Welcome to Unlimited Parenting. As we all prepare for the holidays and wrapping up 2024,
we at Idaho Parents Unlimited wanted to reflect on some highlights, challenges, and milestones
for us this year. So today, we have Sarah and Melissa to revisit some moments, share
some successes, and discuss what's next for 2025. Can you believe it? 2025? It feels
wrong to say. It feels very wrong. I know. I'm glad that it feels like 2025. I haven't
bought a single present. I actually have a few. I have a few too. Wow, you guys are awesome.
So I wanted to set the stage a little bit before we get started. I looked at some numbers,
one through 10. And we supported Idaho Parents Unlimited, so the three of us, supported over
600 professionals this year. And you listeners will be hearing this podcast in December,
but it is currently midway through November. So you can expect those numbers to increase
a little bit. But supported over 600 professionals this year, we've helped over 1,300 parents.
Wow. Just individually, right? This is the number that surprised me. We at iPoll networked
with 7,300 individuals from information tables, conferences, federal, state, and local meetings.
Wow. That is a lot of people. Yeah. That's a lot of people. And I'm still COVID Allison,
so I see a number like that and I'm like, oh, what are we doing? It's far too many people.
Most of them were behind the screen. Can I just put that into perspective? There's, God
please do, about seven of us in this office doing that work. Maybe lower than that, five.
Yeah. Doing that work. Five is probably a work. We have a team. Who's the fifth? I don't
know. Are you counting the regional coordinator? I don't know what she's counting. Well, I
don't know what I'm counting. Where are we? I mean, there's three of us in the room that
are doing the parent calls and things, but we have a team that helps facilitate and organize
some of these activities where we're reaching all these, especially doing tables and things
like that. But us three couldn't do that parent one-to-one assistance if it wasn't for the
background support. Yeah. We're doing the things. But the heavy lifting is a very small
amount of very what? Small amount of people. It is. It really is. So good job, everyone.
Yeah. Good job, everyone. You made me proud of. I know. Was that one of our things? Are
we already in the movie? I thought she was just not really sure what's happening. I was
painting a picture. I was setting the stage. Okay. Is it set? Okay. So now that the stage
has been set with some numbers and you can really feel the impact of all the parents
that we've reached this year, as well as professionals. Maybe Sarah, do you want to go first sharing
a couple of things that you're proud of? In the year 2024, what were you proud of? I think
just recently, mostly because it's probably on the forefront of my mind, things that I'm
really proud of is our new partnership with the State Department of Ed and our regional
reach with our Idaho Center on Disabilities and Human Development and expanding the resources
and training for youths who are moving out of high school into the adult world. And that
is through our Resource Service Administration grant that we are a vital partner with these
organizations. I'm really proud of that. And we were able to bring on three regional coordinators
and have some reach in each part of the state. So I'm really proud about that. It'll really
expand how we are able to serve youth and their families as they try to navigate the
world of adulthood. Yeah, I would agree. Bringing on staff was big for us. Yeah. And going back
to a few remote staff, which we haven't done in years. So we grew a little. We did. Grew
in my heart. No, no, no. My heart can only grow half a size. What about you? What are
you proud of, Melissa? Well, I thought we were supposed to have three. Did she do all
three? Oh, one for now. Oh, well, we can bounce back. Oh, gosh darn. What are your other two?
Okay. Well, we just wrapped up our Western States Regional Genetics Network work. There
will be no more funding for the regional genetics networks. And so I'm proud. You're proud of
that? Well, I'm not proud of that, but I am proud of the work that we all did in our Western
States to do our very best to support the work that we did with the newborn screening, working
with our Title V programs, and bringing genetics research to the Western States and for families.
We really learned how to collaborate with our neighboring states and bringing genetics
information to our families. And we're hoping to write an impact statement, impact letter,
and trying to continue the work the best that we can, because we all know that we share
families across our state borders. And those relationships are so important, because we
understand what our families need and how our states work and being able to share that
with our partners as we share families that go to other states to receive services and
vice versa. So those regional networks are very important, not just in genetics, but
in all areas that we serve. And then my last thing that I'm really proud of is bringing
healthcare, surprise, surprise, to the conversation of competitive integrated employment. It wasn't
already there? No, weirdly, but they're not. I won't let... Color me confused. I know.
