WEBVTT 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:10.679 Welcome to Unlimited Parenting. This is a show 00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:13.179 where we talk about what it's like raising children 00:00:13.179 --> 00:00:17.660 with disabilities and or sometimes both. It's 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:24.219 hard. No, I'm just kidding. I ruined your intro. 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:27.660 It's hard out here raising special education 00:00:27.660 --> 00:00:33.060 children. Individuals with disabilities. Yes. 00:00:33.219 --> 00:00:36.630 Special healthcare needs. Oh, it's hard. God, 00:00:36.850 --> 00:00:38.390 I hope the audio doesn't cut out right there. 00:00:38.509 --> 00:00:40.609 I'm really sorry. That was funny. I thought you 00:00:40.609 --> 00:00:43.229 were done. I'm sorry. No, I love it. I'm just 00:00:43.229 --> 00:00:45.170 feeling all the feels this morning. Yeah, it's 00:00:45.170 --> 00:00:46.950 December. It's been a hard week already. It's 00:00:46.950 --> 00:00:50.109 December. It's Tuesday. I know. I feel this. 00:00:50.210 --> 00:00:53.549 I'm like, I just want it over there. I'm kidding. 00:00:53.829 --> 00:00:58.570 The microphone wasn't even even. Oh, okay. It's 00:00:58.570 --> 00:01:02.030 definitely that. Yep. I'm not counting Amy in 00:01:02.030 --> 00:01:04.150 this outfit. We try to make it from breakfast 00:01:04.150 --> 00:01:07.750 to bedtime, and we included are those people 00:01:07.750 --> 00:01:12.730 too. Okay, I'm sorry. No, it's okay. This episode, 00:01:12.890 --> 00:01:17.049 it sounds like it should be a BYOT with the way 00:01:17.049 --> 00:01:21.329 we're going, but it's actually a Toot Your Own 00:01:21.329 --> 00:01:25.049 Horn. It's a Toot Your Own Horn episode. I would 00:01:25.049 --> 00:01:29.739 love for us to reflect, review. Think about, 00:01:29.959 --> 00:01:36.420 ponder 2025. And I see that you've all come very 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:40.040 prepared with your binders of reflections on 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:43.900 2025. So let's start, I believe. We just set 00:01:43.900 --> 00:01:48.420 it on fire. So iPoll does this really funny thing 00:01:48.420 --> 00:01:51.620 where every year at Christmas, we get ornaments. 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:54.900 Yeah. And we share them with each other. And 00:01:54.900 --> 00:01:57.060 this year's ornament. We're doing an ornament 00:01:57.060 --> 00:01:58.900 exchange. We're doing an ornament exchange. Yes, 00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:01.280 thank you. And my ornament is... Well, don't 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:03.239 tell. What? It doesn't have to be a surprise. 00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:05.599 Yeah, I thought it was. I thought it was. Yeah, 00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:07.879 but no. You guys aren't going to get my ornament. 00:02:08.439 --> 00:02:11.759 Oh, okay. It's Sesame Street, and it says 2025 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:15.360 was brought to you by the letters W, T, and... 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:17.240 I think you can guess where this is going. That's 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:19.580 amazing. But what if I want that ornament? Now 00:02:19.580 --> 00:02:22.460 I'm going to be... I know. It's $14 .97 on Etsy. 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:25.120 I'll just give you another one. Oh, really? Yeah. 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:27.379 I'm going to get with the program. So I need 00:02:27.379 --> 00:02:29.960 an ornament. December 23rd is when we're doing 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:33.419 this. Yes. You have time. Okay. You have time. 00:02:33.419 --> 00:02:36.800 I want one Christmas present so far. One. I've 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:38.400 bought zero, so you're doing better than me. 00:02:38.460 --> 00:02:40.840 I've sat in the hospital for two months, so guess 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:44.400 what I did? Did you shop? Oh, okay. Ridiculously. 00:02:44.939 --> 00:02:49.719 For myself, for people. It was an expensive two 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:51.979 months. She's already got all of her Christmas 00:02:51.979 --> 00:02:54.460 presents wrapped, everything. You get a Bentley. 