Welcome back to Unlimited Parenting. This is
a podcast where we talk about anything and everything
related to parenting children with special healthcare
needs, developmental disabilities, you name it,
we got it. And now we are on part five. This
is the end. We made it. We have made it to the
end. We are at the last two steps. We just skipped
along the way. We sure, we surely have. The road
of steps. Share it with me Chester. We are on
steps nine and ten. Let's go back to the last
episode. If you're paying attention, that's a
little Easter egg. Step nine is IEP review. Okay.
And step ten is the triennial evaluation. And
I don't think I've ever. Really, in my personal
experience, heard to it referred that way. I
don't want to jump ahead all the way to step
10. But I think it's often just... The three
-year review. Exactly. No one really. Nobody
wants to say tri -annual. I kind of do, though.
But I don't because I have to stop and push my
speech impediment back. It's okay. Let's talk
about the three -year review. Step nine. No,
we can't. We're on step nine. Step nine, IEP
review. at least once a year. Yeah, bare minimum.
The whole entire IEP team is gonna come back
together and they're gonna do a formal review
from top to bottom. What's that old phrase? From
spoon to nuts. Everything. I've never. Okay,
so hold on, we're gonna have to get that out.
Okay, so spoon is like the beginning of a meal,
and traditionally in medieval times, nuts, like
a handful of cashews would signify the end of
a meal. You're done. So people would say spooned
nuts. The whole thing is covered, spooned nuts.
You never heard that before? Never. All right.
Look it, we're learning along, you're learning
alongside of me, ladies and gentlemen. I haven't
heard of that. Spoon to nuts, or is it soup to
nuts? I think it's soup to nuts. I haven't heard
of it. Okay. And we're back, okay. So at least
once a year, they're going to review it from
top to bottom. Yes. From the goals all the way
down to whether or not you're participating in
statewide assessments. Yes. Now you will not
have new eligibility assessments. Not at the
one -year review. Not at the one -year. Or every
year. But you as a parent should be asked for
your input because you are a team member and
that is very important information to go into
your annual review. 100 % and that's not to say
that if there was a problem or a concern or if
something had changed and you wanted to bring
that to the team you could have easily called
a meeting or met in between. But we're assuming
things are going swimmingly and you're meeting
at the one you review. So I just wouldn't be
an Ipoolian if I didn't say no. If you're going
to if at any point during the year you need to
call an IEP meeting just do so in writing. Please.
That's all. So again, we're looking at the whole
picture here. What goals have been met? What
work still needs to be done? Does anything need
to change? And again, parents can request an
IEP meeting at any time. If you feel something
isn't working, you don't have to wait. But you
can think of the annual review as kind of either
a pause button or a reset button, because it's
a chance for the whole team to come together,
celebrate progress, identify challenges, and
adjust services. And I think we really hit on
this in the last episode. But adjust services
so that they seem meaningful to your child. Yes.
Yes. Just because your IEP goal last year was
to identify shapes doesn't mean that it needs
to be that same way this year if you've already
identified shapes last year. Exactly. It's a
living, breathing, moving, changing document.
And ideally students are growing and so we should
be changing goals. Exactly. That's what we want.
Tell me about some of your one -year review experiences.
Um, so... Last year specifically it was kind
of a weird one because we were transitioning
between a junior high and a high school setting
and so the one -year review was Even a little
bit more involved than it normally has because
we've had we had both team members there So we
had member of the high school team there and
the junior high team because we were really talking
of like themes are changing Even though we weren't
in a in a three -year review lot of our goals
are gonna change because now we're in high school
and now we're talking about transition to adulthood
and now we're in a different space with different
electives and so we had a little bit more involved
one -year meeting than before. Our goals didn't
necessarily change but some of our related services
and the way that we are using them changed, if
that makes sense? It does because I was actually
gonna ask you about how does that one year, especially
when you're talking about a transition from one
school to another because, just because, let's
just say for example, and again, just an example,
there's an extended resource room at the middle
school that you're at and you transfer to high
school, they don't have that extended resource
room anymore. How are we navigating different
rooms, different teachers, different, oh my.
Yeah. So in this case, they do have an extended
resource room. And my son, the rooms themselves
or the programs switched pretty well. Now minutes
are a little bit different. High school minutes
are different than. Oh, because it's a different
length of a day. Oh my, I don't even think about
that. And I didn't either. So all of these things
changed and went into that annual meeting, even
though it kind of came more like a tri -annual,
but it wasn't. But we were changing minutes.
