STACY PHILLIPS: OK, so again, thank you for being here for our Families First presentation today. My name is Stacy Phillips. My colleague here is Melinda Knipfer. And today we're going to be talking about nuts and bolts of the IEP.

The last presentation that we did, which also will be recorded and live on the Institute on Disabilities website was more focused on the IFSP and that transition into students having an IEP. And so today we're going to talk a little bit more about the parts of an IEP.

I'm going to go ahead and introduce ourselves. And then we will go over our agenda for today. So a little bit about me, this is a picture in the middle of myself with my son. He is 11 years old and is diagnosed with emotional disabilities. My background is in sign language and special education and deaf ed. I have my master's degree in restorative practices in education from the Institute on Restorative Practices. My teaching career was mostly at the school district of Philadelphia.

I taught at several schools around Philadelphia as well as Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in their summer program. For those of you familiar, I am also a C2P2 graduate. C2P2 stands for Competence and Confidence, Partners in Policymaking. And I graduated in 2018.

And I also am the co-chair of the Pennsylvania Deaf Blind Advisory Committee, which falls under PaTTAN, or "puh-tan," however you like to say it. So that's a little bit about me-- Melinda.

MALINDA KNIPFER: So thanks, everybody, for being here today. My name is Melinda Knipfer. And I'm a parent first, two children with IEPs. I do have my own agency, Special Education Advocacy Services of Luzerne. And I've just found out yesterday that I will be taking over as the Executive Director of SAFE, which is an organization that provides community-based outings and parent training for people in the Northeast right now. We're looking to expand.

But my graphic is more about the competencies, and accreditations, and certifications that I have done in different areas for advocacy. And I too am a C2P2 graduate. And I was very fortunate that I had-- my classmate with Stacy, and building those social networks through different policymaking courses and things like that. So that is me.

STACY PHILLIPS: And I don't know if I mentioned it, but if you have questions, please go ahead and type them in the chat, or use the Raise Hand feature, or feel free to unmute and say your name. And we will gladly interact with you. We love to have an open dialogue. We really want to hear from you, especially parents if you're on today and have questions and need resources, that is why we're here.

So this is an awesome graphic that we showed the last time if you were with us, different words and the [? wordly ?] things that come to mind when you think about the word IEP, or the thinking about what an IEP is, or what it means to you. So, Melinda, do you want to talk a little more about this? And maybe some people will be willing to give us their highlights.

MALINDA KNIPFER: So the biggest thing for me is obviously student, student-focused goals and teachers. I think the combination, and if you have really good collaborative partnerships within that that the world's an oyster for our kids. And so they're are the ones that really stick out for me.

Does anybody have any words that they see here, or even that may not be included in this that they see as a nice jump into what they think of when you think about IEPs and schooling for students with disabilities, for your own student or anybody else's? You put it in the chat if you don't want to jump on the mic, but feel free to jump on the mic, anybody.

AUDIENCE: Hi, this is Lori. Are we only talking about positive words or can we share any word?

MALINDA KNIPFER: We wanted to try and do the positives because I think that in the whole microhistory of our kids with education, there's always something that's positive. When we get later on into some of the questions and things like that, I mean, if there's some negatives that you'd like to share, I mean, we can always, always talk about that then. But do you have any positives?

AUDIENCE: I mean, I think it could be a positive and a negative, is challenging. I think it's a challenge. And I think that as parents and as professionals, we rise to the challenge because-- and also I'm definitely focused on team. And I love that it's in the center because collaboration is at the heart of everything.

And I'm a family peer support partner. So I sit with a lot of families and help them through this. And so I think challenge could be taken either way. So I think I wanted to just highlight and applaud all the people that rise to the challenge to do this work for our kids.

MALINDA KNIPFER: And I think that bringing that up because when we think about too, and we want rigor, and we want ambition within our students learning, regardless of disability challenges, we're challenging ourselves.

We're challenging the norms. We're challenging the students. And I think that was really great for putting that in there. I love that, challenge. Anybody else want to jump in and give a positive or talk about something that's there on the screen?

STACY PHILLIPS: This is Stacy. I don't say anything in the chat, but if anyone would be willing to unmute, that would be fine. Lori, thank you for sharing that. I really do appreciate you saying that because I also feel like challenges are what propels us forward.

And if we weren't challenged, or there weren't any challenges, we wouldn't need to improve upon things. And I just think that sometimes it is a challenging process, absolutely. But it also helps to just keep us going and figure out solutions. So we appreciate you sharing.

AUDIENCE: Hi, my name is Michelle [? Peasley. ?]

STACY PHILLIPS: Hi, Michelle.

AUDIENCE: I wanted to share my thought being access, and how a student with an IEP is hopefully being provided with access to what they're learning, and being able to demonstrate that, I can provide you with the answers. I can do this, but I might need to do it a little differently.

STACY PHILLIPS: Awesome, yeah, that's a good one too, thank you.

AUDIENCE: Sure.

STACY PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to move on. But if anybody has thoughts, please feel free. Like we said, Melinda and I love presenting-- oh, Sonia just wrote diversity.

MALINDA KNIPFER: I know, and I love that one.

MALINDA KNIPFER: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that too. Our session outcomes for today are to know your options for pre-K, your role in the IEP process as parents. We're going to review components of the IEP, types of related services, collaborative partnerships. We're big on collaboration. So we wanted to make sure that we highlighted that. We will go over some state standards for pre-K. And then we will provide resources.

I know last time some people had to hop off early and they were concerned that they wouldn't get a copy of the presentation today. So just to let you know, yes, it's being recorded. But we will also make sure that we send out part 1 and 2 at the same time to anyone that registered for the webinar today.

MALINDA KNIPFER: So in Pennsylvania, the school district is not responsible for the IEP until the child is of kindergarten age. And that is not less than 60 days prior to the child being of kindergarten age. The early intervention program will do the pre-K, but the district would schedule a meeting with you to discuss the transition coming a little bit closer to the summer or time for transition into those kindergarten programs.

STACY PHILLIPS: It would be helpful if I unmuted. So what are your options for pre-K? So here are some. So head start programs, if you're familiar. There's pre-K Counts. There's preschool early intervention and private preschools.

Each of these has their own unique features and programming. But all of them are available for pre-K. And depending on where you live, I know it's more challenging if you live in a more rural area than if you live in an inner city that has many of these schools available to you.

If any of our family is online have utilized Head Start or preschool EI, or any of these that wants to share some of their experiences, we would love to hear them, or if your child is currently enrolled in a pre-K program. Melinda, did you want to jump in at any point here?

MALINDA KNIPFER: I think we have got the links for the resources at the end, which has more information about the specific types of programs. I think whichever way that you're going to go, that you want to ensure that you actually tour the program.

I always recommend parents that they tour the program when there are actually students in the program so you can actually see what each of them are. There's no one size fits all for every student. And so it's really integral that you're part of that process of doing that selection for placement.

STACY PHILLIPS: Great reminders, yeah, definitely tour them when there's children there, not when they're empty. It's a very different experience. I wish I had done that. All right, we're going to move on. So do you want to take this one?

MALINDA KNIPFER: Yeah, we actually had this in our last-- in our last one, talking about the IFSB. Not every child that had an IFSP, but does need an IEP going into a pre-K program. So we wanted to just put this reminder in with these slides that who can make a referral for this because it's still the same, whether it be for early intervention or for now school aged.

So a parent, a guardian, a caregiver, a childcare provider, a doctor, or a nurse, therapist, such as speech or occupational therapy, or physical therapy, an agency representative-- that could be through an IU. That could be through a private health care agency, mental health agency. And anyone with concerns for a child's development and well-being can make a referral for IEP evaluation. So I just want to dump that back in there just as a good little reminder.

