Jason 00:06 All right, we're gonna we're gonna go ahead and get started. Thanks everybody for joining us for Undivided learning and our weekly live chat. We're excited about today's conversation where we're going to be talking about how we can feel like champions going into our annual and triennial IEPs. If you're like many of us, the thought of preparing for an IEP meeting may bring up some some big, big emotions. And, you know, some procrastination and not at all feeling like a champion. But hopefully today, we can help you prioritize and focus on what you can do to walk into your meeting prepared and confident. I'm Jason Lehmbeck, CEO of Undivided, and dad to three boys. My oldest son Noah has I would say a good IEP, but we're actually gonna be planning to call an IEP meeting early. He's usually in March, because we want to dig in on some of his AAC challenges that he's facing. So definitely starting to conjure up the feelings of big emotions and looking forward to getting my head straight here with Dr. Pelangka. I'm also here today with Lindsay, who heads up our content community teams and Undivided. Hello, Lindsay.
Lindsay 01:14 Hey, everybody.
Jason 01:16 We also have our favorite one of our favorite educational advocates and owner of Know IEPs, which is not No but Know. And Dr. Sarah Pelangka, also a frequent collaborator of Undivided. Hi Dr. Pelangka.
Dr. Pelangka 01:32 Hi, everyone. Thanks for having me.
Lindsay 01:35 So I have to say I'm a total nerd. And IEP prep is actually one of my favorite topics, but it's also one of my least favorite things to do. But we did want to just start with the basics. So Dr. Pelangka, you're going to be referencing both annual and tri annual IEPs. So can you just tell us first, what's the difference?
Dr. Pelangka 01:54 Yeah, thank you again, for having me. I love being here with you guys. So the difference between an annual and a triennial: an annual as the name kind of alludes to in itself is the legally required meeting that's supposed to be held every year or at least once annually. So for every student that has an IEP, they will have at minimum, one IEP meeting per year, and that's the annual whereas the triennial is every three years and by law that's required at minimum every three years. However, you know, if necessary, it can be bumped up or it can happen sooner. And the annual meeting, parents will review the past year of their child's progress on the past year's goals. And then they'll look to basically update the the IEP for the next year. So they'll go through the present levels, goals, services, yada yada, whereas at the triennial, they're looking at a complete reevaluation to determine whether or not the student continues to qualify for special education and/or certain services within special education. So any service that the child receives will have a reevaluation. And if there's any reason to, you know, suspect a need for additional services, they'll have maybe a first evaluation for that area. So in those meetings, they'll review all of those assessment reports, which can be a lot of information, as well as everything that would be reviewed at an annual, so progress on goals to date, and then going through the IEP to determine if there's anything that needs to be updated or changed based on the new information from the assessments.
Lindsay 03:31 Okay, and one, one clarification from what you said, just if a parent hears this and thinks, oh, maybe can I only have, you know, assessments? Does that mean that I can only have assessments every three years? Just a clarification there for parents? Is that what that means with triennial?
Dr. Pelangka 03:46 Yeah, so kind of like I said, it's at minimum every three years to full evaluation, but it can be bumped up or happened sooner. And then if you're asking if that's the only time assessments can happen, absolutely not. So if parents feel, you know, sometime within the year, like, Oh, my child might benefit from an AAC device, for example, they can request an evaluation in the area of AAC and then move forward with that assessment at that time.
Jason 04:12 Perfect. So it's needs based, it's not times time based. And you can you can ask for that at any time, as long as you have a valid reason.
04:21 Yeah, correct. And then if, let's say the child then qualifies for those supports, that would then be revisited at the triennial moving forward. So a triennial kind of looks at everything that's already in place. And then like I said, if at that time, we're thinking maybe this student could benefit from an FBA, or a one to one aide, we can add that to the tri. But any parent requested assessment can happen at any time. Yeah, I mean, there's certain things that can't be redone within a year, usually more cognitive and academic based assessments, but that's for another discussion.
Lindsay 04:55 Definitely, we have to dive into that, you know, more more focused because there's a lot to unpack there. And we're also going to get into all the fun, the fun parts of IEP prep. But what in general, what is the biggest difference between preparing for an annual versus a triennial IEP?