We were changing... where he was receiving his
support. Oh really? He received a lot of his
support in an extended resource room and now
in high school we have him in other places so
he's able to go into the choir room or he's able
to go into the gymnasium from some other support.
So his service grid changed a lot too. So from
my perspective this has been the biggest switch
that we've had. Aside from, I guess, that elementary
to junior high, not necessarily. The high school
one has been the biggest switch, but now we're
even more so because we're putting in some of
those transition elements too. So, you know,
he has some more work experience that he now
has built into his day. So where he helps with
the coffee cards and, you know, so they're putting
more of that kind of stuff. So all of that to
say was, what did you ask me? How was my... I
think I actually want to pause and go back to
that coffee cart thing, because I think that's
a really, really worth talking about as a unique
way that your son's school has set up a way for
him to work on his goals. Now, can I ask, is
that because of his age, like these are transition
to adulthood goals, or is this because... So
tell me more about, can I ask about the cart?
Yeah. Well, so they have this coffee cart. He
is a greeter, kind of. Oh, my God. I love that.
And I've said this before. He's a non -speaking,
non -verbal student, but he has a ton of non
-verbal communication, whether it's the biggest
smile or a wave or a... a shriek that's going
to tell you that he is excited to see you. And
so he also helps push the said coffee cart for
some of his friends that use mobility devices.
He helps push them. And they take it around their
school. They take it to the faculty lounge. Then
they also have it available for students during
a passing period. But it is teaching employment
skills. And that is part of his IEP, part of
his transition to adulthood. activities, but
they've implemented it and built it into his
IEP so that it is fun. He's doing it without
doing it, right? Think of all the things that
could be physical therapy, that's occupational
therapy, that's speech language, that's soft
skills, that's behavioral intervention. That
could be so many different service minutes as
one unique little idea, right? I love that. And
it is using, it's something that all students
can use in terms. So you're getting your peer
-to -peer. You're getting your peer -to -peer.
Oh, what a genius idea. I love it because I have
older kiddos that have graduated from this school
that are still friends of my, there's still students
at this school who know my son. Through his brother.
Oh, I didn't think about that. My kiddo the other
day texted me that said his friend saw his brother
pushing the coffee cart. It ensures that my son
is still involved in high school just like his
brother was. Exactly. Just in a different way.
He's a popular kid now because he hands out coffee.
He does. That would make you very popular with
me. Yeah. In terms of step nine of the IEP review,
can I ask you some kind of like what we did in
the last episode? Can I ask you some questions?
So these are real life questions that I've received
from real life humans and I'm going to make it
very unidentifiable. So I had a parent who reported
that they felt nervous about speaking up at an
IEP review, but they know that they need to because
no one knows their child better than I, better
than they do. We're the experts. Do you have
any, what would you say to kind of assuage that
person's anxiety, I guess? Right, because...
And so I'm assuming this person doesn't have
the same rapport with their team. They haven't
been able to build that rapport quite yet. Yeah,
or even a new team. Your specific situation.
It's a new team. And so... I know. You're telling
on me. But actually, my husband and I talked
about this last night. So I have given her some
grace. And I am... One thing that has always
worked really well for me is I've created one
-pagers for my student. Oh, yes! And that is
something I haven't done this year. And I feel
like I haven't done my due diligence in sharing
my son with them. That's an interesting perspective.
Yeah. So I don't think I've done my job as a
parent. And so this weekend, that is what I am
doing. I am creating the one pager. I am going
to get that delivered to them on Monday. And
then hopefully that opens up some doors. If it
doesn't, I would say if you know your IEP is
coming up and you're concerned about speaking
up, two things I have. One, I would say take
a support person, someone that can help you and
have those questions written out in advance.
Or if you don't have a person that could go with
you, write those questions out ahead of time
and email them. Email them to the team prior
and say, these are questions that I want to talk
about so that maybe they can have some of the
answers articulated and they already know you're
not asking them questions blind, but you hopefully
will get those responses. and they have some
time to see the questions in advance and know
what to expect, which is really a friendly thing
for you to do for anyone. But can I share something
that I did which is maybe not the most constructive
thing to do, but if you are an individual who
has social anxiety, but needs to ask a tough...
and you don't want to step on anybody's toes.
You had your husband do it? I... Kind of. Kind
of. But I'm more or less... And I, of course,
I got my husband's... I let him know. I don't
want to say permission, but I let him know I
was going to do this in advance. Blessing. Thank
you. I got his blessing. Any question that I
felt was tough, I said, my husband really wanted
me to ask. Great. So I... And it wasn't that
he didn't want to know because he did want to
know, but I reframed it to take a little bit.