00:02:54.860 --> 00:02:59.020 Yeah. I get an Audi. It's ridiculous. Maybe a 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:05.810 keychain. Okay. A Hot Wheels. I bought a car. 00:03:06.250 --> 00:03:08.830 Yeah, she did. Did you buy that from the hospital 00:03:08.830 --> 00:03:14.409 too? They drove right up. No. The car dealership 00:03:14.409 --> 00:03:17.770 delivered it and just went away. That is wild. 00:03:17.990 --> 00:03:20.129 Dang. This is bring your own topic. That's actually 00:03:20.129 --> 00:03:22.909 kind of nice though. Yeah, because buying a car 00:03:22.909 --> 00:03:26.490 takes a hot place. And we drove it around the 00:03:26.490 --> 00:03:28.569 block of the hospital. That was my first day. 00:03:28.990 --> 00:03:31.810 I just got to make sure I can bring my baby home. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:42.240 Did I mention he's like 19? 20. 20? Okay. Alrighty. 00:03:43.219 --> 00:03:46.900 Well, we're already off the tracks. If I remember... 00:03:46.900 --> 00:03:49.240 This is our year in review. This is literally 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:51.699 our year in review. It's true. It's very true. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:55.020 Personally and professionally. Not mentally, 00:03:55.060 --> 00:03:58.860 though. If I remember correctly, the year starts 00:03:58.860 --> 00:04:01.759 with January. Yeah, I think you're right on that 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:04.460 one. Did anyone here do anything in January? 00:04:05.099 --> 00:04:09.360 I think we got ready for February. Oh, I... Oh, 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:13.780 disability? No. Oh, I did. That's February. I 00:04:13.780 --> 00:04:16.860 did a pump fake in January. I wrote a PTI report, 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.889 but then it got pulled back. What is a pump fake? 00:04:21.110 --> 00:04:23.850 You know, you're like, tease, tease. I did it, 00:04:23.870 --> 00:04:25.829 but then I got pulled back. You know what this 00:04:25.829 --> 00:04:28.509 reminds me of? Sports? I don't know. Well, a 00:04:28.509 --> 00:04:30.730 couple of podcasts. You're going to say something, 00:04:30.910 --> 00:04:33.949 and we're all going to regret it. A couple of 00:04:33.949 --> 00:04:35.370 months ago, we did a podcast, and you had to 00:04:35.370 --> 00:04:37.649 explain to me what a snow bunny was. This is 00:04:37.649 --> 00:04:39.449 kind of reminding me of that. You know, you're 00:04:39.449 --> 00:04:41.050 driving in the car, and someone's taking a drink 00:04:41.050 --> 00:04:43.129 of water, and you pump the brake, and you're 00:04:43.129 --> 00:04:46.629 like, and they spill it. Let's go on a ride today. 00:04:46.649 --> 00:04:49.670 That sounds like trauma. I would cry because 00:04:49.670 --> 00:04:53.509 I hate having wet clothes. Okay. Okay. So I attempted 00:04:53.509 --> 00:04:56.269 to write our parent training information center 00:04:56.269 --> 00:05:01.089 and our grant was up for renewal, the five -year 00:05:01.089 --> 00:05:02.790 cycle. And so I attempted to write that, but 00:05:02.790 --> 00:05:05.449 then it got pulled back and I rewrote it again 00:05:05.449 --> 00:05:08.990 in March. So I started it in January. It was 00:05:08.990 --> 00:05:11.189 a rough draft. It was a rough draft. It was. 00:05:11.310 --> 00:05:13.370 And then we just took a little bit of stuff out, 00:05:13.430 --> 00:05:16.550 delete, delete, delete. Resubmitted it. Resubmitted 00:05:16.550 --> 00:05:19.829 it. And it was successful? Yeah. Here we are. 00:05:19.910 --> 00:05:24.629 We were refunded. So we were refunded. Okay. 00:05:25.149 --> 00:05:27.529 We were refunded again. So there you go. Thank 00:05:27.529 --> 00:05:30.430 you. They didn't refund us, you guys. There's 00:05:30.430 --> 00:05:32.310 nothing to refund. There's no such thing. So 00:05:32.310 --> 00:05:35.790 we continue to be Idaho's Parent Training and 00:05:35.790 --> 00:05:46.519 Information Center. Yay. Applause. and the crowd 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:50.000 goes wild in January I did legislative updates 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:55.740 yeah a lot of them I think we were at like house 00:05:55.740 --> 00:05:59.000 hearings whether it was education or Department 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:00.959 of Health and Welfare hearings like at least 