05:11 Yeah. So for the annual, you'll want to make sure that you're, again, basically looking at the past year of your child's education. So you want to request a copies ahead of time of their progress report, so progress on their goals, as well as a draft copy of the IEP that they'll be reviewing at the meeting. Those are the two things you definitely want to request ahead of time for an annual whereas for a triennial, you want to request copies of any and all assessment reports that are going to be reviewed. Again, it's a lot of information, and they tend to be very dense and jargon filled. It's confusing. And so you want to have that time to really digest it, you know, make your notes. So requests those assessment reports, as well as copies of the progress report and the draft IEP. And make sure that you have ample time to review those before going into the meeting. And then you want to bring any notes that you've been able to jot down with you, as well as those documents going in. And if you have any outside, sorry, private assessment reports, you can always bring those as well, if you feel that it would be applicable.
Jason 06:17 And the like thinking about that, I mean, obviously, the sooner the better to get those request in and like what is the district responsibility? I mean, all of those items, they're responsible to get it to you. Is there a timeline? A turnaround time, you can expect a request?
06:35 Yeah, that's a great question. And it's very, it's a point of contention, I would say oftentimes. So for assessments, whenever there's an assessment done, it can't start without first receiving parent consent. And they have a 60 day time, right. And so that 60 days starts once that assessment plan is signed and submitted. And part of that 60 days, or that 60 days, I should say, encompasses not just conducting the evaluations, but also writing the reports and holding that meeting. So they technically legally have the full 60 days to hold the meeting, you'll be attending to review those results. And parents like to request those assessment reports ahead of time, which I always recommend, however, they often also like to dictate, I want it five days ahead of time, or 10 days before the meeting. And legally they have their full 60 days. So the law doesn't say that they have to give it to you any specific amount of time before the meeting, it just says that if parents requested, they do have to provide them. So what I always kind of encourage parents to do is you can of course, include that request, in your email, politely we can't, you know, tell them, This is what you're going to do. And, you know, I would say oftentimes, most often districts really do try to accommodate, and they'll be pretty, you know, transparent, I'm sorry, we have everything but the speech report, but we'll get it to you. Now, if they're getting you these reports, an hour before the meeting, or eight o'clock, you know, 8pm, the night before and your meetings 8am. Obviously, you know, that's not enough time for you to really digest it and understand it. So you can definitely say I'm sorry, I didn't have enough time to make informed decisions, we're going to have to reschedule. And that's generally highly recommended. Because again, parents have that right. And they want to go in informed.
Lindsay 08:21 So it's 60 days from the time of the parents signature from the parents signature to assess and have the report completed.
08:28 So the 60 day timeline starts from the date that that assessment plan is signed and handed over to them and they receive it. So you always want to request a time stamped copy so that it's clear what date that is. And it ends 60 days from that date, unless there's a longer than a five day vacation or scheduled break. Like depending on the district, Thanksgiving break or fall break might be more than five days, winter break would be a pause. So whenever there's more than a five day break, there's a pause in the timeline. But other than that, it's 60 calendar days. So all of that encompasses completing the evaluations, writing the evaluation reports and holding the meeting to review those assessments, and completing and updating the IEP.
Lindsay 09:14 Perfect. And you kind of touched on what my next question was going to be with assessments is that they can be really, really overwhelming. So parents get those assessments ahead of time, right, which you know, in the case of a triennial might be several might be more than several. So how the parents start, like, how do they even begin to really review and assessment? Where do they begin when looking?
09:40 Yeah, so that's another great question. My pets are fighting.
Lindsay 09:48 They like to be on Facebook Live.
09:51 And they don't like each other. So, generally, depending on the district, it's generally one big giant report that encompasses all of the, you know, different service providers. So it's a big, thick document, or it's kind of piecemeal, so you'll get one from the psychologist and one from the speech pathologist. So I mean, you can kind of start wherever. I generally recommend reviewing the psycho educational piece first, just because it gives you a lot of insight as to how your child processes and learns. So that would be the cognitive information processing and academic. And then looking at language and whatever other you know, depending on the student, right, and I always recommend having at least two different color highlighters and going through and highlighting one color is your strengths, or your child's strengths, like these are the things that are doing great and they're excelling at, and one color for the areas of, you know, need. And then really taking that going through, I actually suggest reading it through the first time without highlighting anything, if you're a parent, then going back and highlighting those pieces, because it's, again, it's a lot of information. And if you're stopping and highlighting and this and that, it can be very confusing. And then after that going and writing your notes and kind of separating it out that way with like strengths and areas of need. And then using that to kind of go through the draft IEP to make sure that everything that's been mentioned in that assessment is covered within that document, the IEP document. Did that answer your question?
