When Dylan was born, the neonatologist pulled us aside.
If he lives to be 48 hours old, he said, there's a better chance of him surviving.
My husband and I stood in the NICU at hour 50. We looked at each other. We passed the question back and forth in silence. Neither one of us could say it out loud.
That was the first fear.
The second one came a few days later, when we got the Down syndrome diagnosis.
I didn't think about doctors or therapists or what specialists we'd need. My first thoughts were: kids are going to make fun of him. And I don't want him to live in a group home.
I never stopped thinking about belonging.
And
neither have you.
I asked on Facebook recently: what do you want most for your child when they
walk into school every day?
You said it right back to me.
Kindness. To belong. Friends. To be respected. To be seen as a whole person, not treated like an outsider.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
We talk a lot about IEPs. Rights. The law. Present levels and goals
and LRE. And all of that matters, it genuinely does.
But underneath all of it, you want your child to belong. You want them to be seen. You want the kids to be kind.
So that is what we are going to build toward together.
Starting Tuesday, June 23rd I am opening up four free live sessions,
and I want you there.
You are going to learn how to read your child's IEP through a strength-based lens and see exactly where it is building toward belonging, and where it is quietly working against it.
Real IEPs. Real parents. Real dreams.
It is free. It is live. And it starts one week from today.
Come be with us: dots.iep.today/join-june