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:05.560 twice a week these entire right every every week 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:09.480 I watched the the House committees would meet 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:11.019 in the morning and the Senate committees would 00:06:11.019 --> 00:06:14.459 meet in the afternoon. So Mondays and Wednesdays, 00:06:14.459 --> 00:06:16.839 every day of the week, I had something to watch 00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:18.459 in the morning and something to watch in the 00:06:18.459 --> 00:06:21.319 afternoon. It was my sports. I know I've said 00:06:21.319 --> 00:06:23.379 that before. I know. And the joke will probably 00:06:23.379 --> 00:06:25.199 die one day, but it's not today. But you did 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:27.759 such a good job with the updates that you get 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:31.949 to do it again. Yeah. Oh, you benefited from 00:06:31.949 --> 00:06:34.290 that. Sure. That are your listeners too. You 00:06:34.290 --> 00:06:36.550 weren't at the last Friday meeting. I was requested 00:06:36.550 --> 00:06:40.110 of me. Oh, I was not. I was not. To do that again. 00:06:40.250 --> 00:06:45.050 Yeah. So you get to see my face again. Well, 00:06:45.050 --> 00:06:48.889 that's cool. I also did a presentation for a 00:06:48.889 --> 00:06:51.769 new rotation of pediatricians, which I thought 00:06:51.769 --> 00:06:54.430 was super fun. That's cool. That was in January. 00:06:54.449 --> 00:06:58.829 So we sat in front of a cohort of new pediatricians 00:06:58.829 --> 00:07:01.730 and told them, you know, what Apple does, how 00:07:01.730 --> 00:07:04.009 they support the community, how to use this as 00:07:04.009 --> 00:07:06.870 a resource. I did the same thing, but in front 00:07:06.870 --> 00:07:09.589 of a group of special education new directors. 00:07:09.689 --> 00:07:13.620 Oh, yeah. Or so for OnTrack, you know, we get 00:07:13.620 --> 00:07:17.040 invited to do those things. And same thing, same, 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:19.019 same. So you're in front of health care, I'm 00:07:19.019 --> 00:07:21.240 in front of education. It's almost like that's 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:23.399 like our buckets where we hang out. It's almost 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:25.639 like that's what we do. But that's really exciting. 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:28.220 I love to do that kind of stuff because I think 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:31.759 the more new people into these fields that know 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:33.779 about us and the resources that we can provide 00:07:33.779 --> 00:07:38.060 to families, the better. A hundred percent. How 00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:42.180 many podcasts do you think that we recorded this 00:07:42.180 --> 00:07:48.379 year? Well, at least two a month, so. 2020? You 00:07:48.379 --> 00:07:51.660 would think. No, don't make me do 2020 again. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.420 No, 20 podcasts. Did we do 20 podcasts? It should 00:07:55.420 --> 00:07:58.939 have been 24. Okay. But this will be our 23rd. 00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:05.279 Okay. Wah, wah. Wah, wah. It's been busy. That's 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:09.680 crazy to do that many. 23. Holy crap. That's 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:11.519 a lot of podcasts. That is a lot of podcasts. 00:08:11.660 --> 00:08:13.819 And I think the coolest part about this year 00:08:13.819 --> 00:08:18.000 was we did series. So we did the 10 steps to 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:22.779 special education. I solo did a positive behavioral 00:08:22.779 --> 00:08:26.720 intervention and supports one. And I think the 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:29.839 kind of idea is, is to maybe do some more of 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:31.779 those next year too, right? Is that what we're 00:08:31.779 --> 00:08:38.029 talking about? Some of the podcasts that we've 00:08:38.029 --> 00:08:42.090 already done will get faithfully transcribed 00:08:42.090 --> 00:08:45.830 into Spanish. That's exciting. Translated, yes. 00:08:46.149 --> 00:08:50.149 Not by