I will not jump off that soapbox that if we're not healthy mentally or physically, we will
not be able to be employed. So we have to teach our youth how to navigate and manage
their own healthcare, even if we are supporting them and guiding them for the rest of their
life. There are certain things that youth do not want their parents to talk about with
them, and their mental health and some of their healthcare might be part of that. So
we've got to be able to help them be able to talk to their doctors. Yeah, somebody.
Oh, sorry. No, please. That's kind of a role that we are playing in this Pathways Partnership
Grant, the F2F as a family. Right. Okay. If it is the last thing I do on this earth, I'm
going to transition to a new healthcare. Yeah. Anyway, that's cool. I like it. Those are
three things to be proud of. Yes. Okay. What about you, Buttercup? Oh, I'm going... Yeah,
you're going to... Not you. Okay. So one thing that I was really proud of this year, and
I'm proud of our state for it too, is that for the first time ever, we had a superintendent
of public instruction that sought to reach out to special education families to hear,
on kind of both sides of the table, about some issues that we are having, and then really
partnered that with administrators, and just kind of opened up the lines of communication.
So I'm really proud that we were able to facilitate and get some parents at the table. Yeah, that's
what I was going to say, is that she got in front of parents. Parents. Not just professionals.
Correct. And it was in two separate groups. She listened to parents first, and then listened
to educators second, and then kind of meshed it all together. And the funny thing was that
everybody really is saying the same things. Parents and educators, we just have to figure
out how to kind of meet at the... What to do with that. What to do. Yeah. So that was,
I think that was a win for us. We were able to reach out to families across the state
and get them at these listening sessions. So I was really, I'm proud of that. Has anything
come from that? Yeah. I think something is going to come from that. And that may be in
my... Something that I'm excited about for the new year. Oh, maybe. The little teaser
stick around. Stick around to look there. No, we got some really good information that
is going to lead to some outcomes. So I'm excited. Yeah. Okay. So my second thing that
I'm like... Well, I'm kind of excited. I have a love hate relationship with our state personal
development grant. And that is... Oh, it went through some changes. It did. This year was
a little bit hard. Thank you for recognizing that. Yeah. So it was Cultivating Readers
previously. It is now called SMART 2.0, which is still a literacy based initiative. We are
the family engagement contractor focus. That's why we are involved in this grant from that
perspective. And so while it has been a ton of work, like you said, with the transition,
I'm excited to continue to be a part of it. And I'm excited that the focus is kind of
shifting back more towards children and youth with disabilities, where it had kind of shifted
further away from that. And obviously, I have a soft spot in my heart for children with
disabilities and that way we exist. And that was the beginning of the program was it was
about that. So to see it deviate from that was especially hard for us. Yeah, absolutely.
And now we're back and I think we're on the right track. We have some great schools being
involved and now we have a couple different ways that we are accessing these parent tracks,
whether it's a systemic school based or maybe individual teachers have parents that have
been identified. So there's a few different ways that families can become involved in
this project should they want to or their schools. So I'm excited about that. Is that
everything you're excited about? No. And then we had to cut her off. She was so excited.
She sent me pages and pages and pages of things she was excited about. I said, Melissa, you
got to stick with three. I know. I did. We're just doing so many great things. Someone's
got to cut her off. Personally, I am excited that I the first time in our history, I think
we have now we have an executive director as well as a PTI director. And I'm excited
to add that on. I think that, yeah, right. This is the first time ever. And so because
we are growing, we are now having the opportunity for us to have that individual growth. And
I'm really excited that I have been given that opportunity. So yeah, Melissa Vian over
here is the PTI director for Idaho Parents Unlimited. Oh, yes. So I thought I was giving
something away. I was like, are we waiting for your plaque before I announce it? I don't
know. Scary things like I now have I'm in charge of like writing a grant and stuff.
But it's also exciting that maybe, you know, we can have some new not not new things that
we can do, but we potentially we can start whenever a baton is passed, there's always
a lot of new energy and ideas. And I'm excited for me. That's a really good way to put it.