Lindsay 11:26 I absolutely love the color coding thing I'm going to be starting.
Jason 11:32 We got her highlighters.
Lindsay 11:34 Like, oh, my gosh, that makes so much sense. What are you going to ask, Jason? Sorry.
Jason 11:38 I just, I like that framing of like, because it's hard for us to jump into it sometimes. Well, not sometimes oftentimes, there's jargon in there. It can be technically written. And this just like going out from let's try to pull out what the strengths are and the needs are, I like how that can focus us as we're trying to parse through what can be some sometimes very obscure document.
Dr. Pelangka 12:06 Absolutely.
Jason 12:07 So that's helpful. And like the notes. I mean, it sounds like the end game for parents that are reviewing that is just to have their questions around. Okay, you talked about the strengths, or you talked about these areas of need. And here's what I'm seeing, or here's what my concerns are, and you kind of build on that foundation.
12:26 Yeah, and I think that, you know, number one, a lot of these meetings tend to be centered around what a student's needs are, or what their, you know, deficits are. And to be fair, I mean, that kind of makes sense, because the whole point of a special ed team and an IEP is to help support a student in those areas of need. But what's often lacking is what are their strengths? And how can we tap into those to motivate them and help them learn to those areas of need? And so that's definitely the biggest area I see lacking in these meetings. And so for parents to make sure A. that those pieces are even in and mentioned in the assessment reports is important, and B. ensuring that they're translated over to the IEP and then using that information to kind of say, okay, how can we help him learn math or whatever it is multiplication? Or how can we help him do better with comprehension? Well, gee, he really likes X, Y, and Z, maybe, you know what I mean. So pulling it all together is important. And just making sure it's a true and accurate depiction of the student as a whole, like, you know, the IEP should be a depiction of the whole child, not just what their needs are.
Jason 13:31 So I have to share this just because it happened yesterday when I was in class with or with the teacher yesterday and the AAC device. And this strengths thing I've mentioned before on these that Noah loves music, and we brought the AAC device, and there were there's a section that he can get to quickly which was between Alicia Keys, Billy Eilish, and Gloria Stefan, like this guy's his musical tastes are extended, but it was really to what you're saying like, like, we're all having more success engaging with him on the AAC device because that strength showed up in how we're thinking about goals and how we help them do choice making and that that's, that really resonates for me.
Dr. Pelangka 14:13 I love that. I love his musical taste.
Lindsay 14:19 Can I ask you, Dr. Pelangka, should we know when we see those assessments, should we know how long they were assessing a student? Because, you know, I've read some of those reports. And it's like this does not sound like my daughter at all. And then when I check in, like with the psychologist afterwards, like, oh, it was one day for 30 minutes, which I thought was really important to note because when that's being presented, I mean, that is not you know, that was like a clip of time. And so should parents be asking, should that be in the report, or should parents ask for that information?
14:52 Both, and absolutely. I'm kind of putting my behavioral hat on. I always make sure that that's included. So at the top of every report, they should always have the testing dates. And if they don't have that, definitely request it. And then there's always from every assessor, like an observation summary, based on, well testing observation summary, and then they all should also be conducting, like just an observation of your child wherever, at recess, the classroom wherever they you know, and so I always ask if it's not already included, what was the date and what was the time of the observation? Because those pieces are also important too, like, for some students, the morning is better than the afternoon or vice versa. And if you feel like they haven't seen the child enough, and/or it was rushed, and/or, you know, your child requires more time, things need to be chunked or broken up, then request for them to go back and do more. Absolutely, you cannot capture anyone's true abilities in 30 minutes or even an hour. You know, I'll see that a lot with the psychologists like, oh, I met with him for an hour and a half. And based on that, he is no longer qualifying under autism. Like what? How do you know that? You know, it's an hour and a half. So yeah, for sure. That's a huge, huge piece.