me, people. No, and it's hard to find 00:08:50.149 --> 00:08:54.429 a way to make that faithful, culturally appropriate, 00:08:54.730 --> 00:08:59.610 you know. Okay. And interestingly, not with a 00:08:59.610 --> 00:09:06.620 Castilian accent. people in spain they talk with 00:09:06.620 --> 00:09:10.940 the lisp when they speak spanish oh but people 00:09:10.940 --> 00:09:14.120 you know who hail from mexico and why are you 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:16.440 looking at me like this and south them because 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:18.519 i don't are you being for real i mean so for 00:09:18.519 --> 00:09:20.879 real they when they pronounce their c's and their 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:24.419 s's they go So that's what you mean in terms 00:09:24.419 --> 00:09:27.879 of our cultural appropriation. Yes, because I 00:09:27.879 --> 00:09:30.960 believe that the individuals that we serve do 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:34.139 not speak with that kind of accent. And I am 00:09:34.139 --> 00:09:37.679 actively trying to find ways to make it more 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:41.580 authentic for them. Because to me, and maybe 00:09:41.580 --> 00:09:44.720 this is just me, maybe nobody cares but me, that 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:47.480 would kind of be like if we were in, let's say, 00:09:49.350 --> 00:09:51.669 And they were like, we're going to make an English 00:09:51.669 --> 00:09:54.730 podcast. And they used, and it was for Americans, 00:09:54.809 --> 00:09:56.789 and they used someone with a British accent. 00:09:57.409 --> 00:10:00.350 Are they still speaking English? Sure. Can I 00:10:00.350 --> 00:10:04.110 understand? Yeah. But it's not. It sounds fancy. 00:10:04.490 --> 00:10:07.750 I feel like it's kind of the same. I get it. 00:10:08.110 --> 00:10:10.250 I thought you would, though. I'm just kidding. 00:10:10.370 --> 00:10:13.730 I mean, I do. You thought I was just coming up 00:10:13.730 --> 00:10:15.029 with some stuff. You learned me a lot. Yeah. 00:10:15.090 --> 00:10:19.039 Okay. Uh, okay. Are we out of January yet? No, 00:10:19.139 --> 00:10:20.960 I'm still in January. I was like, you guys had 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:24.299 a slow January. I mean, I was preparing for February 00:10:24.299 --> 00:10:27.399 and March, so. I think I was too. Yeah, sure. 00:10:27.559 --> 00:10:32.519 I also. I was writing that grant. We did two 00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:34.659 more things in January. The first was we did 00:10:34.659 --> 00:10:36.820 the maternal child health needs assessment and 00:10:36.820 --> 00:10:39.279 priority setting with Title V. So that's where. 00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:42.799 If you want to conceptualize a large room at 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.840 BSU with a whole bunch of provider, well, not 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:48.440 providers, partners and individuals who support 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:52.360 maternal child health in a room trying to figure 00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:54.820 out what priorities we want to work on for 2025. 00:10:56.940 --> 00:11:00.580 Finally, in the month of January, we did the 00:11:00.580 --> 00:11:02.779 Idaho supports Medicaid at the Capitol. You guys 00:11:02.779 --> 00:11:05.700 were all there for that. Lots of partners. Help 00:11:05.700 --> 00:11:11.450 me out here. We had the. I don't remember. Oh, 00:11:11.509 --> 00:11:15.049 yes. Yes, you do. Christine Pisani. Yes. Was 00:11:15.049 --> 00:11:18.750 there. Help me. We had. The Council for Individuals 00:11:18.750 --> 00:11:22.690 with Disabilities. Okay. Were we inside? We were 00:11:22.690 --> 00:11:25.870 not. We were outside. We had the sign, right? 00:11:25.929 --> 00:11:28.809 And we had the hand. And the hand. And I remember. 00:11:29.690 --> 00:11:34.009 Yes. Idaho Anti -Trafficking Coalition. Yes. 00:11:34.009 --> 00:11:37.929 Okay. Who made those signs? Do you guys remember? 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:41.539 Was it Idaho Voices for Children or was it the 00:11:41.539 --> 00:11:44.139 council? Because we were holding a sign and we 00:11:44.139 --> 00:11:47.899 got a picture taken of us. Beautiful signs. Someone 00:11:47.899 --> 00:11:51.159 put so much work into that. I'm not sure who 00:11:51.159 --> 00:11:53.559 it was. It was either voices for the council 00:11:53.559 --> 00:11:57.600 potentially. Actually, that was really cool. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:00.039 It was cool. I can't believe I forgot about that. 00:12:00.059 --> 00:12:01.840 That was a while ago. Wanted to make sure they 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:04.539 got that. And so, yeah, I mean, they were lovely. 00:12:05.049 --> 00:12:07.450 The signs were great. The amount of people that 00:12:07.450 --> 00:12:09.629 were there. People there. That was so surprising. 00:12:10.070 --> 00:12:12.570 Senators came out. I want to just say that that's 00:12:12.570 --> 00:12:16.210 what I have been so pleasantly surprised is this 00:12:16.210 --> 00:12:19.289 year. Our events and the events like that, the 00:12:19.289 --> 00:12:21.470 Medicaid rally at the Capitol, you know, and 00:12:21.470 --> 00:12:24.070 we'll talk about some more of them. There's people 00:12:24.070 --> 00:12:26.309 have showed up and have showed out for these 00:12:26.309 --> 00:12:30.629 kind of things. Well, I mean, I like it and I 00:12:30.629 --> 00:12:33.509 wish that happened all the time, but that's also 00:12:33.509 --> 00:12:35.659 kind of. what you need to do when you're at risk 00:12:35.659 --> 00:12:38.480 for losing services absolutely yes sitting behind 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:40.620 and complaining about it and not doing anything 00:12:40.620 --> 00:12:43.379 about it is yeah that doesn't help anywhere yeah 00:12:43.379 --> 00:12:45.899 yeah roll up and show out right i remember that 00:12:45.899 --> 00:12:48.620 it was cold it was freezing it was really cold 00:12:48.620 --> 00:12:51.259 and you had to dress with tights if i'm cold 00:12:51.259 --> 00:12:55.500 right you know i don't remember if was i wearing 00:12:55.500 --> 00:12:57.379 tights no that wasn't wearing tights that was 00:12:57.379 --> 00:12:59.840 frederick's dad oh i was not wearing tights on 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:03.519 this day okay But it was freezing. And if I'm 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:06.840 cold, the rest of us are cold. Bring them in. 00:13:06.940 --> 00:13:08.679 If you're cold, they're cold. That's why I remember 00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:11.570 the hand warmers. There were hand warmers. There 00:13:11.570 --> 00:13:14.289 were a lot. And we were all so cold. You had 00:13:14.289 --> 00:13:19.490 one hand warmer for both your hands. Yes. I have 00:13:19.490 --> 00:13:23.509 my gloves. Okay, what did we do for February, 00:13:23.649 --> 00:13:26.149 March, April? We'll just go quarters, I guess. 00:13:26.490 --> 00:13:29.529 Well, we talked about we were at Fred Rigger's 00:13:29.529 --> 00:13:31.309 Disability Awareness Day in the Capitol. And 00:13:31.309 --> 00:13:33.929 I wore tights. And you wore tights. Because I 00:13:33.929 --> 00:13:35.929 would remember being like, you're going to be 00:13:35.929 --> 00:13:37.750 cold. But we were inside for the majority of 00:13:37.750 --> 00:13:40.610 that. For most of it. There ended up being a, 00:13:40.649 --> 00:13:45.470 something was outside. It was not a protest. 00:13:45.690 --> 00:13:50.190 They tried to do a rally of some sort. Yes. There 00:13:50.190 --> 00:13:52.169 were quite a few people out there because I remember 00:13:52.169 --> 00:13:56.049 stepping away to take a picture and going, good 00:13:56.049 --> 00:13:59.070 night. Weren't we just here? It was a similar 00:13:59.070 --> 00:14:03.230 message. Yeah, that's right. I love that. Keep 00:14:03.230 --> 00:14:07.330 it up. Show up, show out. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So 00:14:07.330 --> 00:14:12.990 we did that. We we did a three part parent charting 00:14:12.990 --> 00:14:16.129 the life course series. That's right. In quarter 00:14:16.129 --> 00:14:18.669 one of this year. That was a virtual, but it 00:14:18.669 --> 00:14:22.490 broke it out into kind of some different ways 00:14:22.490 --> 00:14:24.610 that families can use charting the life course 00:14:24.610 --> 00:14:28.269 and all of the tools. Yeah. We did my tools for 00:14:28.269 --> 00:14:30.590 life in Moscow. Yeah. Which was the transition 00:14:30.590 --> 00:14:36.210 fair for youth. I we learned that at that. um 00:14:36.210 --> 00:14:39.570 that really stuck with me um was that youth want 00:14:39.570 --> 00:14:43.090 to receive their information um by tick -tock 00:14:43.090 --> 00:14:47.149 in person um or from youtube yeah that was eye 00:14:47.149 --> 00:14:53.029 -opening for us boomers here yeah but then did 00:14:53.029 --> 00:14:55.029 we then prompt the youth to go you really want 00:14:55.029 --> 00:14:59.029 me on a tick -tock um we didn't because they 00:14:59.029 --> 00:15:02.360 were they They didn't care. That's what they 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:03.879 want. No, that's what they wanted. All right. 