STACY PHILLIPS: Yeah, so if you weren't here with us for the first one, we did talk quite a bit about the expectations and also definitions. So if we are using any acronyms that you're not familiar with, please let us know. For instance, IU stands for intermediate unit, in case you're not aware. We will try to be mindful of that and police ourselves, and make sure that we are defining any acronyms that we're using. So today is focusing on the individualized education plan, or IEP. I'm saying it to correct myself too.

OK, so time for transition, so this would be just one of many transitions that happen throughout the school age. This one specifically we're thinking about ages 3 to 5, so moving from that early intervention, having an IFSP, and moving into ages 3 to 5 pre-K, and then into kindergarten will be an additional transition. And so you'll hear that word often throughout your child's programming school years.

So what questions should you ask? Often people reach out to me and want to know, how do I go into an IEP meeting? I don't know what I don't know. I don't know what I should be asking. And there's so much. And of course it's so tailored and personal to you, your family, your child. What are things that are really important to you?

So to start off, things you could ask, how does everyone at the meeting know my child or work with my child? Generally if it's a great team, this is something that they do automatically. Everyone should have an opportunity to go around and introduce themselves. And you definitely should introduce yourself, making sure that they not only who you are as the parent, but-- or guardian-- maybe what your goals are for your child.

You could ask questions like, could you tell me about my child's day so I understand what that looks like? I know for my son the end of the day is tough and he's exhausted. And they do math at the end of the day. And that's his least favorite subject, so that's really challenging. And those are conversations that have come up during IEP meetings, and that we've said, what else can we do to work around that? Or can he have additional support during that time?

Can you explain what you're seeing from my child that's different from other children? And this could be a child who's in a mainstream classroom who is with their non-disabled peers, or it could be in a classroom that is a selfcontained, segregated setting, not necessarily to compare your child to them, but just to get a baseline of maybe what they should be doing developmentally at that age and being able to figure out where your child is at.

And the last one on here to get started is could we tour the available programs. We missed that. [LAUGHS] So obviously within each school setting or each of the pre-K settings that we talked about, the early intervention, the intermediate unit, the Head Start, there there's going to be different programming. And it will look different from school to school. So asking, can we take a tour, is a perfectly legitimate thing to ask.

Moving on, throughout the meeting what questions could you be asking or should you be asking? If they're giving you-- if they're coming up with goals, how is that measured, and how is my child's progress measured? How will I know? How will I know how they're doing?

And who will be working with your child and how often? So the goals and objectives should outline that pretty specifically. And we have sample goals and objectives on our last presentation. I don't think we included them here, but in those goals and objectives it will very, very specifically spell out who will be working with your child, how often, and what they will be working on, and then how is that going to be measured.

What support will the classroom teacher have in putting these accommodations or interventions into place? We know that teachers are amazing. And oftentimes they have way too much on their plate. So hopefully getting additional supports, will there be a 1 to 1 in the classroom? Will there be a behavioral specialist? Will they have a teacher's aide? And then, of course, other therapists, so who's going to be working on those interventions with your child?

Next up, what can I do at home to support those goals? I'm one of those parents, every IEP meeting, I leave with a packet or something emailed to me because I'm always asking, that's great. I love that you guys are doing that in school. Can you send me similar work so I can work on that with him at home?

And that is reli-- I forgot the word I was going to use. All right, moving on, sorry. Stacy's tired today. I'd like to see the final IEP before agreeing to any changes suggested at the meeting.

When can I get a copy? When can I see a copy? You definitely need to know when you're going to get a copy of that IEP. And don't sign anything that you don't feel comfortable signing. And hopefully the school will understand that you want that in advance.

All right, and final thoughts-- so towards the end of the meeting, when will these changes to his program his or her program begin? So if they're outlining the different changes that will be happening or interventions that will be happening, they should be able to let a date. Like this will begin next Monday. This will begin in two weeks. This will begin ASAP, whatever. It is but you should be able to know when those changes are coming.

How will we let my child know about any program changes? So sometimes, especially with kids as they grow, they want to know what's to be expected. They don't want any surprises. So it's important for you as the parent or caregiver and teacher or staff to let them know.

Hey, I know we've been doing it this way, but today we're going to go here. And preparing a child for those changes can lessen anxiety and any behavioral outbursts as well, so letting them know what's happening and not doing things to them, but making them a part of those changes as well.

Next step, can we make a plan for keeping in touch? So some schools use different apps. Some schools are great about email. Some use a composition book and they want to write notes back and forth. So what is your preference, and making sure you express that?

Can you email me and let me know how things are going? Can you write in his copybook every day or at the end of the week? Do you use any kind of online programs or apps to track behavior, and will you write me notes? So that sort of thing. So just make sure that you're keeping that line of communication open with the teachers and staff, I think, it was the most beneficial thing for a family.

And then also if you have questions about anything, who is the right person to talk to? Sometimes it is just the classroom teacher. And other times it might be the LEA, or the special education liaison, or someone else at the school. It could also be specifically a speech and language therapist, or the occupational therapist, whatever it may be. So knowing the right person to go to would also lessen the time that you have to wait for a response.

And who's the person to contact if you want another meeting? So making sure that you have contact info, email, phone number. And I always say put it in writing. So I love email. I always keep track of dates and things like that, and when I've requested certain things.

I know that was a lot. Does anyone have a question that is not on here that they think would be helpful for families to be asking at this time, really thinking about that 3 to 5 transition? Feel free to unmute, or type it in the chat. We are monitoring the chat as well. I know there are some professionals on the call, so if you've got some good ones, please feel free to drop them in the chat.

MALINDA KNIPFER: Stacy, for people with alternative language such as non-English speaking, if somebody uses Braille or sign, also being able to ask for your own accommodations, I think, is a really great one too, making sure that you're getting it in native language, the language that you use so that you can be an equal participant in those meetings.

STACY PHILLIPS: Excellent, yeah. Obviously lots of families that English is not their primary language or their first language, so definitely having things available. And that's also a good question for staff to ask. What language would you like information disseminated, and what language is-- generally, I think when kids start school they do send out that survey. What's the primary language spoken in the home? So hopefully getting things translated is also something that most schools are capable of doing.

So your role in the IEP process-- I really liked this graphic that I found that has parental involvement plus school involvement equals student success. I thought that was really cool. And Melinda and I were talking about this that now so much data has been taken and so many studies have been done, that when there's this collaboration that the family and the school are working together, that it equals student success.

And I just thought that was great. I agree as a former special education teacher and as a mom. I really can see things from both sides. And it's such an interesting lens to look at. So first and foremost, as a parent, caregiver, you are an active participant in the IEP process.

And the reason that we say active and not just participant is because you are also helping to drive this bus. You are active in asking questions, getting responses, making suggestions. You are the expert on your child. You know your child better than anyone else.

No matter how many degrees somebody else has, you're still the expert. You spend most of the time with your child. And you know them best. And so walking into an IEP meeting, that's actually what I tell myself because it can be intimidating to sit at a table with all the professionals.

But you walk in there and tell yourself, I'm the expert on my child. I know them best. And going in with that mindset really changes, I think, the mood, or maybe boost your confidence. And some families need that. When parents and teachers work together to support learning, social, emotional needs of the student, they do better in school. And that's a fact. And that's something that they've looked at, like I said.

So just keep that in mind. I think most teachers that I've come in contact with love my child and want what's best for him, and have been just so gracious to work with us and our family when we bring up concerns and things that we want to be addressed.