Lindsay 16:08 For the triennial psychological assessment, what are ways to make sure and request a cognitive IQ test score is not included?
16:17 Yeah, so, um, I guess the short answer would be if you don't want cognitive testing to be included, you can just put it in writing that you're formally requesting that they don't move forward with cognitive testing. I've personally never done that, or recommended it for clients. I've had clients come to me kind of, you know, they've heard or they've been fearful of like an intellectual disability label. And they've heard that that automatically leads to certain placements, and X, Y, and Z. And I think it's unfortunate that that's obviously happening and has happened. And there's a history of that. However, I also think it's important for parents, you know, caregivers to know that no score and no eligibility in and of itself can dictate placement. So it's, it's the whole picture, right. And so that's giving us information as far as how a student learns best, you know, processing scores, I think, are very valuable. There's so many different types, there's so many different things happening in the brain, and so many different, you know, ways to tap into learning, but if we don't have that information, I think it could hinder. I get, you know, an IQ score isn't necessarily a be all end all. And I think that, you know, that can be said in a meeting. I don't, I don't think we should shy away from having those assessments done. Unless we feel like putting a student through that testing for some reason would be harmful. Obviously, there's, you know, students that are identified as African American cannot receive any standardized test scores so that's a separate piece. But aside from that, I wouldn't necessarily recommend not obtaining that information. And, and if you feel like it's not accurate, you can have that, you know, documented and then oftentimes, there are students who just can't, they aren't able to participate enough to get standardized test scores anyway. So then what you'll see is, well, we weren't able to score it. But we were able to glean this information based on, you know, the students responses, and or there's alternative tests, like the Sandy or, you know, depending on the age of the students. So, I think the more information, the better, but also ensuring that depending on you know, like, for students with autism, it's a lot harder to capture a true cognitive score, because of the way their brains process and work. So making sure that the tests that are being used, the instruments that are being used are also recommended, and research based for that population is important.
Jason 18:45 It sounds like you can request for it not to be included?
Dr. Pelangka 18:49 You can.
Jason 18:52 Again, yeah, to your point, like, you know, if you can get insight on how the person processes and some of those other elements that can be helpful, but I think for certain parents or families in certain situations, like this might be something they'd want to request not be included. And so it sounds like they can.
Lindsay 19:13 Is the 60 day timeline applied to triennial testing?
19:18 Yes, any testing.
Lindsay 19:19 Okay. Great.
Jason 19:22 And then let's jump to progress reports. How do we best utilize that information?
Dr. Pelangka 19:28 So progress on goals, those are fun. So you want to make sure depending on your district, if they're on you know, trimesters, or however frequently students, Gen Ed, students receive report cards, that's how often your child should be receiving or you should be receiving your progress report on your child's goals. So you're going to either get generally three or four per year. And you definitely want to go through those and make sure that A.) there's data entered for that progress reporting period added, and that the data that's being reported matches the way the goal is written. And then in the comment section making sure that there's actually information there. So instead of just saying like, you know, doing great, or progress, or I'm sorry, goal met or goal not met, tell me more. So request that they add in those a little bit of detail as to why or why not. And then if for some reason you're feeling like it's just not matching up with what you're seeing, request the data. So I want to make sure that you're bringing the data on these goals to the IEP meeting, I want to look at the work samples, are the teacher recorded data corresponding to all the goals or whichever goals? Because if they don't have the data to support that, then they can't a make any of those claims, and then B.), that would potentially be a request for comp ed.
Lindsay 20:51 And just I mean, I know you, you mentioned what kind of data but what, what are, what should parents think of when they're thinking what kind of data can they request? And how often should they request that data? I mean, is it every IEP, should we be requesting data for all of our goals? Or is it you know, really, just when we're kind of targeting something or have a question?
