She was afraid the team would think she was wasting their time. So she said nothing.
 

She sat in her daughter's IEP meeting with a full picture of who she is, a child who draws with the kind of focus most adults can't sustain, who notices things other kids walk right past, who can hold a story in her head and tell it back days later with every detail intact.
 

She kept all of it to herself.

And the meeting moved forward without any of it.

She didn't realize she was sitting on a pile of clues.
 

🔵 "My daughter draws with sustained focus" tells a teacher how to design a work period so she can actually learn. 

🟣 "She holds a story in her head" tells a teacher how to build a reading goal. 

🟢 "She notices what others miss" tells a teacher where to look for comprehension, for science, for so much more.

Every clue points somewhere. And the team can't follow clues they've never been given.

If it doesn't make it into the IEP, it doesn't exist in the room where decisions get made.
 

When strengths do make it in the IEP, when they stay in, connected to goals and to how your child is taught, something big shifts for your child.
 

School starts to fit. The work connects to something your child already cares about, already know how to do. 

They're more engaged, more willing to try something hard, more excited about learning. 

Because the teacher knows who they are and teaches to that.
 

That's the difference between a child who tolerates school and a child who knows they belong there.

This Thursday, June 4th I'm going live on The Art of Advocacy Facebook page and we're talking about exactly this what changes when strengths actually make it into the IEP and stay there.
 

DATE: Thursday, June 4th
TIME: 12 pm Eastern, 11 am Central, 10 am Mountain, 9 am Pacific.
PLACE: The Art of Advocacy Facebook page

Until then, write down 3 strengths your child has that you don't think have anything to do with school.

That's where we start.

P.S.  Later this month, I'm hosting a FREE live event: See Your Child's IEP Through a Strength Lens and Build Your Case for Inclusion, 3 sessions, June 23–25, inside a private Facebook group. We'll trace the strength connection in real IEPs, live, together. Registration opens this week. Watch for it.