Also, don't be afraid to advocate for appropriate needs and goals. And there's definitely ways to do it where you'll-- what's that expression? You get more flies--

MALINDA KNIPFER: Get more flies with honey than vinegar.

STACY PHILLIPS: Yes, that's the one. I always forget that one, but it's so true. Just walking into that meeting and saying, hey, what about this? Have we tried this? And so just being that active participant, , like I said and not being afraid to advocate for appropriate needs for your child.

MALINDA KNIPFER: And on that, I think, Stacy, is one of the really good things is that learning-- you already know what your child needs. I always say that every note is actually a yes waiting for more data. And so if you're able to videotape your child, that they're not mastering it across environments, [INAUDIBLE] if your child's not able to fully read or to do that integrated play, and you bring that in, that's your yes in waiting.

So as a collaborative partner, they don't necessarily see your child outside of that school environment. Children can do things sometimes in school with all the supports that they have that we just don't have in the home or in the community. But all goals should be generalized.

So if you're seeing that, oh, he's mastering this at school, but why is he not doing it here? Certainly take video. Take your own data to take in and say, well, I really don't think we should move on from this yet until he's got this generalized. How do we go about doing that?

STACY PHILLIPS: That's a great addition, I love that. And when we say across all environments, like Melinda mentioned, that means school, home, and community would be across all environments. OK, we're going to pause for a moment and see if there's any questions on anything that we've covered so far.

We'd like to chunk things up, and making sure that each step of the way that there aren't any comments or questions. So feel free, again, to use the Raise Hand feature, unmute, or put questions in the chat if you have them.

MALINDA KNIPFER: This, all of the learning of this can be a daunting process for parents. And so we do have these little moments just scattered throughout the presentation just for you to have a thought. You might see something that we've missed. And raise that with us as well.

And bring into it what your expectations, what your thoughts are going forward for your child. Or even if you're with an agency, how you guys might do things or might share with a parent.

STACY PHILLIPS: OK, I don't see anything in the chat, so we're going to move on.

MALINDA KNIPFER: So this is the big stuff. So the whole purpose of an IEP, it provides for the special education related services to support your child to access a general curriculum, to learn with peers that don't have disabilities, and the three-pronged premise of the IDEA, which is the Individuals with Education Disability Act-- for me throwing out acronyms. We're used to doing that. But that is the regulations that govern special education.

Congress determined that we needed further education opportunities for students employment, meaningful employment for students, and also independent living. So that's why we have that three prong for the IDEA. It might seem like a really long way off when you're sitting at pre-K. But the whole purpose of that IEP, all of IDEA, is planning for your child's adulthood.

So all of the programs, all of the placement going into what we call part B of the regulations, [INAUDIBLE] 0 to 3 is Part C. It should all identify all of the. Areas your child needs to learn they're meaningful, they're goal specific, measurable, and has a purpose.

And then before we go into any meeting, before-- we want to always look at what's called LRE, least restrictive environment. It's not a location. It's not a room in a building. It's what services allows your child to have the most access to nondisabled peers and to the general curriculum, the general education curriculum.

In order for the LEA to ensure-- least restrictive environment, when we say LEA, we're talking about a local educational agency, which would be your district level, and the IU, the intermediate unit. You're coming together to determine what appropriate aids and services your child needs to be in the general education setting.

So that's called supplementary aids and services. What would be the-- the least restrictive environment would be that general education classroom without any supports or modifications to any curriculum, whether that be academic or functional.

Then we look at the second tier down, so the student isn't able to access functionally the classroom or academically the materials. So what support, supplemental aides and supports do they need? And that can include services for part of the day in that self-contained classroom, or full day in the general education classroom, so whatever that child needs in order to be in that environment. So those are the things that we should be looking at.

We never self contain a student on the label of their disability. So what do they need? So when we think of general education, it's more supports, more modifications, whatever we can do in order to keep that child in that general education setting.

But then we do have self-contained and special education classrooms and/or programs. We do have early intervention pre-K, which oftentimes they might be in the school in your local area. Or they may not be. They might be actually in an IU building. Some IUs have their own classrooms at their buildings.

And, generally, it is a little bit different to how the gen ed pre-K is going. Sometimes it's modified day, and not all week. So there's a lot of differences, when you're looking at where you think your child should be and would have the best access, so we're thinking about those.

Then we have nonpublic schools. So in this situation, we'd be looking at a private daycare for pre-K. And then we have home, hospital, and residential because we do have to acknowledge that the most restrictive environment where our children would not have access to either the full day of academic curriculum functional or their nondisabled peers is going to be in the home, the hospital, or residential.

There are some students obviously with health concerns and issues that-- pre-K continues on in the home and part of the community versus in a school base. Are there any questions on that? Because that's a lot.

STACY PHILLIPS: It is a lot. This is Stacy. And there's no questions at the moment, but I just want to pause a moment and also talk about the approved private schools. So we have to also think about safety. That is a concern.

And so even though at times we want our students, our children in that least restrictive environment, and in our mind that might be the general education classroom, oftentimes that least restrictive environment also has to do with the fact that sometimes more restrictions is going to provide them with the most freedom or access because of the nature of their disability or their behaviors. And so we have to think about not only our child, but the safety and well-being of the children around them. So I just wanted to put that out there.

MALINDA KNIPFER: Yeah, that's a really good point because we do actually have that. It's within the regulations that a child, regardless of their disability, has to be educated in the least restrictive environment with their nondisabled peers to the maximum extent possible.

However, we can-- if the safety of self and others is a concern, then we look at alternative programs. And that could be a nonpublic school. Which I love that you brought that up because that's really regulatory paces that we have to consider.

STACY PHILLIPS: Absolutely, thank you so much for going over that too. OK, we're going to move on to the next slide. And so we are going to break down the IEP in its components. And we are going to review the five main components of an IEP, starting with present levels of performance, the services and accommodations, goals, and least restrictive environment, which we were just touching on.

So we're going to get to the meat of those. [CLEARS THROAT] Excuse me-- so again, the IEP sections and questions to ask at each state-- student demographics and team meeting information. So this is the first thing that you're going to encounter when you open the IEP or when you see the first page of the IEP.

You do want to make sure that all the information is correct the team members that are there have their names listed. You want to make sure the dates are correct, your child's spelling of their name, all of that good stuff. If you've provided written input, that should be in that as well, in that draft, and in this section where this demographics are, making sure that everyone who is there also signed it. I think I said that, and making sure that anyone, including yourself or anyone you invited to attend, their name is also listed.

So that could be an advocate, or your best friend, or just someone who need there for moral support. And if anyone is not in attendance, that that has been marked on as not attending. I have been in IEP meetings where there's signatures for people that aren't at the table, or online, or participating by phone. And that shouldn't be the case. You should make sure that only the people that were actually physically there in some way, or on the phone, or on Zoom, are the people signing that IEP.

MALINDA KNIPFER: When we get into our sections, one of the-- the first section that we actually get to really is the special considerations. And what you want to be doing is asking the questions as it pertains to your child. So these three are-- and these, just so everybody knows, this is not our words. But this is how the document is worded. So we wanted to give you as much accurate information that aligns up to what you're going to see.

So the first special consideration is blind or visually impaired. We're not using person first language here, sorry. We apologize-- deaf or hard of hearing, communication needs, assistive technology, limited English proficiency, and behaviors.

