To Moms and Dads Preparing for Their First IEP Meeting…

When your kids are struggling in school, IEP and 504 Meetings (or even parent-teacher conferences) can be overwhelming whether it's your first or twentieth. As school and evaluations are beginning again this month, remember:

Hang in there! You are on top of this. While your kiddo may struggle there is hope!

Keep building confidence by focusing on strengths and accommodating struggles until they are lessened through remediation and other ways of helping your child succeed.

In preparation for the IEP/504 meeting, know two things:

1. You are your child's best advocate. Approach the IEP team as all working for “TEAM (your child's name)”. They want your young person to succeed in their classrooms and in life, even if they don’t fully understand dyslexia. Trust your gut and keep asking questions if something doesn’t settle right with you.

2. If there is ANYTHING in the meeting that you are uncomfortable with, you don’t have to sign the IEP. You only have to sign for attendance. You can take all of it home, look at the plan with fresh eyes and mind and dig through it.

Two of the most helpful books to our early journey were Kelli Sandman-Hurley’s Dyslexia Advocate and Ben Foss’ The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan.
Both gave a new perspecitve and framework about dyslexia as well as actionable items to move toward know what to do next. 
You can study over the next several weeks. Just keep looking for the next right step.

You’ve got this, and so does your kiddo. ❤️