Dr. Pelangka 21:13 I think it's client specific. I mean, first of all, yes, you can request the data at every IEP, and you can request data on every IEP goal. So the data can consist of work samples. So if it's like a math goal, where the math sheets? You know, if it's a writing goal, show me the paragraphs or the essays. If it's more of an observation based school, like social interactions, you know, ask for the teacher recorded data to ensure that they were tracking it. If you know, you want to see service logs from the service providers, you can request that and you can request it at any time. So at any time, I would say, anytime you have some sort of suspicion, maybe you're thinking, Wait a minute, I feel like my child hasn't been receiving speech services for a while, I want to see the service logs, absolutely make the request. If you're feeling like you're not seeing progress in math, but they have a math goal, request the data. So you can request it anytime throughout the year, you don't have to wait for the IEP or the progress report. Like I have a client right now, we just set up a pre progress report meeting because they have a history of putting progress on their progress reports. And then lo and behold, we ask for the data and they don't have it, or the data is wrong. And we just went to the meeting and we're like, why is this special ed director here, it's just you know, like a conference. And it's because, again, they had no data. And she was mortified. So how do we not ask for that? They could have just handed over this progress report again, you know.
Lindsay 22:39 I have to say I'm that is one of the things I'm I am really, I will say this probably multiple times nerdy about, but are the progress or the progress reports because they really tell a story. And one sometimes that you might not even know is there. Donna put in the chat window like a yearly progress chart that's an example of just you know, a really easy template of how you can kind of plot like, you know, even if it's three years, kind of putting it, you know, every year, and even though the goals are a little different, it can really, you know, I will put in my daughter's goals like year, you know, thinking like, okay, she's had some progress, but this, this feels a little familiar. And so when you put in like the progress from the last, like three reports, or three years even have the baselines and when you look in that I will bold I think that might even be like in our in our template, but like I will bold sort of like the same sometimes it's the same language. And it's like, you don't really realize you feel like, okay, they're making some progress. But when you lay it out, you see that they have it right, the percentages are the same, or they're working on the same thing. Or if it's an OT goal, they're still you know, it's, it's really, it can be very telling. And then if you have the questions from there, and this has happened to me, and many people I know like you're saying, Dr. Pelangka, you put it out, you're like, oh, this, this feels like it's the same. Let me just ask, maybe I'm missing something, let's get the data. And you know, there was a request I did recently and I asked for that data. And there was absolutely no data from a service that had been happening. Like for the last year and a half, there was like literally no proof that my daughter had ever gone to this provider, which she had. No work samples, no anything else. And so then we talk to the district and you go from there. But it really can lay out a story that you don't realize. There are some red flags to things and then then sometimes it can really sneak up to you. It's not something that you're even really expecting or focusing on. And you really realize that nothing has happened or they worked on the same thing, or no progress has been made. And when you look at why, and there's nothing there, then that's on them.
Dr. Pelangka 24:37 It's heartbreaking. And just a really quick point because you bring something else that that's really critical for parents to know that I find often times they don't. It's not legal to carry over goals. So I saw that a lot within COVID times districts were like, well, how do you expect us to change the goal? Come on, we've been in COVID, like, give us a break and I'm like, no, because it's illegal so you cannot carry over a goal word for word verbatim. And I would say even if they're like, Well, we're just going to change the percentage from 80 to 70. Okay, well, so you're just you're basically downgrading the expectation. So there's protections in place. The reason you can't carry over carry over a goal is because then it just allows the district to keep doing what they've been doing, which obviously isn't working. So we have to change the goal to make sure that it's capturing what can we change to help the student attain it? What can we do to make it so it's going to work? Maybe it's the wrong skill, maybe we should be looking at something else, maybe we need to add in some, you know, layers of accommodations. But I really think that's important for parents because I see it all the time. And they don't even know. And there's this goal in place for years. And it's really sad.
Jason 25:41 Some of you may know I'm not I'm not the nerd that Lindsey is. And I love that asking for this, the progress reports and the data has two benefits. There's the for the super nerds that can parse through it all and start charting things out. I'm trying to push myself there. But then at a minimum, you're keeping them honest. And you get at least, do they have the data? That's that's a first step, right? And that shows them that they need to be on their toes, at least, and be prepared for this conversation. So I appreciate that tip as a non-nerd as well.
Dr. Pelangka 26:20 Accountability.
Jason 26:21 Yeah, exactly. So we've talked, we've talked about what we can expect or request from the school side, what would you say are the most critical things that parents need to organize ahead of time bringing to the meeting, like private assessments and those kinds of things?