And that made it easier for me to ask the question
because I really needed an answer to it. But
I made it. It's the classic. So let's say I have
a friend. No, he wasn't able to attend. He wasn't
in attendance. So I could say. My husband really
wanted, and it didn't put him in a spot, it didn't
put them in a spot, and it certainly didn't put
me in a spot. And I got the question answered.
And it just made me, it gave me that little boost
of confidence. That's a good one. My behavioral
interventionist wants to know. I mean, it made
it easier to ask the question. Take that for
what it's worth. Exactly. I would say that that
probably happens. Even though, because I don't,
our speech therapist would ask me to ask the
team things. And frankly, it does happen a lot.
Because a lot of times when we're talking about
generalizing a skill across different systems,
your home and community based occupational therapist
is going to say, can you please ask the team
what language are you using? Because I want to
use the same language. If he's spending most
of his day in this environment, I need to know
what language you're using. OK, I have one more
question. I'm going to use that. I'm going to
steal that. I honestly have done that. I was
wondering. I've also done that in a health care
setting. Yeah. I've done that in a health care
setting. Oh, my husband was really concerned
about this dose on this medication. I love that.
And I think Dr. Smith knows that it's me. You
know our husbands do this as excuses all the
time. 100%. The least they could allow us to
do. Allow us, whatever. You know what I mean.
This is another. It's not a question. It's a
comment. And I wanted to include it because I
think it really rounds out step nine really well.
We're still in step nine. I know. Wow. This review
feels like a chance to reset, but also a chance
for us as a team to celebrate how far we've come.
And I'm like, thank you. That is such a perfect
way to just sum that up. Can I say that that
must be a team that is writing a strength -based
IEP? Amen. I guarantee that is not a deficit
-based. Go back to season one, season two. It's
either season one or season two, and we have
a whole episode about strength -based IEPs. And
I'd like to toot my own horn for a second, or
your horn or our horn or the horn. Someone's
horn pronouns are hard. That is a very well listened
to episode. And that should be. That's one of
our very first ones. So it's kind of weird when
you see like the listener numbers on that, because
it's too old episode. But that strength based
IEP really resonated with people. As it should.
Exactly. OK. OK, step 10. So yes, celebrate.
Celebrate. Celebrate. I like to use this. I like
to use those IEP meetings because OK, this is
me on my soapbox. IEP meetings are hard. I like
to be a team player. if there are things to celebrate.
Like, my last IEP meeting at the school, I told
you, was a transition meeting, because we were
moving to high school. And so I was leaving junior
high. We had a party. I took chocolates. I took
cookies. I went by Crumble. That's so sweet.
This was a team that had really, really grown
with my kiddo. So I took that as an opportunity
to celebrate them. And you know what? I think
that you're going to feel that way about your
new team in three years. I think so, too. I think
you're right. Thank you. You're welcome. I hope
that, I hope I do too. That's my job. They're
a good team, so you're right. Guess what? We
are on the 10th step. This is the last step of
special education process. I think that if you
are a parent and you are at this step or you
have seen this step before, congratulations,
you are officially a veteran. You are? You are
a veteran. That means you've been around at least
three years in this space. And you might be thinking
to yourself, there is nothing I don't know about
IEPs, but let me, this triennial evaluation is
going to be very similar to IEP reviews that
you have experienced in the past. However, per
IDEA requirements, we have to check every three
years to ensure that children still qualify for
special education services and whether or not
those needs have changed. So every year, Do we
talk about it? Do we assess progress monitoring?
Do we get feedback from paraprofessionals and
therapists? Yes. But every year we do not do
the full battery of assessments again. But we
do do it. We do do every three years. So the
evaluation is going to include everything and
potentially more that it included the first time.
So academic testing, classroom observations,
input from the parents, input from community
providers. And sometimes teams may determine
that testing is not necessary. Yes. But I would
say almost always you get new assessments. Almost
always. I have had So my son has a chromosomal
deletion. So I have had times where we don't
necessarily need to reassess. No, academic, yeah.
Cognitive, yes. But like a mobility, we don't
need to reassess every three years or even a
vision assessment every three years. Yeah, because
he's still going to have some of those same visions.
Those supports still stay in there, but we haven't
necessarily need to gone through the whole battery
of Assessments every three years, but those main
ones. Yes Yes, and you want that. Oh, yeah, I
think you want that. Yes, and sometimes families
get a little nervous that What if this shows
that? My students don't need the same level of
support. Okay, okay. I've had many families called
nervous, like can I request that they don't do
assessments because what if they say they're
never heard this before. Oh wow. They're eligible
for special education and I say... Hallelujah,
then that's what we want. We have got this student,
you know, these intense supports through an individualized
education plan or program have got the student
to where they need to be caught up to their gen
ed peers. The system works. The system works.