When we think of blind and visually impaired, it is even with correction. So even if the child has corrective glasses or has surgery, if they still need an increased font, that should be marked. The same with deaf or hard of hearing, if a child has missed a screening and then they've done audiology assessments, further assessments, and they're still having issues with hearing, maybe it might be an auditory processing, that still needs to be marked.

If the communication needs-- now, that could be verbal communication. That could be physical communication. There's a lot of different things within the communication needs. And the annotated IEP, which we've given a link to at the end, will actually let you know what those more specifics are for each of the sections.

Assistive technology-- now assistive technology could be as using a PEC system, which is a Picture Exchange Card system or using a communication device. So it can be from very low tech all the way up to very high tech, expensive tech that might be necessary for your child.

So that would have to be checked if there's any use of that. I mean, it could be just a picture schedule. That's assistive tech, and that still needs to be included in this area because there are other areas that it affects.

Limited English proficiency-- for our students with disabilities, we do have to-- this is not a disability. And it's not categorized as a disability of limited English proficiency, but we want to identify the children that will need that extra help, particularly if there is a difference in sign language.

I remember that I was with an interpreter during a meeting. And they said, oh, the student just can't sign. But the student was actually signing. And it worked. And the interpreter was like, well, it's Spanish, the sign language that the student's using. So it's very important.

And I actually, I'm not a hearing expert in any shape or form. And I did recognize that there are actually different sign language for different countries. But I didn't know that significantly different. And so I also was reminded of that today because I had put a British sign picture onto this page. And so it's being cognisant of those things, and it's just remembering that one thing can severely affect something else.

The second to last thing is we're looking at behaviors. If behavior is of a concern, and it doesn't have to be extreme behavior, it could be inattetion. It could be a physical behavior. It could be a verbal behavior. We often forget that it's not-- it's any kind of behavior that prevents self and others from accessing the learning, so even if it's inattention is preventing the individual from accessing.

So we have in [? PA ?] with our behaviors, if we check this box, we have to build a positive behavior support plan for that child with goals that comes from a functional behavioral assessment. And that's a lot that's going on. But really what it is is finding out from the parent the things that they're seeing, finding out from the teacher things that they're saying, and then an observation by an independent.

That independent should also be looking at, is the child's behavior less or more than anybody elses in that classroom? Is that a direct result from something that's environmental? So there's a lot of things that go into that before coming back to that table. So that's special considerations, but I really honestly think that it's a really big part and foundation of building the IEP.

STACY PHILLIPS: Thank you. And just also I wanted to mention that, even though some of this is not people first language, we also need to be mindful of those who identify as disability first. And so deaf, hard of hearing, is completely appropriate. We don't usually say someone who is deaf, or a person who is deaf, and especially if they are culturally Deaf, which is that capital D, that is their identity, their disability-first identity. And so we also want to be mindful of just how someone's self identifies and being respectful of that,

So, yeah, OK, we're going to move on. So next section that we want to talk about is section 2, which is present levels of academic achievement and functional performance. And so this is where you're really going to see all the different testing that's been provided to your child, and where they fall, and where the results of those testing, their present levels, making sure that that data is current, making sure that you are checking those dates of when your student had those tests administered, making sure that it does include evaluation data, instructional grade level-- excuse me-- instructional and grade level because those are two different things.

So their child might be in sixth grade, but instructional only for math on a second-grade level, and then for reading might be on an eighth-grade level. So it really can be all over the place, so making sure that information is included and correct, their instructional level and their grade level.

Taking a look at the input from teachers, if your student is being pulled out for different subjects and doing math with their nondisabled peers, making sure that taht math teacher, that regular education teacher has that input in there, conversely making sure if they are spending some time in that self-contained classroom, that that information is included as well.

And then bringing up any questions and concerns that you have. If you see something that seems really off, if you're at home thinking, my child is an amazing reader. They read to me every night. But the school or the information in there is saying something very different, that there could be issues there that need to be raised, so making sure that you're looking at that and saying, OK, do I have any questions or concerns about that? And all of that information is going to be included in that section 2, present levels of achievement.

So does anyone have any questions about this, or have you encountered any challenges with your child's IEP being inaccurate, or having red flags, or raising concerns for you? We'd love to hear from you, so please feel free. Don't be shy. Sorry-- all right, we're going to move on to the next one. And if you have any questions or comments, please feel free.

MALINDA KNIPFER: So the next section, we sort of jump this from section 2 to section 5, is within the 3 to 5, there are areas that are actually in there for older students who are transitioning, et cetera, into what we call transition age.

But it just doesn't pertain. So we don't want to muddy what we're specifically talking about, which is that 3 to 5 pace. So goals and objectives-- you can't know where you start, where your child is benchmarked, where they are starting from if there's no baseline data.

And so you want to find out specifically where your child is because we wouldn't want it where a child is able to identify 22 letters in the alphabet accurately, but we're going to just have them that they have to accurately identify the letters in the alphabet. We wouldn't continuously have a child go over the same things that they really have mastered. And we also want to make sure that that's also in section 2, which is in their present levels.

When we're looking at goals, because they have to be measurable, because they have to be clearly defined, we want to make sure that each goal has a condition. We also-- all goals are individualized, so your students name should be in their specific to that goal-- that clearly defined behavior and what that performance criteria is.

So they will is a positive. We always want to have positivity within our goals, not they will not engage in X negative behavior. We want to make sure that all of our goals are strength based and looking at what we want them to do versus what we don't want the child to do.

The next piece is how are you going to monitor that progress. There has to be data collection. Just straight observation is too subjective in order to be able to gauge whether or not a student is making progress from one probe to the next.

And then are the goals aligned with your goals for your child? If there are functional needs that your child has but the only things in there are pre-K academic, is that really going to align with what you want to see your total child to be?

When we think of present levels of academic and functional performance, anything outside of that academic is functional. So if you want your child to be able to be more engaging socially with their peers because they are too shy, that could be something that you might want to ask to be added as a goal.

So if your child is still struggling with potty training, that's a functional. So then you'd want to have a look and say, well, what can we do to help encourage the potty training? How can we have it happen in the school base? That might need extra supports.

And all of that is all combined within how these goals are developed to then determine our next part, which is going to be what services are needed. Does anybody have any questions about goals? Usually we always get lots of questions about goals.

STACY PHILLIPS: We do. While we're waiting to see if there's more questions, I will share the my son's IEP meeting was a month ago and his occupational therapist included shoe tying, which I think has been a goal for quite a few years.

And at some point I have to accept that this isn't a skill that he really is excelling at, but also does he really need? And we have so many shoes out there that are slip ons. And they look like they're tied. And as an adult, no one's going to come up to him and ask him, do you know how to tie your shoes?

And so I look at that sometimes over the years and said, does he really need to know that, or are we just trying to give him goals that will transfer to other things? So then I also think about that. Does that goal transfer to other tasks, other fine motor skills?

And as a parent, I don't think that people should be afraid to say, I think that we can forget this goal. I don't think that he needs this anymore. Or if you see goals that are recurring and not really changing, you have to question that. Why has this been the same goal for two years?

So thinking about that and how to move your child forward by increasing those goals or changing those goals is something that, I don't know, something I think about pretty often. I don't know if anyone else has similar stories, but shoe tying seems to be one of those things within occupational therapy that OTs love to have in there.

On the flip side, she emailed me yesterday to tell me that my son is tying his shoes independently at school. And he's doing great. And he's self correcting, which at home he won't do. So obviously I'm the problem because I'm too helpful. All right, we're going--

MALINDA KNIPFER: Yeah, go to the next one.