00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:08.200 And they really want to learn about jobs and 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:14.519 careers, independent living and college. And 00:15:14.519 --> 00:15:17.820 then driver's ed was a really hot topic. Yeah. 00:15:18.740 --> 00:15:21.940 But that kind of prompted us to then open like 00:15:21.940 --> 00:15:26.320 to enter your point. A youth TikTok page, a youth 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:30.340 Instagram so that, yeah, we aren't on theirs 00:15:30.340 --> 00:15:33.440 telling them what to do. Yeah. Right. We tried 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:35.659 to listen. Yeah, we did. We're doing our best. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:37.940 We're getting better every day. Yep. We're listening. 00:15:38.139 --> 00:15:41.740 And then a lot of career and resource fairs for 00:15:41.740 --> 00:15:45.639 the high schools and the pathways to partnerships, 00:15:45.899 --> 00:15:49.259 pilot schools and school districts. So reaching 00:15:49.259 --> 00:15:52.409 those families and youth on. Life after high 00:15:52.409 --> 00:15:55.850 school. Yeah. Around that time, we also did Operation 00:15:55.850 --> 00:15:59.509 Advocacy at Link. Yep. So we're always out there 00:15:59.509 --> 00:16:02.330 supporting partners, too. Because advocacy at 00:16:02.330 --> 00:16:04.690 all levels that are appropriate for you. Yeah. 00:16:04.830 --> 00:16:09.029 Are appropriate. I think sometime in those three 00:16:09.029 --> 00:16:11.909 months is when we did our round one of IEP 101 00:16:11.909 --> 00:16:16.509 with the State Department. We went up north and 00:16:16.509 --> 00:16:21.830 we tried it. And then. realized that we still 00:16:21.830 --> 00:16:24.070 had some tweaks that we needed to iron out and 00:16:24.070 --> 00:16:26.870 went back to the drawing board and then relaunched 00:16:26.870 --> 00:16:29.110 that. So what I'm hearing is you didn't give 00:16:29.110 --> 00:16:32.190 up. We didn't give up. No, it wasn't exactly 00:16:32.190 --> 00:16:35.309 what we wanted it to be, the end product. And 00:16:35.309 --> 00:16:38.029 so we went back to the drawing board, made it 00:16:38.029 --> 00:16:41.730 more parent friendly, made it less fire hose, 00:16:41.850 --> 00:16:47.429 more conversational. Yeah. And it was much more 00:16:47.429 --> 00:16:50.850 well -received when it was put on later in the 00:16:50.850 --> 00:16:54.889 year. So that was adapted and overcome. I think 00:16:54.889 --> 00:16:57.990 that's a good point, though. When we are doing 00:16:57.990 --> 00:17:01.090 our trainings and we have all of these resources 00:17:01.090 --> 00:17:02.990 available, we're always asking for feedback. 00:17:03.210 --> 00:17:07.190 And we do truly take it to heart and change the 00:17:07.190 --> 00:17:10.490 way. I mean, I've been here for nine and a half 00:17:10.490 --> 00:17:14.960 years. Yeah. Times change. Families change. The 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:18.000 dynamics change and we listen and we really try 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:20.319 hard to meet our families and change the way 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:24.200 our families need their information. Yep. We've 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:25.579 learned that. We've learned that with the podcast. 00:17:26.019 --> 00:17:29.240 Uh -huh. Some of our self -guided. Value your 00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:33.079 feedback. I agree. That's a plug for our surveys. 