And we're celebrating. And now maybe we can just
use a 504 to help them maybe still have some
access issues. accessing their education is different
than needing modifications to their education.
And that's what we always want is for our students
to be on par with their typical peers. Yeah,
maybe you're maybe you're back in the typical
general education math class. But in order to
make it accessible to you, you just have a little
bit less homework. Yeah. Because your homework
takes you longer, but you could still do it academically.
You are still able to focus and say and comprehend
the math concepts, but you just have less homework.
And so maybe that means that all of these years
of special education has got your student caught
up to where they need to be. And so I can see
where parents are really nervous that a three
year assessment might show that they're no longer
eligible. But I say let's celebrate that. and
that's a really good thing that the supports
worked. And the three -year evaluation is a really
important milestone. It's a check the checker.
How is the system working? So those assessments
really are kind of the final check the checker,
because every year we review, but then that three
years we're really going to make sure. That's
a good, yeah. I didn't realize what the triennial
evaluation was, honestly, until I started working
here at iPoll. I was like, what's the difference
from a yearly review in this? And it really is
only the assessments. And to me, I was like,
oh, thank goodness, because I genuinely believed
that it was a one and done type thing. And I
was like, but what if we need some proof that
this isn't working? or proof that this is working.
I'm like, how do they determine? And you're like,
well, the triennial evaluation. And I'm like,
the Holladahubi wedding. What? The three year.
So now this - Call that a three year. It makes
me feel a lot better. So here are some questions
I've gotten. OK. Every three years, that sounds
like forever. What if I need an assessment more
often? You can request it. Exactly. Yep. Put
it in writing and request it. There have been
I've needed to do that several times. Usually,
it's for functional behavior assessments in our
case. Oh, yes. So, oops, we have a new behavior.
We need to do a new assessment. And functional
behavior assessments are really, really common
assessments to be done sometimes multiple times
a year. Yeah, three years does seem a long ways
in advance, but if you get a new diagnosis or
you see something new pop up, you can always
ask for assessments. It's like an IEP is always
a fluid document. The assessments kind of are
too. Now a school can say, well, we don't think
that, we don't see that and we don't think that
at this point we need to move forward with that
assessment. But that's a conversation and a process.
And schools are more likely to say yes if it's
been. a year or more. I don't think that a lot
of timeschoolers are going to say yes if you
know every quarter or every semester you're like
oh I think now this is a problem. They're going
to want to because in some cases you really do
need time to see if the other goals work. Yeah
and in some cases you can't physically Do another
assessment because it hasn't been long enough.
Like we can put some we can't put students through
academic and cognitive assessments more than
once a year like These things shouldn't be happening
and then you're taking away from the time that
you would otherwise be using to work on your
academic goals So if that's why again, it really
becomes a conversation between the team and I
would say just from an educator's point of view,
sometimes they will come, I've had my son's teacher
come to me and say, ask for consent. I think
we could benefit from conducting X assessment
right now because of this. So there are also
times where your teacher will come and outside
of those three year review and ask for an updated
assessment too, if they're seeing something.
And another, sorry, yes. Yes. Another question
that I had, and I think we already talked about
this, too, is, and this is, I'll tell you exactly
what I said right afterwards to you, was, does
this mean my child could lose services? And I
said yes, but it also means that your child could
gain services. And you're never gonna know unless
you do it. And if, let's just play it out, let's
pretend, the team says, you know what? We've
found that Marcus really isn't eligible for special
education services anymore. You still have dispute
resolution options. That doesn't mean that the
door is closed and locked and bolted. No, not
at all. Yeah, you're exactly right. At the end
of the day, none of these are set in stone. There's
dispute resolution options. So don't let the
thought of a triennial evaluation scare you kind
of that much. There are still other things that
you can do. And then I heard this last little
bit and I thought it was a really good way to
round out step 10, which is I'm actually really
glad that they check in every few years because
my daughter's needs now look really different
than they did when she was in kindergarten. Yes,
which is such a good way to look at it cuz yeah,
it's easy for I'm just gonna use you as an example,
right? It's easy for you to be like, oh, you
know, there's not wasn't a huge change from 12
to 15. Yeah, let's just pretend I've seen the
same in the skills But then when you think of
like it between kindergarten and third grade
The growth that you see in that time is that's
wild. Huge. And I literally said to this parent,
I was like, thank you so much for giving me that
perspective, because a lot of times, you know,
especially when we're talking about triennial
evaluations, a lot of times we're talking to
older kids and not someone who's entering third
grade. And I'm like, that's such a good because
she's like my my daughter. And again, I'm saying
this without giving away any information, but
she was just saying, you know, like her daughter
came into kindergarten. And she was really worried
about her. But then when her daughter was entering
third grade, the confidence that her daughter
had and the progress that her daughter had made,
it was just like, she's like, I'm so glad they're...