STACY PHILLIPS: Yeah, all right. And so now we're going to move on to section 6, which is specially designed instruction, or DIs, accommodations, ESY, or Extended School Year, and related services. So, again, looking at those specially designed instruction and those accommodations, is it written in a way that is very specific, specific to your child, specific to what the outcomes are, what those goals are, and who is going to be supporting your student with that particular area?

And are they listed with frequency, location, and type? And so by that it might say 9 out of 10 times he will do this task with 80% accuracy. So that's what we mean when we say frequency. It might be for behavior that they will use appropriate language, walk in the hallways across all settings, so not just their special education classroom.

And-- sorry, I digress. I'm talking about goals, not services. I'm going to take a step back. So services that will be provided, so speech therapy. Will they receive speech? If so, how often and in what location?

So my son will receive speech twice a week, once in the regular education classroom, once in the speech room, 30 minutes, and in small group instruction, or will it be individualized? So we want to think about looking at the frequency, the location, the type of service that they are receiving.

If the child is eligible for extended school year, making sure that all the factors of ESY have been considered. Is there a chance that your child is going to regress without ESY? Are they eligible for ESY? And if so, what services will be in place while they are attending during the summer?

I know sometimes there are challenges with having speech therapists or occupational therapists on hand in the summertime to continue those services. But if there is a chance that your child will regress, those things have to be put into place as well. And should know how often that's going to happen because that likely will be different than the regular school year.

Next up, what supplementary aids in services does your child need to be educated with their nondisabled peers? So supplementary aids and services could be something like-- I'm trying to think--

MALINDA KNIPFER: A paraprofessional.

STACY PHILLIPS: A paraprofessional, there you go, a one-to-one aide, paraprofessional. If they have an ABA support behavioral specialist or an ABA therapist with them, that would be included in this section, so knowing who's going to be working with your child. What else will they need? And will they be with their nondisabled peers?

MALINDA KNIPFER: And do they need the modification to the curriculum? And how would that look? What would the explicit, specially-designed instruction look like? And that's where we want to have it specific. If you pick up the IEP, you should know exactly-- and anybody who picks it up should know exactly what either the accommodations are going to be, a modification to that curriculum or to the environment.

So maybe it's a student who has an amputation. And then they end up needing to have adaptive door handles for them to have access because we don't want to able-ize the child by providing, by doing everything for them and creating dependency. We want independence.

Then we're looking at different things, like does that child need to have an accommodation which just levels the playing field, it's not a modification, that they need to have those door handles. So that would be that if they needed a modification, it could be, OK, well everybody's getting three sight words to learn a week, but this student only needs one. Well, that's a modification to the amount of curriculum that's being delivered.

But if anybody has anything to add to this area because this is actually-- it's condensed because it's in one section. But it is a really big area. So any thoughts that anybody has to be able to throw out there to share for this area and different things for supplementary aides and services, that would be great.

STACY PHILLIPS: I am not seeing any other comments or anything yet, but we are going to move on. And if you want some time to type it out, we will definitely circle back gladly. OK, next section, do you want to take this, or do you want me to do this?

MALINDA KNIPFER: It's up to you. I can do placement because it comes back to that LRE graph that we did as well. Placement has to be that last consideration. And what can your child receive as services with nondisabled peers to the maximum extent possible?

Did they consider the supplementary aids and services, which we have in the specially-designed instruction area? And what would be the least restrictive environment for that student? Remember, it doesn't have to be gen ed. What is the least restrictive where that child gets access?

And so, yeah, I think that that's placement. But ask a lot of questions. Don't go into-- you don't have to just agree to a placement. Go and tour it before any deciding factor is made for your child. And you always want to see it when it's working, when there are students there, when there are teachers teaching.

I always give this caution. I probably shouldn't do this on here. But I always say if they're reluctant to let you in when it's working, when there are students there, I always hesitate as to whether or not, am I going to say yes that this is going to be the right place for my child.

STACY PHILLIPS: I agree. Having a full tour of a placement is really important. And I know for my own child, we looked at six schools when he was in kindergarten. And we realized that the public school in our neighborhood was not the appropriate fit for him.

We went and looked at six different schools across the area, and some of them further from us than we would like. But it was really important for us, as Melinda just mentioned, to see a working classroom, to see those teachers, to see the interaction.

There's a lot that you can learn about the body language of the staff, and the teaching staff, and how they interact with one another and with students. And if you're touring a school and no one's there, you really don't get a sense of what the academics, and the curriculum, and just the overall working of that school looks like or feels like.

And I always trust my gut. What did it feel like when you walked in? Did you feel welcome? Did you feel like people were happy to be there and happy to worked there? Did the students look like they were well kept and clean? And was the facility clean? And were kids being attended to if they were crying or tantruming, or whatever the case may be? So I would say as a parent, trust your gut a bit when it comes to any kind of schooling.

MALINDA KNIPFER: Yeah, parental instinct, that's the first thing that we have when our children are born. It's the last thing that we have when they're no longer here. And I really honestly think when we're going-- I really honestly think that there's a lot to be said for the parental instinct. If something doesn't feel right, it's because it generally isn't.

STACY PHILLIPS: Yeah, absolutely. I feel the same way. And we are mammals, but we're very much like the animal kingdom, trust your instincts. It protects you. It's there for safety, so even with something like this.

The next thing that we are going to touch on is the notice of recommended educational placement, or NOREP, and the prior written notice, which is the PWN. And I was telling Melinda earlier. I was in an IEP meeting when I was teaching.

And one of my parents said-- because I said, would you like the NOREP in writing? Would you like the paper copy? And he was like, please, I could wallpaper my entire dining room because of-- his child, I think, was in sixth grade. So he had had IEPs every year.

You absolutely can say, I'm good. I don't want a copy of it. But it is their responsibility, the staff responsibility to provide you with that NOREP.

MALINDA KNIPFER: Sorry, Stacy, the NOREP is required. The procedural safeguards are only required once a year at an annual meeting if there's a complaint being filed. But you don't want to not take your NOREP because that's going to have your consent with that.

STACY PHILLIPS: Oh, I would take the signature page, but it's like a book at times. But, yes, I'm not advising you not to take it, I'm sorry. I digress. So for changes, proposed refusals, or any kind of changes to programming, evaluation, eligibility, their placement-- and that could just be in the self-contained room versus in the general education classrooms-- all of these things would be included on there.

And so you want to make sure that you've been notified and all of that is spelled out so that you are signing off on what is actually happening for your students, so every day that they are attending school you know exactly what services, the frequency, their placement, all of these things. And you should know your rights, you're absolutely correct on that.

When receiving your NOREP and all of that, you definitely want to make sure there's been prior written notice-- oop, excuse me-- 10 days from receiving it, from the date of receiving it, you can agree or disagree. And this will give you options to agree-- excuse me-- to disagree.

And your options would be if you want to go to mediation or seek due process, you can do that as well. And you can request another meeting, which would be another-- excuse me-- an informal meeting. But it is important to know your rights and to check the dates, and look at all of this information before making any decisions before signing anything.

I know Melinda gets called into a lot of these meetings based on-- as an advocate. So do you want to speak a little bit more about the things that you've encountered surrounding this?

MALINDA KNIPFER: Yeah, so the misnomer is that, well, if I don't sign it, don't send it back, then nothing will happen. I'm just, you see, I'm doing a silent disagreement. The 11th day, the school district has the obligation to put into place and to work on the IEP from that meeting that you may not agree with.

So it is really important that if you do disagree, even if you don't go to mediation on due process, that you actually send it in with a disagreement. There is a little box that you can put in the reasons-- I actually tell parents to write all over it so that it's on file that you disagree, even if you decide that you don't want to go to mediation or due process.