Dr. Pelangka 26:38 Yeah, again, I think it's sometimes case specific. But at minimum, again, annual, triennial bring the copies of the draft with you in any of the notes, you've kind of scribbled on it. The progress report so you can compare and contrast for the reasons we kind of just touched on. Bringing your copies of the assessment reports, also, so you can make sure that they match the ones that they're reviewing in the meeting. And if they've changed, get updated copies. And then I always recommend for parents, because oftentimes, parents aren't aware of kind of the flow of a meeting, like there is a certain order. So go through the IEP and make your notes kind of under the sub header of the section that it is in the IEP. So if you have questions about the front page, you know, front page, here's my questions, if you have questions about present levels, right, those questions there, if you have questions about goals, questions about services, and that's the order it's going to come up in in your meeting. So if you're jumping straight to is my kid gonna get a 120 or not, and you're only at present levels, you know, you're going to expect, hold on, Ma'am, what we'll get there. So just kind of that way it can help you understand too when you can expect to have those conversations, and then it keeps you organized, because it's easy to kind of walk in there, especially when there's a table of 10 people and just one of you to kind of just go blank, right. So having those notes and having them organized can be really helpful.
Jason 28:00 Yeah, I like that framework. And we can share this, this idea of the table of contents and how to kind of prepare and organize your notes. I really love that. But before that, one of the things you mentioned in our conversations before is even something as simple as taking videos and bringing those in or sharing those before.
Dr. Pelangka 28:19 Yeah, yeah, thank you. So that's one of my favorite things I love and I, we focus a lot on this actually in my graduate program, but really person centered IEP is and allowing the individual themselves so the student to be a member of valuable member of that team. And so, you know, that's not to say your child has to sit through the entire IEP meeting, I understand that can be traumatic and/or just not fun or confusing. So, but I really do encourage as early on as possible, so not, not just waiting for transition, legally required right to invite them. But even in elementary and middle school, give your child a voice. And so if they're not ready to come in, even for a portion of the time to speak up, I've had clients just record a video of their child on either like a specific topic they want to touch on, or just generally. I've had clients have their child write a note or if they use AAC, we've had clients do like a little PowerPoint type thing. I've had parents just bring a picture of their child. I know that's common, but getting them more involved in having a voice I think is really critical. And it helps the IEP team honestly, and it's sad, but it helps them be a little bit more mindful of how they're speaking when that person is in the room, you would think that they would be mindful even when they're not in the room. But yeah.
Lindsay 29:40 I know this isn't really what you were talking about with the videos, which I love or obviously the presence being, you know, the number one or the videos, but if your child maybe isn't to the point of really, you know, self empowerment yet or they, you know, really can't articulate in the way that some kids can, then I also like to bring in videos of what my daughter is doing. Because again, if somebody's going to be presenting something that they're looking at for 30 minutes in a classroom setting where she knows she's being tested, my favorite thing is to bring in videos of what she's doing with private therapists. I mean, and I think that's a really like when we're kind of going through things that parents really need to pay attention to. I mean, I think private assessments are huge, right? I mean, if they're working with private therapists, not even just, you know, assessments, people that are working with them regularly to really show like, I'm not just saying this, here's the written, you know, here's the written assessment of what they're doing, here's their data. And then here's the video. I mean, I've done that when it's like, oh, she's only doing this and this, and I'm like, well, here's this, like, two minute video where it's just like, okay, like, you can't like really, you can't argue when you're when you're seeing something right in front of your eyes. So is that something that you also recommend?
Dr. Pelangka 30:56 I do, and I do recommend it. But I think it's important to kind of see both sides. And I share this with parents. So absolutely, and I know, we talked about using videos as data, factoring COVID, I think we did a piece on that, or some, I love that. And it's an excellent source of data, because you can't refute it, you're seeing it happen, right. However, it depends on the skill, because it is also true that if a child is doing something in a room with a familiar person, one on one, it's not necessarily going to generalize to in a classroom with 20 students. So it's not to say that just because the child can do it in one setting, it's automatically going to happen in another but it's absolutely important for the professionals to see that it's within their repertoire. So I agree with that piece. And I also, again, I mentioned earlier, bring in, you know, your private assessments, and even service providers, you know, if there's in home ABA, bring them to the meeting. However, again, the law does say they have to consider they don't have to accept that information. So it's just something for parents to be mindful of. There is a difference between medical and educational. And so although that information is helpful, and it's contributes, it doesn't necessarily always directly, you know, translate to okay, we'll accept that. And we'll change X, Y, and Z. So as long as parents are aware of those pieces, it's helpful.