Thank you. Thank you. That's it. What about you? I would love to share some things that
I'm proud of. Incidentally, they are none of the things that you mentioned. I'm excited
that I pull was recognized nationally through the SIPR. So the Centers for Parent Information
Resources. So every state has a parent training and information center, at least one they
are population based. And about nine of us were selected to be in what's called a circle
of expertise. So I pull was selected for the first so we are the inaugural members. And
we are looking at early childhood education. So that's been very exciting. It's been very
exciting to go to a new conference that I had never been to before. I went to New Orleans,
which I New Orleans I don't I'm probably going to get roasted. However, I say it, NOLA. I
had never been there before peak hurricane season was the best time of my life. And all
by yourself all by my south. We conquer and divide. And that's what we do around here
anymore. Just conquer and divide. It was very exciting. It was really exciting to network
with other parent training and information centers and to see, you know, there are people
who have a staff of 21 and we have a staff of basic leave. There's three of us that do
this. And it was really interesting to see how we're all going towards common goals and
to really figure out what can we take from across the nation and put in one centralized
location so that everybody gets the top tier resources. So it was really cool to be recognized
nationally like that. Federally. That is really cool. I also wrote that I am jazzed. I am
excited. I the momentum of this podcast is insane. The reach has like quadrupled over
this year. Not only did we hit a thousand downloads, but it's just and trust me, I know
in the grand scheme of things, a thousand downloads is just like a little drop in a
bucket. So don't think I'm delusional. I am, but not about that. I am just excited that,
you know, I anticipated it being very much like our webinars where 10 people would listen
to one episode and that's not at all what's happening. And so I just think it's really
cool that we can, we found a different vehicle to share the knowledge that we have and people
like it and people are listening. And I think that that is very cool. And hopefully every
episode that someone listens to, they can just take, even if it's just one thing away
from it, that makes their lives easier. I'm excited for an episode that'll be coming in
January about caregiver burnout and how to help yourself. There's going to be some more
authors. There's just a lot of really cool stuff going on and I'm excited to be a part
of it. Be a part of it. That's all you. Yeah. Well, so she is. I have a podcast people.
I'm still a part of it. Okay. I just have a really loud voice. What can I say? Good
job. I'm also really excited about new community connections. So we always talk about how we
have a seat at every table and if they're talking about anything related to children
or youth with disabilities or special healthcare needs, you're going to see iPoll there. But
I found a new one. I found a couple of new ones this year that iPoll had not been on
or been a part of and I signed up for it. And that was exciting for me and exciting
for iPoll to make new connections and get in front of other people who can help spread
our message. Yeah. That was it. Those are my top three. Okay. Thanks for allowing me
to share. Wonderful. Sarah, what are three things that we, two, three, even one really,
that we brought this year? Three. When we were prepared. We were asked to prepare. Okay.
I would like to clarify that you are always asked to prepare. Don't we just come. But
I would like. I carried. Nice. Good job. I carry this podcast on my back, baby girl.
Good job. I'm curious. Three things to hear from you guys that we did this year that we
had never done before. Well, one thing, and I think it's Melissa, you kind of talked about
it earlier, is that we collaborated with our state superintendent. That has never, ever
happened since the four, in the 40 years that we have been around, that I have ever heard
that a state school, public school superintendent collaborated in the way in which she did this
year. Reaching out to families who have kids with disabilities. And we were at that table.
We were asked to help generate families to participate. We got families at that table.
They wouldn't have been there if we didn't help. So that is fantastic. And then we are,
like I said, these regional networks are really important in growing our reaching and growing
our resources and vetting who we are as an organization. We hosted our, we're the regional
center in our TA center, technical assistance center for parent centers in region D, which
is the western part of the United States, parent centers. And we hosted our regional
gathering where we brought in parent centers. All of our region D centers came to Boise
and we had our conference here. And it's been, we've never done, I don't think we have ever
done that. They've never come to Idaho. We've always gone to Washington, Oregon, California,
Las Vegas, we've been to Nevada, Denver, but never Idaho. Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas.
Never Idaho. Never. And I think that they were, a lot of them were very pleasantly surprised
about our community and they loved visiting. So I think something magical happens.
It's so nice to you when you walk along the Boise river, when you're on the green hill,
something.
In the summer, it's just like, wow.
Yeah. And then they get themselves an ice cream potato and they're sold.
They go to the still and then people are happy.
I think you're right. That was a really, that, yeah. And this, I'll be totally honest with
you. This question was super hard for me.
Really?
This question was so hard.