But your disagreement's there, doesn't mean that IEP then won't go into play because, like I said, that 11th day in Pennsylvania, we're required to put plans in place within that 10 days. That 11th day has to be. A lot of times parents get upset because they're pushed to sign this at the end of the meeting.

Notice that happens after, and the changes to any programming should be notated on there because that's your agreement. You don't have an option to disagree if half the stuff that you've now changed within the IEP isn't on that paper.

So, really, they shouldn't even be coming into the meeting with a NOREP/PWN. It can be classed as what they call-- and I've got a mind blank here-- a predetermination. And predetermination isn't allowed because you've got to be part of that team, have to be part of the decision making.

And so getting that and then wanting you to sign it at the end, usually there's not all the stuff in it that has transpired, or that you've asked for changes, or occupational therapy has now are asked for changed because by the time you get into that meeting, it might have been several weeks. And now your child's doing wonderfully, or they've found another thing that they'd like to work on with your child because they met their goal.

So we just want to make sure that we're not, one, disregarding the importance of this notice; and two, realizing that it will go into play if it's not sent back. And going into-- trying to get changes after the fact, it weighs more on the school side.

So I just think that-- and if anybody has any questions, Stacy knows this stuff like the back of a hand. She's been it as a parent, you do. She's been in it as a parent. And she's been this also as a teacher. And so Stacy has the best wealth of knowledge. I call on Stacy frequently. You can't say that I don't when there are things that I'm--

STACY PHILLIPS: I'm just a mirror because right back at you, but yeah, I apologize for misspeaking on this.

MALINDA KNIPFER: It's all good.

STACY PHILLIPS: You're too kind.

MALINDA KNIPFER: But it just-- if you do have anything though, please reach out. When you're on the spot doing presentations, sometimes it's like we have mind fumbles, and it's all good, all good.

STACY PHILLIPS: Thank you.

MALINDA KNIPFER: Should we jump to related services?

STACY PHILLIPS: Yes.

MALINDA KNIPFER: There is one on here-- and I want you to take this because you really know related services really well, but there is one on here that isn't listed because I just didn't have space to get it on the slide. It's parent training and counseling. And that is so important because you can actually get training in the different programs that they're using with your child in order to be able to support them at home.

If I have a learning disability and so sometimes I have to have extra time with my daughter's teachers in order for me to understand exactly the process that she needs to follow, otherwise it seriously is the blind leading the blind because we both have dyslexia.

I'm functional, but there are just times that the process doesn't work as well for me in learning a new concept, particularly if it's not factual based. I'm a very factual regurgitator. That's easy for me. But it's the automaticity with the processing of nonfactual things and learning a different process, that's really hard.

And so I will actually-- I have in her IEP, I get parent training on new concepts. And it doesn't matter which one it is. We've got it in there for new concepts. And I get 30 minutes every month if I need it. If I don't need it, I don't need it, but 30 minutes every month with any specific teacher I may need as part of her IEP. So over to you--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

STACY PHILLIPS: I love that. That's fantastic. That is not something that I took advantage of as a parent, was parent training. I mean, I've done a lot of things on my own. But it's so crucial that you know how to support your child as much as anybody else.

There are times where these individual related services, where the staff gets to work with the physical therapist, for example. And, yes, that physical therapist is providing services to your child on a regular basis. But then 30 minutes a month they have consult. So if they're able to do consult with the staff, absolutely they should also be doing that with the parent if you need that.

So educating yourself and taking advantage of what's out there is really important. The place, the area that I see this most often used correctly, that parent training piece, would be in students that use AAC devices, or augmentative and alternative communication because for parents to be able to work with the speech and language pathologist who's providing an AAC device to that child, everyone on the team needs to know how to program it, how to troubleshoot, how to add language, how to change the settings.

And that's the only way that that works well is by modeling. And so it is really crucial. I see Lori has a question. I'm going to go ahead and stop for a moment. Go ahead, Lori.

AUDIENCE: I just have a quick question. It makes a lot of sense for parent training and instruction for those types of scenarios. I do find some resistance with some of the parents that I support when it comes to behavioral interventions and instruction.

And sometimes that can be a challenge between-- in the communication between the school and the family. So do you guys have any suggestions on how to make that more of a-- to me when it's technical, that's just a very easy way to say, oh yeah, I need to learn that.

But when you're bringing in specific behavioral type of interventions and the school wants to present that to the parent, is there, for lack of a better word, a more palatable way for the team to present it that a parent would not feel offended?

MALINDA KNIPFER: I'd like-- if you don't mind, I'll jump in on this one to start with-- I like for teams to discuss-- it's not about the parent not being able to do something. It's that we have these goals in place. And we need to make sure that the child is able to master that in all of the environments that the child accesses. So we have support for staff. And we also then have this as supportive for the parent to crosstrain and to pass on the skill set in order for the parent to be able to transfer that into the home or into the community.

STACY PHILLIPS: This is Stacy, yeah, and also I, like anything when you're trying to present information that's maybe sometimes difficult for someone to hear, you're taking that onus off of them and saying, we really want to be supportive of you. And this is something that we found is helping at school.

And so we would love to offer you this opportunity, so just putting that positive spin on it, not being, saying they're not doing a great job, like we know this is so hard for you. And we've noticed this behavior in school. But this seems to be working. And we are so excited to show it to you.

Or we're so excited to convey that information to you or to support you, and then letting them know that you're there to support them in whatever it is, but then also I would give the parent an opportunity to ask them, how else can we support you? Or what do you need for us to work together as a team, something to that effect, and just also letting them know how it's going to benefit them.

We really believe if we all work together that these behaviors, these self-injurious behaviors are going to diminish at school and at home. And he'll be able to reach his goals, like Melinda said, relating it back to the goals across all environments as well.

MALINDA KNIPFER: And any good behavior plan should always have all collaborative partners being the team, having a role in what they need to be doing. And that includes the parent. So even if the child's not having behaviors outside of the school, the parent should still be involved in that process in having some type of established maybe prompt hierarchy at home, a plan for-- this is our day, that we're all using the same language because it is a collaborative partnership.

And I do know we sometimes don't always see the same behaviors because they are environmental, which means it's in that setting. But there's always got to be collaboration on how to have that child be able to go into that setting and already be bolstered.

And that could be the parent participation piece of it. And their role is, OK, well, for us to start doing this, we need this partnership on this side, and just being really collaborative with that parent training. And parent training can be for anything.

If a parent doesn't know-- maybe a parent needs more information on their particular child's disability. And so it could be specific just to that. It could just be specific to or related service, or an academic, or a functional.

And so we think outside the bigger picture of just parent training and counseling. It is encompassing anything that that parent may need in order to support that child, is it that they need counseling for community services that are available for their student. It's all connected into that. But, yeah, I'll let you get back onto that.

STACY PHILLIPS: Oh, no, you're good. Thank you so much, Lori. That was a great question. I know it's never easy. People don't want to feel like they aren't doing everything they possibly can for their child. But I love the idea that parents can get training. And I'm really glad that you brought that up, Melinda.

I find with sensory disabilities listed here, for example interpreting services and things like that, but I find that that's where people take the most advantage. So if your child has a sensory disability or complex medical need, you know right off the bat, wow, I need to learn this ASAP.

I need to figure out how to be a mobility guide for my child who's blind or has low vision, or my child's stuff, I need to learn ASL if that's the way you're going to go. So things of that nature with sensory disabilities seems to be the place where people will take most advantage for that.