Lindsay 32:17 Yeah, no, and I know you're right. But I know you are. It's the worst feeling, though, when they're acting like your child can't do it. And it's actually here. So let's figure out how we can make it work here. But I understand completely what you're saying. So just to really, like kind of recap, some of the big things that parents, you know, should be thinking to bring are the private assessments, like if they have the goal suggestions, obviously, there are questions, you know, the big things that they want to cover their questions about, you know, whether it'd be progress reports, or, you know, whatever their big concerns are, you know, for for their child in the upcoming IEP, if they want to bring someone with them, you know, where they're bringing their, their strengths, you know, as well as their questions. We talked about, like the videos, bringing the child themselves contribution. And then oh, and then just the, if you want to record it, right, that's, that's just like a key point to make sure.
Dr. Pelangka 33:11 In the state of California requires 24 hours notice. So if you're wanting to audio, record your meetings, make sure you give at least 24 hours notice, yes. And then just for private reports as well, maybe highlighting the pieces you really want the team to read, because more than likely, you'll hand them over and they aren't necessarily going to read all of them. So either reviewing it in the meeting, you have that right, highlighting it and then going back and checking in: Have you read this yet? You know, what are your thoughts? What are your thoughts?
Jason 33:43 And as we talk through this, there's, like equal parts like, oh, yeah, I'm feeling better. I know what to do. And also like, holy cow, there's a lot to potentially review here. So, like, thinking about, and you kind of touched on this, but I think it'd be a good way to wrap like, so that I don't I don't get overwhelmed in prepping for Noah, like, Where do I even start? Like you mentioned this kind of table of content thing. Like, can we just get your words of wisdom on how to start how to make it tractable for the non-nerdy parent?
Lindsay 34:19 I just want to say because everything we've talked about, and that we've barely kind of been able to touch on, like, all of a sudden, all that comes back in this draft IEP. And it's like, great. Now, I mean, not only do I have all the assessments to figure out then I have the draft IP, like, there's so many pieces. So how do parents take all of that? Like, take a breath, right? Whether it's hours or days, I don't know if Jason said that, right? Because you could have like, a couple hours or you could have a couple of days, but like how do they even start to say, Okay, I've got this how do I break this down and really get ready to like, walk into that meeting feeling like, like they can own it?
Dr. Pelangka 34:54 Yeah, it's, I'm not gonna lie. I don't think there's like a magic answer.
Lindsay 35:00 Pour a glass of wine, deep breath, go. Okay. Great suggestion, Yolanda, what are we doing with the wine?
Dr. Pelangka 35:09 And I'm sorry, again, I can't see anyone's commentary.
Lindsay 35:11 But that's why that's why I'm filling you in.
Dr. Pelangka 35:13 I don't have a magic answer. But again, I would just say trying to just go in as prepared as possible. And really, if you have someone to talk to, before you go into the meeting, take advantage of that, whether it's a friend who's been through it, or just a friend that you can confide in, or an advocate, getting answers, you know, I can't tell you how many clients I have that are just like, "This is too much just help me" and then I give them feedback. And they're like, I feel so much better. It's sometimes it's just talking it through. And getting people's, you know, input is, is really what puts parents at ease. And just knowing that someone's in there with them, you know, if you're really anxious about it, bring someone with you, again, whether it's your best friend, they don't even have to speak. But just having a body with you sometimes helps you feel a little more at ease. But really getting a copy of that draft IEP is really critical, comparing it to the progress on goals from the previous IEP before that, again, to make sure things aren't just being carried over, you know, writing down any of your questions. Again, I highly recommend trying to do it in an organized fashion so you know when to expect that to come up. And then if it doesn't come up, you can say, wait a minute, we already went over goals, and you didn't go over this. And, you know, if there's words within the documents that are confusing that you don't understand, there's acronyms that you don't understand, just reaching out trying to get that information. And if you're not able to beforehand, ask those questions in the meeting, you have the right to do that. And I know it can be overwhelming, especially if you feel like there's so many of them. And you know, one or two of you, but it's your right, and you're not the only one, like, those are valid questions, there's no you know, un-smart question, take advantage of that time and hold them accountable. It's their job. That's kind of what I have.
