To give teachers and service providers a head start, we recommend creating an introductory "All About Me" document with a vision statement that outlines what your child needs for success. This will help your child’s care team get to know their strengths, interests, and goals as well as your (and their!) vision for their future. A vision statement can help the adults in your child’s life focus on long-term goals that can shape your child’s current learning objectives.
In your All About Me, it’s a good idea to include which strategies work for your child and which ones don’t. For example, if your child is overwhelmed by having too many words on a single page, it will be beneficial for the teacher to know this so they can break the work down into smaller chunks. Knowing your child’s interests means the IEP team has an inside view on how to make therapy and work sessions more engaging for them, and therefore more productive.
By creating and sharing a document with this information, your child’s teachers, school-based therapists, and IEP team have the opportunity to see them as the whole, unique child that they are. It can be helpful to provide a copy to every adult your child will be working with during the school year. (To get started, check out our fillable template below!)
Another useful document we recommend creating and sharing with your child’s team is an IEP at a Glance, which can include your child’s diagnosis, services, accommodations, supports, IEP goals, and contact information for the important people on your child’s care team; in other words, it breaks down the essential parts of your child’s IEP into an easy-to-read sheet. Undivided Navigators prepare this summary for new clients using the child's IEP. If you're writing it yourself, check out our template here to create your own All About Me that functions as a both an introductory letter and IEP at a glance.
Sharing this information at the beginning of the year can help your child have a more positive, meaningful experience with providers who will be working with them (and may not know them yet). Giving your child’s teachers and service providers a quick overview of their IEP can also help keep them accountable. If you find that their goals and accommodations are not being met, you can use this document to prove that the teacher or provider was aware of the most important provisions of your child’s IEP.
