She sat in the office. She did the box breathing. She hit every number on her goal.
And every single day, she still could not survive the math classroom.
She had acute anxiety. She was falling behind
in math. She was struggling to function in her classroom.
Her IEP had a goal. It had all the right numbers: percentages, trials, dates. It looked exactly like a goal is supposed to look.
*"The student will demonstrate use of deep breathing and box breathing strategies in 4 out of 5 opportunities with 80% accuracy as measured by the school counselor in the counselor's
office."*
She could meet that goal sitting in the counselor's office. Alone.
The goal was measurable. It was perfectly written. And it had nothing to do with her actual education.
That young girl's mom was in our May workshop. Here is what she said afterward:
*"Charmaine's workshop completely changed how I think about strength-based IEPs. My daughter was struggling in general education math due to ADHD-related working memory and executive functioning weaknesses, and the workshop helped me realize her strong verbal reasoning abilities could be intentionally incorporated into instruction to help bypass some of those barriers. I left with concrete ideas for using strategies like think-aloud problem solving,
verbal strategy rehearsal, and explaining math concepts out loud to better connect goals, supports, and instruction to how my daughter actually learns."*
— Alison S., Parent, May workshop
That is what happens when the goal finally knows your child.
Here is what that same mom would say today if she walked into that IEP meeting:
*"I'd like my daughter to work on managing her anxiety in the second grade math classroom, using her verbal strengths, like thinking out loud and talking through problems so she can stay in the room and actually learn."*
No percentages. No trial data. No jargon.
Just a parent who knows the direction, and knows how to hand it to the team.
That is your job in that meeting. Not to write the perfect measurable goal. That is the team's job. Your job is the direction. And when you know the direction, everything changes.
Same child. Completely different document. Completely different school day.
That is what we are
doing together on Wednesday, June 24.
Here is what June 24th looks like:
We start with goals, what makes a goal that actually knows your child, and exactly how to ask for one. I will give you a simple sentence frame you can bring straight into your next meeting.
You do not need to know the
percentages or the number of trials. That is the team's job. You just need to know the direction.
Then we put what we've learned to use.
Two parents. Two real IEPs. Shared Live.
Everything that could identify the child or family is redacted. And then we do the thing I have not seen anyone else do in a live
workshop.
We trace the connection. Strengths to present levels to goals. Out loud. In real time. Together.
I am looking for one thing: where did your child's strengths go?
When the connection breaks and it almost always does I name it in plain language (not IEP jargon). Something like: the strengths say this child learns
best with visual supports. Now look at this goal. Visual supports are not mentioned anywhere.
The team heard that. They wrote it down. And then they wrote a goal that has nothing to do with how this child actually learns.
Every parent in our group will see exactly what a disconnected IEP looks like and walk away knowing how to find it in their own child's
document.
Whether your name is drawn for an IEP Mini-Audit or not, you are leaving Wednesday with new eyes, which means new school days for your child.
