Before the details disappear, I want to ask you to do one thing.
Write down what worked this year and what didn't. Not a formal document. Just an honest list, while it is still
fresh.
Start with what worked. Was there a teacher who actually read the IEP before the year started? A support that showed up consistently? A goal your child made real progress on? A setting where they felt safe, included, and challenged?
Write that down. Those specifics belong in next year's IEP.
They are evidence of what your child actually needs to succeed, and if you don't name them now, there is a good chance no one else will.
Then write down what didn't work. The services that were inconsistent. The goals that sounded official but never connected to anything real. The accommodations that existed on paper and disappeared in the classroom. The meetings
that ended with more confusion than clarity.
By August, those details blur. They run together into a general feeling that something was off, but you won't be able to name exactly what. And if you can't name it, it's almost impossible to ask for something different.
Write it down now, so that next year your child walks into a classroom with a plan built on real evidence of what works for them, not on vague language carried forward from the year before.