I had a hard time that I'm like, okay, what did we do? And I mean, cause we do, we do
so much. And we're very habitual. We're always going to do fuels for life. We're always going
to do early years. We're always going to do our, always around the state and yeah, you're
right. Trainings. And we, we get, like you said, opposite of what you said, when the
baton gets passed, new ideas come out and we try when we do our planning retreat and
our training and we try to think of new ways to reach families. And maybe one of you guys
will talk about the things that we've never done before. But those are just things that
came to my mind that in the eight and a half years or eight years that I've been here that
we've never done before.
What about you?
My three things, Melissa.
Okay. I had regional staff. That was one. So, but I'm going to, so that's my number one
but perfect. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, and we have done that before.
We have.
It's not just for transition.
Yeah. Yeah. And now we're kind of bringing it back. So that's something new. The other
thing that's new is a partnership that we have kind of formed with a Spanish speaking
group to really try to arm some partnerships and help in that area with the Los Senores.
So we have put on a couple training classes about IEPs and Medicaid and the systems of
supports in the state. And we're really still looking to beef that up and help support that
population in collaboration with that group. The other thing that I don't think really
any of you, I don't think, I really don't think you picked this one.
Oh, I'm excited.
I know. We as a, as an office participated in CliftonStrength.
Oh, did you pick that?
No.
It was my, it was the only one I could pick.
Oh no.
I have something for you.
Oh my God. I stole it.
That was my favorite though.
Oh no.
I'm doing it right now. I thought for sure you would have said a podcast.
Yeah. I mean, what do you mean? We did a podcast in 2022.
Oh, we did.
Yeah. Oh, sorry.
Well, have we done a year in review podcast?
Yeah, we did.
Last year, sorry.
The year goes by.
Man, it does.
Anyway, sorry.
Sorry. You could edit it out and you could take CliftonStrength.
We did CliftonStrength as an organization. And I think it was really helpful to understand
how some of our peers work, what some of their driving mechanisms are and how, I don't know,
it just helped me understand people different in the organization and maybe it helps work
better with some people. So I'm excited that we did it. I hope that we continue to do some
team building exercises from it.
Yeah.
It was very eye opening.
It was.
And it was kind of hard.
It was hard.
There were parts of it that were just a little bit like, ooh.
Uncomfortable.
Yeah, but in a good way. I mean, I think we learned stuff about ourselves.
Yeah.
Yeah, I did.
For sure.
Anyways, sorry.
No, it's okay. I'll go back to the podcast thing because while we've done a podcast since
the beginning of 2023, I think, January.
It was?
It was January of 2023 when we released the first one.
Wow.
Gosh.
I'm not going to stop for that one minute because remember, 2022 was when I first got
hired. And then we went to OSEP and I came back from OSEP and I was like, I'm going to
start a podcast. And I had that whole PowerPoint presentation called So You Want to Start a
Podcast and it had like all this information in it and I was so proud of it. And Angela's
like, yeah, go for it. Like, please be my guest.
Time flies.
Yeah. But you know, we have had some authors on in 2023 and we interviewed some parents,
but we now have people who have created their own companies and worked with Fortune 500
companies. And it's a lot more.
Your?
It's impressive. Yeah, a little bit. You know what I mean? Because we aren't having to be
your guests anymore. You have like actual, legit people.
People are my favorite guests.
I know, but they're like actual. Not that we aren't people.
We don't have our own websites.
Yeah.
Like, iPool has a website, but we don't have our own websites with our own people.
There it is on the website. I don't have a website.
If I have a website with my name in it, don't go to it because I don't know what's on there.
It's not vetted. It's probably terrible. Just don't click out. Click out.
I can't, like I said before, this question was super hard for me because a lot of my
stuff are things that repeat from my first answers, right? Circle of expertise. Nobody
did that. Those new community connections that I made. iPool had never been a part of
that before. So a lot of the stuff that I was proud of were things that had repeated
from my prior questions. So this one was difficult for me.
I will go for the last one. I'll go first. Two things that we're excited for next year.
Again, I hate to do it, but the podcast, I'm excited to see where it goes for next year.
I'm excited to get a lot more of our articulates, our self-paced guided modules into Spanish
and potentially other languages. I'm excited for the potential opportunity. Oh, I'm so
surprised, Melissa, you did not say this, but I am excited for the opportunity to potentially
present in front of our regional, our nationwide parent centers because this year Melissa presented
at OSEP. I am surprised you did not say that. I did not say that. I forgot about that. Yeah,
I was not. I'm proud I am. Not only did she present at the Office of Special Education
Programs Conference that we do every year, presenters quoted her the next day in their
presentations and I was like, why can't that be me? Why Sarah? No, I'm just kidding. I
went on her. Yeah. And then we had Sarah and I walked around DC trying to find flowers.