00:17:35.309 --> 00:17:37.849 I think we did. Yeah. So kind of along with your 00:17:37.849 --> 00:17:40.450 transition fairs, we did some early childhood 00:17:40.450 --> 00:17:43.990 events like at Lincoln Elementary Early Childhood 00:17:43.990 --> 00:17:47.109 Center. So we're kind of trying to make sure 00:17:47.109 --> 00:17:51.470 that all ages. Right. We're in all those ages 00:17:51.470 --> 00:17:56.700 and spaces. Yeah. Busy first quarter. I did the 00:17:56.700 --> 00:18:00.519 circles of expertise for early childhood, which 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:03.779 is essentially, like Melissa says, every state 00:18:03.779 --> 00:18:05.779 has a parent training and information center. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:07.880 And out of the parent training and information 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:11.680 centers, five were selected as being experts 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:14.859 in the area of early childhood. And we were one 00:18:14.859 --> 00:18:17.039 of them. So it was a really cool experience to 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:21.299 see. what early childhood resources other states 00:18:21.299 --> 00:18:24.779 were delivering to parents and to be able to 00:18:24.779 --> 00:18:30.460 share what Idaho did. And for better or for worse, 00:18:30.700 --> 00:18:37.440 Idaho had a lot to share and teach, which I thought 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:40.740 was cool. And I learned some cool different tips. 00:18:40.970 --> 00:18:43.650 tips and tricks so it was it was worth it you're 00:18:43.650 --> 00:18:46.210 in something similar now right yeah so i just 00:18:46.210 --> 00:18:49.470 finished up a very similar it's family data leaders 00:18:49.470 --> 00:18:54.390 and so it is teaching families to understand 00:18:54.390 --> 00:18:57.410 data so that they can sit at a table like an 00:18:57.410 --> 00:19:01.029 early childhood space or you know a transition 00:19:01.029 --> 00:19:04.029 to adulthood you know but what because data drives 00:19:04.029 --> 00:19:06.789 so many of these conversations and so many of 00:19:06.789 --> 00:19:09.349 our kids eligibility and all of these things 00:19:09.349 --> 00:19:14.349 so It's really this training itself, the family 00:19:14.349 --> 00:19:18.029 data leaders, was really to help families kind 00:19:18.029 --> 00:19:22.509 of tease apart data and make it more user parent 00:19:22.509 --> 00:19:25.950 friendly. Digestible. Digestible. I like that. 00:19:26.710 --> 00:19:30.029 Yeah. So we'll see where that goes. And then 00:19:30.029 --> 00:19:33.390 we went to the Parent Center Conference in Denver. 00:19:33.730 --> 00:19:35.769 Do you remember that? I do. Can you believe that 00:19:35.769 --> 00:19:37.990 that was this year? When was that? April? Yeah, 00:19:38.069 --> 00:19:40.599 it was like April. I cannot believe that that 00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:43.640 was this year. It doesn't. Wow. It really feels 00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:46.200 like it happened in a past life. We presented, 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:50.740 Melissa and I presented on amplifying tech tools. 00:19:51.609 --> 00:19:54.009 So like kind of like what we talked about, what 00:19:54.009 --> 00:19:56.630 Sarah had mentioned, podcasts and articulates, 00:19:56.690 --> 00:20:00.589 how do we use those to reach diverse voices? 00:20:00.710 --> 00:20:05.750 And how do those modalities support people in 00:20:05.750 --> 00:20:10.289 rural and or frontier regions? And how do parent 00:20:10.289 --> 00:20:13.849 training information centers level up? Yep. And 00:20:13.849 --> 00:20:19.299 since that presentation, we've had. Several centers 00:20:19.299 --> 00:20:23.420 reach out for that continuing support and assistance. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:26.559 Which is fantastic. Happy to help. Love it. Yeah. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:28.339 I don't know if you know, but I love to hear 00:20:28.339 --> 00:20:31.460 the sound of my own voice. So it's been great. 00:20:32.220 --> 00:20:35.799 That was where I watched and dragged Melissa, 00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:39.180 who was the better for it, honestly, if we're 00:20:39.180 --> 00:20:43.170 being serious. We watched that. Awesome presentation 00:20:43.170 --> 00:20:46.730 about two spirits. That's right. That changed 00:20:46.730 --> 00:20:49.670 my life. It was. That changed my life. It kind 00:20:49.670 --> 00:20:52.710 of changed mine too. It gave me a whole new perspective, 00:20:52.950 --> 00:20:58.450 very much opened my eyes to a bunch of different 00:20:58.450 --> 00:21:00.900 communities. A bunch of different communities. 