Because we need new assessments. We need new
assessments at that point. Because the level
of... At that point, she may not have been in
her least restrictive environment, sounds like,
right? Exactly. She may be stifled. And so in
that case, if mom saw that, at two years... Mom
could even say, hey, listen, could we go back
to the drawing board? And that's maybe potentially,
like we say, all scenarios, all situations are
different. But that's why in some cases, at a
triennial evaluation, they may opt to not do
so much testing is because at the second year,
they had done some testing. So that's just another.
And that is exactly what happened. to my son,
we came out of developmental preschool into kindergarten.
And then at first grade, then we did his three
year. And then it was like third, first to fourth
grade. He was growing and he started, like there
were so many things that were happening that
we had to go back to the drawing board and do
updated assessments. So that then when we got
to a year and a half later, our three year reval
was just kind of cake, cake. Because we'd already
done it. Who doesn't want that? Who doesn't want
an easy IEP meeting? Right. Girl, do it, lady.
Do it. Do it, lady. Isn't that the... No, that's
Chit. Yeah, Chit. Do it, lady. J. Renshaw, I
think. We should do that. We should bring our
favorite TikToks or something. Do it, lady. Here
we go. That's the next bring your topic. That's
my next idea. I pull. Okay, so what can you do
today? I think if I was preparing for a triennial
evaluation, I would bring out that big ol IEP
binder. I would have things reviewed and flagged.
I would have progress reports ready. I would
definitely request that if I didn't have it.
Some schools also have, what is it, Ed Plan.
So you may be able to access that information
electronically. Some school districts are not
participating in that. If you are a school district
that is not participating, that's when I would
go and request copies of that. Yeah. I would
also start kind of reaching out to the home and
community based providers and get do they have
any input that they want to share? Yes. You know
like there are people outside of the education
space that can still offer some really good perspectives
for our kids. Schedule someone to come with you.
Yeah exactly not us I'm sorry we can't there's
only three of us we can't go statewide but do
you have a CSW? Yeah I do. I mean they can speak
to how The disability affects the child. So number
one, mark your calendar. Make sure you're there.
Make sure you're prepared that it could, it's
not that it could be, it's that it will be a
longer meeting than what you're used to. Because
you're going through everything. Make sure that
it's scheduled at a time where, obviously that
it's mutually exclusive, I don't know what the
heck I'm going on about, that it works for everybody.
But that you know that you will be able, and
also start having that conversation about can
your child be included. Thank you, that's what
I was gonna say. Sorry, I don't want to take
your time. No, you're good. Make that space.
And even if it's just at the very beginning or
the very end or a picture of your student, because
at the end of the day, that's why we exist. That's
why an IEP team is there, is for your student.
So don't lose eye to that. And that's it. You've
done it. You are officially an IEP special education
system veteran. And if you have any questions,
you could be on step one. You could be on step
10. We're gonna have some answers. Or at least
some funny one -liners. Maybe, yeah. If you don't
wanna call me to have me help answer your questions,
you could call me for my comedy. I could sing
Pink Pony. If you don't wanna call me, you call
her. Exactly. And I will say this, because I
love to tell people this. I tell professionals
this. I tell everybody this. I'm like, my favorite
thing about iPol, hands down my favorite thing,
is that when you call, are you scared? Is that
what you said? I am. This is literally my favorite
thing. I'm not even playing around. When you
call iPoll and you might get assigned to Sarah
or Melissa or Allison, but you're literally getting
the hive mind. You are getting the resources
of every single person that works here who had
kids in developmental preschool, kids in elementary
school, kids in high school. Like we have done
and seen and heard. everything, and you're getting
all of us. And if I don't know it, I'm walking
out of my office and I'm gonna be like, come
on guys, help now. Exactly. You are getting the
hive mind to your right. You really are getting
the best of what our brain cells can rub together
for you. You're welcome, because that's what
you deserve. You did it, you made it. 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
I pull Idaho. That's ipulidaho .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!