Dear Ruth, It’s been a real tough journey over the last year and three years. You have hung in there well but you cannot keep this pace. Ruth, you are so strong and Max is so lucky to have you fight for him. At times, I didn’t know if you or I would make it;…
Category: advocate
Stop Classroom Behavior Charts
I already dislike behavior charts that rank or rate children based on a color wheel and was planning to write this post all week. Then Friday evening I hear my (typical) daughter playing with her toys in the bathtub. She is playing and then I hear her say, “You have to be nice or…
Back to School: What to do when the Going Gets Tough
We are going on week two for school, really only day three come Monday and teachers have to hit the ground running teaching students how to follow rules, procedures and schedules then add the curriculum content and all the mandatory pre-testing, benchmark testing and assessing required. I teach high school and am completely outnumbered and…
504 and High School
This post is different from most because it relates to high school. Ruthfulness has a primary focus on early intervention for parents and students but as a high school teacher, I get to see how teens and their parents handle or fail to handle their/(child’s) special needs. Teachers, students, parents, and the community: A 504…
Ultimate Guide to Advocating
At my last IEP meeting I received a compliment from the compliance specialist in the district. She has been in every IEP meeting this school year! We had four meetings this year and she told me, “I just want to thank you for being so thorough, detail oriented and prepared for each and…
Keeping an IEP after the Developmentally Delayed (DD) label is dropped when children turn 6.
When your child goes to Kindergarten they will age out of the Developmentally Delayed (DD) criteria of the IEP. My son was classified DD and LI (language impaired) until this school year. I knew what to expect within the process so I started in August and finished in January so that I could only have…
Transitioning to Kindergarten? Quick Tips to make your Transition a Success.
Is your child graduating from Pre-K?! It all happens so fast, you don’t really think about it at the beginning of the year because it’s still preschool then all of a sudden May comes and you get a graduation announcement! My little guy is graduating from preschool and moving onto kindergarten. No matter if…
How to mentally prepare for an IEP meeting.
Having a child with special needs is a very emotional experience. Having a child that is delayed or under performing at their age group is common and parents have to develop a plan for their child’s success in life. That brings in the school. Schools are legally responsible for providing a free appropriate public education…
holy behavior plan, batman
Yesterday, I amended my son’s IEP and behavior plan. It was another 2 hour meeting. My last meeting was 2.5 hours and was to determine eligibility (the longest IEP…) At our last meeting, the behavior plan was so terrible that we had to agree to meet again to change it. A draft copy of the…
the longest IEP meeting of my life!
IEP re-evaluation and eligibility determination my meeting was from 2:30 to 5pm! This time of year is key for parents of pre-k students or students getting ready for kindergarten. When a student is first eligible for services with the school they are most often labelled DD for developmentally delayed. This label drops by age…
Ruthfulness 