So we've been on this slide for a while, if anyone has questions about the other related services. And like we said, this is not an exhaustive list. This is just some highlights. There's many other related services that could be included, just depending on your child's needs. At the heart of it, what do they need? And what do they need to be able to do? And so getting those related services to assist them, support them, or you.

We have a place for questions here. I'm going to pause just for a moment. I don't see anything else in the chat or anyone want to unmute, but please do if you have a question specific to related services or anything that we've covered in this section.

MALINDA KNIPFER: I'm actually going to ask a question of you, Stacy because you did the whole early intervention piece and things. How daunting was that for you as a parent coming into this without-- and because I know that there wasn't a lot of this type of accessibility for information when he was younger. There was some, but it wasn't all accessible.

STACY PHILLIPS: Yeah, it was actually really hard because in my mind I was like, oh, I understand special education. I understand students with learning disabilities, and autism, and who are deaf because that was my background. But I had no idea what I needed or what he needed as a student with an emotional disability.

And I took what I had and didn't really take advantage of all of the other services that were available. So he started having challenges. And we'd never even thought about early intervention. I just felt like I was on my own. It wasn't until we got a formal diagnosis and then started seeking out supports that I finally felt like it wasn't all on me.

And looking at schools and working with-- [CLEARS THROAT] excuse me-- the school team was really beneficial, talking through things with them. And it wasn't always easy. I definitely had to go in there and take a deep breath and say, OK, I'm going to be the best advocate I can be for my child, and not cry, basically was what I told myself every time I went in there-- don't cry.

But I did have a pretty strong team. And they were very knowledgeable. And so they were able to hook me up with the right supports and make suggestions of things that we could do as a family to just better the situation, so yeah--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

STACY PHILLIPS: --process.

MALINDA KNIPFER: So I do want to ask the audience to either put into the chat or to come on the mic if they're comfortable, is what support systems do you guys have in place? Because it can be very daunting. And it can be isolating, in a sense, when you have a child with a disability, whether it be significant medical disability, or just behavioral, or autism, or Down's syndrome.

We all need something and someone. So can anybody throw out some areas of support that you have that somebody else might not even think to tap into? So we want to be collaborative. We want to be able to help everybody get some really good networks together.

AUDIENCE: This is Lori again. I just wanted to say the program that I work for, we're in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. And we are all parents who have children who have needed support in the education system and other different serving systems in the county.

And we're a free service. So I know that there are other counties that have a similar program. So I would just look to those resources that you can have a parent with lived experience who has gone through this ahead of you to help you go through the process, and help you to understand, and even attend meetings with you if all you need to do is have that extra support to use your voice.

STACY PHILLIPS: Lori, please feel free to drop your link in the chat of your agency. I know Parent to Parent is statewide. Are you just for families in Montgomery County? Do you serve only families in Montgomery County is what I'm asking?

AUDIENCE: We are a Montgomery County only.

STACY PHILLIPS: OK, yeah, feel free to put that in the chat though. Thank you so much for sharing that. And, yeah, finding those resources sometimes can be difficult. And I wish there was just like this one main place that families could go to get all of it, and we try. Here at the Institute on Disabilities we have a family leadership Facebook group if anyone is interested.

We do only serve Pennsylvanians, so if you live outside of Pennsylvania and you're on the call, please feel free to email me and I will hook you up with other agencies that I'm familiar with in the tri-state area or elsewhere. That's fine too. Yeah, thank you. Does anyone else have comment, question, or want to add to the question that Melinda posed, which was, who did you seek out? What agencies helped you?

MALINDA KNIPFER: Even family members.

STACY PHILLIPS: Family.

MALINDA KNIPFER: We always say don't IEP alone, like always-- because even for me, and I've been doing this for a very long time now, for me going into my own children's IEP meetings is still very emotional for me. I still have the sum of the trauma from previous teams that were not so collaborative and were not so embracing of looking outside of the box.

And so I still get emotional. And we've got some great teams. But it's still-- for me it's very different to going in with somebody else that I'm not biologically connected with. So for me, personally, I will generally not go into the meetings without really being prepared, or that I have somebody just take notes for me just in case I do get upset.

And that can be just a friend. That could be a Parent to Parent person who might be able to do that. It could be somebody else that just can take notes. But this brings us into, Stacy, to our next slide. And that's why I sort of wanted to bring it in to get the mind thinking of what type of collaborative partnerships are needed not just for the team. And this is-- we're talking specifically for the IEP team, but what's also around you because we don't want anybody to feel alone in this process.

STACY PHILLIPS: Yeah, absolutely. That collaborative piece is something that we've touched on throughout. And I love that this slide that you discovered, this image, it's so great. But, yeah, collaborative partnerships do require respect, trust, understanding. There has to be an open communication, those shared goals, and the willingness to problem solve.

And so all of these things together will make the process smoother. But also just support your child. I mean, obviously our kids are at the core of anything that we do, and making sure that we go in there with an open mind.

And sometimes it is difficult to trust a brand new team every year, especially if you haven't had a good experience. But the best thing to do is to go in there open minded and be willing to give as much as you're getting in return, or more. So I really like this image as well.

MALINDA KNIPFER: Pre-K in Pennsylvania-- well, in every state there have to be state standards for even pre-K, which brings me back to when I was little, a very, very long time ago I don't know if they actually had standards, Stacy, because I didn't have to be able to write my name going into kindergarten.

And I didn't have to know my letters and my colors. And so I think that there's been a lot more rigor put into academic standards all the way from pre-K, all the way through to 12th grade. And I think that that's great.

But because we have these early learning standards, when we're thinking about goals for our child, we also want to align them with what is required because we don't want our child still to have to go into kindergarten and still not have equal access to that grade-level curriculum to the maximum extent possible.

They may not be a grade-level alignment for a very long time or if ever. And that's OK too, but understanding what those are and being able to say to the team, OK, so how do the standards fit into these goals? Do we have goals that we're going to look at getting my child to those standards?

Because as you go through the IEP, it's yes, we know instructional level. But we also want to have that with grade-level alignment. Yes, we might have to modify the curriculum. But that's OK. That's where our [? SDIs ?] come in, and the accommodation area of the goal. You don't have to have one or the other. You can have both.

And we know that students who have access to gen ed curriculum actually do perform better at closing gaps. So when we look at these standards, they do include, but they aren't limited to the creative thinking, health and wellness, language and literacy, mathematical thinking.

So the kids are going to be playing with little pennies and things that they, at the developmental level in putting so many things into a jar. Social studies and social and emotional outcomes are the other ones as well because we now know that the social and emotional wellbeing of a student is oftentimes far more critical because it will impact learning.

So if we have a child who is maladjusted socially and emotionally, we honestly could have quite a few problems with accessing the curriculum. So we almost have to look at this whole, total child, but looking at that social and emotional with more of a lens and making sure that that's not forgotten. Have questions, Stacy?

STACY PHILLIPS: I don't have questions. I was just trying to remember my pre-K experience as well, and thinking about throughout the '70s how much has changed, moving into the '80s, and now. And I'm older than you, so stop-- just by a smidgen.

But, yeah, things have changed a lot. And I think now the trend and the way that we're going is looking at the whole child. And that's really what, when you look at these standards, creative thinking, health and wellness, language literacy, , mathematical we're looking at the whole child.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]. But you didn't get that guy's cards.

STACY PHILLIPS: Could you please mute if you're unmuted, thank you. Yeah, so looking at the whole child and the wellbeing of that child and setting those standards is only setting them up for success when they get to ages 5 and up when they're transitioning into kindergarten. And so, yeah, just making sure that those goals are aligned and those functional skills are aligned with these standards is important.