Lindsay 37:08 And I do really want to follow up like Jason said, which we will do, but the way that you you started to lay out how to really know the flow of the meeting and to organize, like what you're going to say, by that, that took me a lot of years to kind of realize, because a lot of people have ways to to organize, you know, chronologically like all of these, but when you really when you really organize by the way the meeting flows, then you know, whether, you know, you have all your paperwork in front of you, or you have your binder app that we have, you know, wherever wherever it's organized, then it's really you're not like looking through like what's coming next, you know, I'm talking about this goal, like, let me find where that private assessment is that goes with it. Like I really find when I organized by flow or by goals, right? However, the meeting is going and you have everything like right, you know, one after another, then it relaxed. It does, it relaxes me. So I'm not frantically looking for where's the information that I need to say right now? It does help.
Dr. Pelangka 38:08 And I guess one more thing, just know that when they're going through their assessments, that's not the time for them to tell you recommendations as far as, yes, I'm going to continue or No, I'm not. And these are the minutes or I'm going to cut them or add or that doesn't happen until you get through the IEP to the Services section. So I see that a lot too like, okay, great. Do you have any questions about my speech report? So are you going to keep working with her or not? And are you cutting session, like we'll get to that when we get to services. So just know, the assessment piece is just to review that. You'll get to all those answers when you get to those sections in the IEP. And if it's a continuation, that's frustrating, because then you're biting your nails wondering, oh, gosh, what's going to happen, but just know, you'll get there, they'll get to those points.
Jason 38:52 As always just love hearing and learning from Dr. Pelangka. And, you know, I think some of the things that you touched on, there are some great tools, but also perspective. And I like this idea of like making sure you find the space like understand the time constraints so that you can have the time to take back, to step back, think through what are you focused on what are the areas you want to really dig in on, and this idea of, we call this a body double in a different context, but having somebody there with you that can, you know, be the non emotional person in the room when you need that or before you go into it help you think through it and a non emotional way is great. And then make sure you get that draft IEP and I'm definitely going to use the progress reports tool tip even if even if I don't read through them all and take notes on them all and get everybody on their toes. But as always just really love how you help us think through this for for our kids and all kids and how you think about how of how to make these collaborative but effective meetings for our kids. So thank you. Thank you for all of that.
Dr. Pelangka 40:06 Thank you.
Lindsay 40:08 I have to say that I laugh when when you said, Sarah that like, even if they don't talk, you can bring someone even if they don't talk. And even Jason, you know, when you just said that, I thought that's what my husband did, but like, don't talk. And not really, of course he can. But you know, there's like, careful organization. So, you know, whether that's, you know, there's all these cues, like, don't jump on this, but it really does help, you know, to have somebody there, even if they, you know, just did I hear that, right? You know, how did that go? If you when you walk out and you have like so much energy to be able to really talk that through.
Dr. Pelangka 40:48 Yes. And you have someone to bounce your ideas or thoughts of like, Did I hear that? What was that? Am I crazy? Or did it say this? You know, so it's very helpful.
Lindsay 40:59 Thank you always to Dr. Pelangka, I learned something every single time I talk to you. So not only are we Halloween soulmates, we are nerds as well. So I love that. And for our Facebook group community, like Jason said, we're lucky because Dr. Pelangka is a frequent contributor. She's going to be coming back for monthly live chats with us throughout the school year, so lucky us. Each month, we're going to be diving deeply like we did today but into specific areas of the IEP. So then we can dissect all the pieces, put it back together, so hopefully you feel prepared for a killer meeting.
Jason 41:30 Thanks, everybody for stopping by. We hope you found a helpful tip or insight out of today's conversation to help you kick even more butt in your upcoming IEPs and we look look to see you all next week. Have a wonderful rest of the week. Take care.
Lindsay 41:43 Thanks everybody. Bye.
Save your favorite resources and access a custom Roadmap.
Get Started
