretty good.
After I have met with everyone individually, we have what I have termed a "Pre-IEP".
This is a meeting with all of the therapists and the teacher and the parents and the student. The teacher has compiled a list of all the goals together, numbered them and has a copy for each person. The school administrator is NOT at this meeting. I think it is important for the student to be at each meeting...these are their goals. I think having the student there helps remind people that these goals are for a person...not just goals on paper.
We go over all of the goals so everyone knows all of the goals. We discuss how different therapists can incorporate other goals into their specialty therapies. For example if speech has written a reading goal, we might make suggestions to the OT of how they could incorporate the reading goal with her OT goals. We make more changes to the IEP. This is the longest meeting it takes up to 3 hours.
The teacher then takes her marked up copy with all of the changes and the meeting is done. The teacher makes all of the corrections on the computer.
The teacher sends me home a hard copy a day or 2 later. I look over it and make any final adjustments and send it back.
Then we have the real IEP. All therapists and parents and the student and the school administrator are present. We read through the IEP. We have virtually no changes. We sign the IEP. THis meeting takes less than an hour.
Done. (For another year).
One thing I have had to come to realize is that the teachers and therapists ARE NOT THE ENEMY! They are in this profession because they love the kids. They want to help. They are not in it for the money or the fame. Compliment them, praise them, bring them treats (to the IEP also), you want them on your team. POUR ON THE HONEY...not the Vinegar. Try to truly listen to what they are saying and try to calmly help them understand what you long term desires are.
One last suggestion. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to throw them a bone. Almost every year I will "cave" on something. Usually it is something small. I will say, "I don't think she will be able to do this, or this is not my favorite goal" or something. But I add, "I am willing to give it a try for 1 year". I feel like if I am willing to bend, they are more willing to bend also. I get 95% of what I want and they are happy because they get what they want also.
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