Catherine Whitcher, M.Ed

A few months ago I was speaking at a local Down syndrome organization's monthly meeting and they gave away copies of this book! I've fallen in love with the simple message, the bright colors and the modern day "differences" that we are seeing in ALL families. 

So often parents and teachers are looking for books that teach inclusion in an easy way through real life examples... this book does just that!

Get your copy on Amazon HERE

PARENTS, NEED IEP HELP? START HERE

MORE IEP HELP FOR PARENTS INSIDE THE IEP HELP CENTER: CLICK HERE TO ACCESS

It was great meeting you this past week!

Here are the resources we discussed... Please let me know if you have any questions, you can reach my team at [email protected]

Online IEP Help Center - This is the BEST place for us to work together and get results FAST!  LEARN MORE HERE

Become an IEP Coach - This mentorship walks you through EVERY piece of the IEP process and shows you how to start your own IEP Coaching practice to help others in your community. LEARN MORE HERE

ACCOMMODATIONS & MODIFICATIONS CHECKLIST: GET IT HERE

Books I shared that can be bought on Amazon:

Parents, Teachers and IEP Teams, It's time to ask...

What is the child's schedule?

It wasn’t until I worked on the inside of the school system, as a special education teacher, that I realized what a balancing act it was to coordinate everyone’s schedule. I had a classroom of 5 students that were my responsibility all day and each of those students had at minimum 3 different therapies each. Then add in inclusion time, recess, bathroom breaks, and the individual needs of each student and it turned into organized chaos. Every child received their minutes of services from me and their therapists, but was it done in the most effective way? Honestly, I don’t know. I hope so. I made the best effort to make sure the schedule was working, every day, but in reality… nobody ever questioned me.

A child’s schedule was barely touched on between teachers, admins & parents, in my district. However, it was an everyday concern between me and my support staff in the...

I'm sitting with my cup of coffee, on a snowy spring morning and catching up on my emails when I come across some advice that is being given to parents... and it's not sitting with me well.  It's encouraging "game playing" when advocating for your child. That's not going to work... not "these days".

I've been coaching parents, teachers, and IEP teams for over 20 years. I've worked on the "inside" as a teacher and have worn about many different hats on IEP teams from the "outside". I can tell you one thing with certainty... The Special Education "Game" has changed and old school "us vs them" strategies don't work for good long term outcomes.

Leadership is what is truly being craved by our special education teams. This includes EVERYONE on the team, parents, teachers, therapists, admins and yes... the child.

We need LEADERS on our teams who will do these 4 things:

1. Listen - Really open up our ears and our minds to what the root of the conversations and concerns are about, without...

Learn what questionst to ask Before, During and After... YOUR IEP MEETING!

Next Steps:
Join Catherine in the Online IEP Help Center - 
$1 to get started! bit.ly/IEPlibrary

Get a sneak peek behind the scenes of a BONUS training for parents about IEP Goals.

You can access the entire training and MANY MORE courses, all for $1 trial. 

START HERE

Pssst... your trial includes a private FB group with me so I can answer YOUR questions about YOUR child! 

When I went to hear the author of this book, Tim Elmore, speak, I had no idea how much his perspective would resonate with me as I help teachers and parents build meaningful special education plans. I could write for days on the strategies inside this book, but I promise you, it's worth the read (get it on amazon here).

This is NOT a special education book. In fact, I rarely look to special education books to find inspiration for special education ideas. In my experience, the best IEP ideas come from the real world and then we tweak and modify, as needed, to help every child benefit.

I will share with you one of the biggest take aways from this book that I'm bringing to every teacher and parent I work with... Create EPIC experiences for children in every environment, as much as possible. This means checking your lessons & IEP goal work for...

E= Experience
What is the child's experience during this learning session?

P= Participation
How will they participate?

I= Images
What...