MALINDA KNIPFER: The acronyms.

STACY PHILLIPS: We love acronyms in special education and the disability world. So, yeah, absolutely. We wanted to include a list of acronyms. And this is not an exhaustive list by any means. We could go on and on and on. But providing some for you that come up often, the frequency, and also maybe useful for you.

I made myself a cheat sheet. I don't know if anyone's ever done that. When my son started receiving IEP services, I just made a cheat sheet of acronyms that his staff and teachers used most frequently and started keeping them in a binder. And I refer to it often. It's really helpful for me.

So if you hear an acronym being used or you see an acronym being used during an IEP meeting, please make sure that you're asking that team to define it. And even if they define it and you don't understand, they should be putting that in plain language for you, not teacherese, or professionalese, or legalese-- I love saying that word-- making sure that they are explaining to you what that means. We just have this habit of using acronyms all the time.

MALINDA KNIPFER: And it will become natural to you to use the acronyms, the further along in your child's career, school career. That will happen. But be empowered that at the meeting, it's your meeting too. So if somebody says something that you don't-- just stop the meeting. Say excuse me, I'm sorry. I don't mean to interrupt, but I don't understand what you're talking about. Can you please tell me what that acronym means?

MALINDA KNIPFER: I mean, [? MICU ?] is an IU in another county. But it was also being used in this other IEP meeting. And I was like, I knew [? MICU ?] as in IU, but how does that pertain to this? I was like, sorry, I just stopped the meeting.

And I said, sorry, can you please explain? Because I know that acronym as-- but some of these acronyms are the same as something else. So feel empowered to just stop the meeting and say, can you tell me what that means?

And can you make sure that it is written down in plain language, and with what it does within the IEP? And there's no shame in that game. I do it all the time. And I've been doing this for a long time. But if there's something that comes up that I don't know, excuse me. I'm just there being the interrupter.

STACY PHILLIPS: I'm the interrupter too. I don't know if anybody else does that. But I definitely-- it's your meeting, like we said. And you have a right to stop that meeting and make sure that you understand everything that's being discussed.

So we just thought this would be really helpful for you to have. And I love making sure that any time we do any kind of training that the PowerPoint is a resource for you now. We will send it out. And can download it. And now you have this as a resource for you.

And with that, I have another resource for you. So the Early Intervention Technical Assistance, or AITA, is part of the Office of Child Development and Early Learning OCDEL. See that, two acronyms in one-- and they have a mobile app. It is able to be downloaded if you have an iOS Apple device or other Android device.

And it's just a fantastic resource for you. I downloaded the app and I just started playing around. And can select Professional Development if you are a professional in this field. You can select Parent. And there's a ton of resources, videos trainings, and things that you can do within the app.

This is just some examples of family-focused tools. So if you have a child with brain injury-- pardon me-- early signs of autism, there's facts for families. So we just put a little screenshot on here to give you an idea of what it looks like. But I highly recommend you download this app-- Melinda.

MALINDA KNIPFER: So this was actually-- and this is where networking is really great because when Stacy and I were looking at putting this presentation together, she said to me-- she's the kid's mother-- Stacy said to me, have you seen the EITA on mobile? And I'm like, no, what's that?

She goes, oh, it's an app. Oh, it's fantastic. You've got to go in and-- downloaded this thing. This thing's amazing. And it is a really great resource for that early intervention piece because you can also click on different things as well. And it can take you directly to the portals for other information. It can also take you to networked information.

And I thought that this was a great use of technology as a game changer for parents. This you could even whip out-- if you needed data during a meeting, or you needed a resource or you needed to find something, absolutely-- [? Lori, ?] I know, I was blown away.

I would not have known about this if I didn't know Stacy because I'm not tech with my phone. Tech on the computer, can do-- not my phone. But this was actually amazing. And so this is now back in my toolbox in order to share with my early intervention families because it really is a great resource.

And if you're in a meeting and need to pull up something, you could possibly just get straight onto your app and say, I know I've read this somewhere before about, say emergent talkers, and wanted to bring up some information about that for the team because nobody knows everything. Some of us like to think we do, but we don't, I promise. And so, yeah, so Stacy, thank you so much that you talked about this because I would never have had any idea, just amazing.

STACY PHILLIPS: Absolutely, and their team is fantastic as well. They presented for us for C2P2. So they also have a section on there, Tools and Resources. And there's IEP preparation, IFSP and IEP preparation.

So a lot of what's on there you might see things that we've presented last time and this time. But you can go in there. And I just think the way that it's organized is fantastic. One of the highlights of this app also-- I can't believe I'm plugging them like this. I'm not getting paid, I swear.

One of the other highlights is that it is written in plain language for the most part. So you're going to find resources for you that you can share with others as well. And it's in plain language. So I agree, Lori, I think it's amazing.

Also want-- we're going to move on to other resources. We only have about less than 15 minutes, so we want to make sure that you get our contact information. We've really wanted you to have resources. So everything here is hyperlinked. And the top one there, OCTDEL, like I mentioned they are the ones that manage that app with the Early Intervention Technical Assistance Network.

So please make sure that you are using these, you're going through and taking from it what you need. That's the thing about resources and sharing is that everybody doesn't need all of these resources, but someone you know or yourself could find something.

So you pick out from it what you need and take from it what you need. Yeah, so these are just some. And we do have some handouts that we will be sending along with the presentations, just to let you know. Melinda, do you have anything else to add here?

MALINDA KNIPFER: I think our addition now with the state standards for kindergarten is great because for pre-K the hyperlink will take you to where the information is. And it's there in Spanish and English, so that parents also have an idea of what's expected at this level? So then you can also say, well, does my child need help in this area or not?

Oftentimes we're looking at deficits, but what about the strengths? Well, my child can really do this. And that's one of our standards. And that's fantastic. So I'd like to have that information for the parents and other providers as well because I think that it's important to know what the expectations are from the other side of the table as well.

STACY PHILLIPS: Yeah, absolutely. OK, so this is our contact information. And we thank you for being here with us today. I need to send you a evaluation. I have in my notes. And I'm not sure if I can copy and paste that into the chat box.

But, yeah, we will send you an evaluation out if you registered for the session. And we would appreciate you responding so that we can get better and so that our funders know that we are working very hard to carry on our mission for Families First.

A couple other little things I want to mention is that, again, this will be recorded. And it will live on the Institute on Disabilities website. If you look for Families First, we try to host a couple of different trainings a month throughout the school year.

We already have several on our website that have been previously recorded. They are all free. You just need to register. We would love to have you take advantage of those. If you have specific questions to your family, your child, your school and want support, you are welcome to reach out to me or to Melinda.

I am based in Philadelphia, she is not, but she works across the state. So don't hesitate to reach out to us. Also our programs here at the Institute are statewide as well. One more plug is that C2P2 is our Confidence and Competence Parents in Policymaking, the class that Melinda and I just graduated-- not just-- graduated from in 2018.

We are starting up again in January. And those applications are online if you are interested. If you are a parent of a school age child with an intellectual or developmental disability or autism, we would love to have you apply. And I have lots of thank you's in the chat. Thank you. Thank you all.

MALINDA KNIPFER: Thank you for being here.

STACY PHILLIPS: Yeah, we appreciate you.

MALINDA KNIPFER: Yeah.

STACY PHILLIPS: If you have questions, please feel free to ask. I'm going to--

MALINDA KNIPFER: Should we stop recording and then-- yeah, do you want [INAUDIBLE].

STACY PHILLIPS: Yes, give me a moment.

MALINDA KNIPFER: I can do that for you.