They were like right then. And that was at first for me, you could take flowers on an
airplane. But you can't take the water bottle that's hidden at the very bottom of your backpack.
You get caught in the, you get patted down. They're like, what is happening? Yeah. Whoops.
That was funny. That was funny. I'm also excited for 40 years of iPoll. iPoll is older than
I am. I mean, just by a few years, by a hair. Right? The 40th anniversary of parent centers
is crazy. And iPoll has been around since the beginning. And if you think about it,
1985, I think that's pretty cool for I know Madonna way before Nirvana. I have heard that
song. You too. Don't worry. That's not going to get flagged because once again, it is off
key and terrible. So the system won't pick it up. But 1985, holy guacamole. I was living
my best life. Were you streets in my neighborhood? I don't, I was gonna say my gosh, what were
you like four, five? Yeah, five, six. You'd have been six. I can count. Seven. I was seven.
No, you would have been eight because you're two years apart. Well, 77 plus five. Eight.
Yeah, I was just living the best calculations just above my head. Trigonometry. I was negative
four. Well, all right. Because Taylor Swift and I are the same. Oh, my gosh. What about
you guys? What are you excited for? I had celebrating 40 years. I didn't have that one.
That's a good one, guys. Excited for that. And then expanding our reach to our youths.
Yeah, that's a really good one. From your bucket. Yeah. We have the potential to do
some really cool things. Yep. So for those of you who don't know that are listening in,
Melissa has already mentioned that she has been awarded and accepted the PTI director
role, which is for education. And we've kind of, while Sarah and I have not been crowned
queen region in these areas, we have also kind of, Sarah, you are taking the lead for
RSA, that transition to adulthood space. And I'm kind of taking the lead for all things
health care. Family to Family Health Information Center. Yes. So we've kind of taken the big
grants and divvied them up, except for Melissa, who also gets the dig. You're welcome. What?
I don't know. Kind of part of the PTI. Oh, it's still big. Yeah. Wait, can we help her?
No, I don't. You mind? I don't know. This is a kidding. Anybody want to help tonight?
No, I'm just kidding. Oh, yeah. You have the parents call tonight. Yeah. I have to do a
pre-trip safety check for Sarah and I. Mobile vehicle. Family and Community Engagement Conference
tomorrow. We're doing everything. Yeah. All of the time. I will have to say, October kicked
my booty. Yeah. I was in Sandpoint, Moscow, Coeur d'Alene, Pocatello. Yeah, Sarah did
the iPool regionals. Sure. Oh my gosh. That week. Right. In two weeks. And I survived.
Yeah. I don't know how. She survived. She's a live podcast. She didn't get sick, but I
got strep throat and I didn't do anything. I will have to say, last week, I felt it.
I think after the election and a few things in Idaho, Friday afternoon, it hit me. Well,
it started hitting me Wednesday. Yeah. Emotionally, physically, I had to take some time. And I
think that, you know, and that's something to bring up that we field all these calls
and we help families and we are the families that are calling our office. And eventually
it will catch up to us. We love what we do and we're passionate about it. That's why
we're here doing the work. But I can't wait for the Caregiver Burnout podcast. Yeah. You're
going to love it. I know. It was so good. Because it is real. I'm super excited and
it's real. And we feel the feels that you all feel and we care so deeply about the work
that we do here. Yeah. But I'm excited to hit Sun Valley tomorrow and learn how to help
our community schools and see their need because that's beyond just our families with disabilities
and special healthcare needs. These are families and communities, rural communities that need
everything. Everything. Everything. Yep. Food, clothing, shelter, toothbrushes, everything.
So name something else. Child care, everything. Thank you so much everyone out there for listening
in and know that if you are in Idaho or planning on moving to Idaho and have questions on systems
or services for children with disabilities, please consider reaching out to us on our
website at iPull Idaho. That's I-P-U-L Idaho.org or by calling us at 208-342-5884. Be sure
to tune in next time. Until then, this has been Unlimited Parenting. Thanks for listening.