Catherine Whitcher, M.Ed

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...

When people meet my daughters, they know instantly that they are so very different from each other. You can see it on their faces, as they're about to launch into the air at Mall of America at Nickelodeon Universe. 

One is looking down and talking herself through the next steps. The other is looking up with pure anticipation of the rush. 

One is analytical. One loves the gray areas. 

One sees adventure in the unknown. One needs all the details.

One loves the flow of a lazy day. One craves structure.

Their differences are a big reason why we travel. Why we go out of our comfort zone. Why we make them both push their limits with new experiences. 

There are so many times that I wasn't sure we could conquer the next adventure as a special needs family, but somehow we always found a way. We practiced. We gathered the tools. We did the work to create the fun!

My "job" is to help you, the special needs parent, the teacher, the therapist, write an awesome IEP to help a...

Learn How to Create Your Parent Input Statement in a Private Group with Me HERE!

Special Education Parents and Teachers... We simply can't know where we are going with confidence if we don't start using the Parent Input statement effectively.

As a former special education teacher, I know first hand that this section is often glanced over. Yes, it's filled out. Yes, parent concerns are summarized. However, it's definitely not given the time and attention it needs considering what a critical change it can make in the IEP process.

Being a special needs sibling I watched my mom struggle to have her voice heard. She never gave up, but honestly, she didn't always take a diplomatic approach. (I totally get WHY, but if I can help a parent avoid that level of frustration, I will!)

It's time to take the BOLD IEP APPROACH and make the parents voice a significant driver in the IEP process. 

Each and every Parent Input statement should include the parent's concerns and desired...