00:21:00.940 --> 00:21:04.180 The individual who presented it came from a space 00:21:04.180 --> 00:21:08.900 of just love and warmth and welcoming of all 00:21:08.900 --> 00:21:11.359 opinions and how this presentation might have 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:14.279 made you feel. And there was like a comeback 00:21:14.279 --> 00:21:17.079 to earth moment after the presentation where 00:21:17.079 --> 00:21:20.880 it was like, how do you take what you learned 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:24.079 here to be bigger, better, and do great things 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:26.859 in your community? That's cool. We go to a lot 00:21:26.859 --> 00:21:30.200 of conferences, right? We walk away going to 00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:32.539 a lot of sessions. That was a session that I 00:21:32.539 --> 00:21:36.039 remember that session. Yeah, I'll probably remember 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:38.819 it for forever. Absolutely. You get a lot of 00:21:38.819 --> 00:21:42.140 those like contact cards too. There's a lot of 00:21:42.140 --> 00:21:44.779 swapping of the business cards. I still have 00:21:44.779 --> 00:21:49.400 that one. I know. From them. I swear I can even 00:21:49.400 --> 00:21:52.140 remember their name. Arctellos St. Amour or something 00:21:52.140 --> 00:21:54.140 like that. That's amazing. Because like it just 00:21:54.140 --> 00:21:56.559 really like sat on my heart. You know what I 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.119 mean? Anyway, it was great. It was great. I'm 00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:01.079 sorry if I mispronounced your name. It came from 00:22:01.079 --> 00:22:05.930 memory. I, on a totally different note, I should 00:22:05.930 --> 00:22:07.329 have said this when we were talking about it 00:22:07.329 --> 00:22:09.670 earlier. You guys did the Charting the Life course, 00:22:09.710 --> 00:22:13.009 and I finally jumped on the bandwagon and became 00:22:13.009 --> 00:22:15.470 an ambassador. I was the last one, I think, in 00:22:15.470 --> 00:22:17.670 the office to do that. No, I don't know. And 00:22:17.670 --> 00:22:20.710 that was really cool. Angela and Jesse just finished. 00:22:20.710 --> 00:22:24.230 Okay. Amongst us here at this table, I was the 00:22:24.230 --> 00:22:28.339 third. That to say that now our office is so 00:22:28.339 --> 00:22:30.839 embedded in charting the life course, it's tools, 00:22:30.940 --> 00:22:32.579 it's foundational elements. It's part of our 00:22:32.579 --> 00:22:34.720 curriculum. It is. It's just the way we speak. 00:22:35.059 --> 00:22:37.579 I swear if you've reached out to us in the past, 00:22:37.579 --> 00:22:40.259 just like here, you've probably gotten charting 00:22:40.259 --> 00:22:43.359 the life course material. Like my kids. The tools 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:45.980 and the framework, we use it. We actually do. 00:22:46.259 --> 00:22:48.700 Literally the other day, I gave it to my daughter 00:22:48.700 --> 00:22:51.160 and I said, here you go. She's trying to figure 00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:53.480 out grad school. I'm like, let's do a trajectory. 00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:56.819 That's wild. That's why. Isn't that wild? I'm 00:22:56.819 --> 00:22:58.339 not old enough to have a daughter going to high 00:22:58.339 --> 00:23:00.339 school. That's what you were thinking. That's 00:23:00.339 --> 00:23:07.059 not the wild part. What would you guys be knowing 00:23:07.059 --> 00:23:10.339 about that Idaho legislative review panel? Do 00:23:10.339 --> 00:23:14.000 you guys remember that? It was a lot of hours. 00:23:14.299 --> 00:23:16.400 It was a lot of hours. It was one of those pack 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:19.279 the room type situations. We're talking about 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:23.460 House Bill 345. We're talking about Medicaid 00:23:23.460 --> 00:23:28.579 expansion population for Medicaid, different 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:31.900 reporting requirements. And we... And subsequent 00:23:31.900 --> 00:23:34.700 listening sessions, because in case you are new 00:23:34.700 --> 00:23:38.299 to Idaho or you don't know, Idaho is moving to 00:23:38.299 --> 00:23:41.980 managed care for Medicaid. I think I provided 00:23:41.980 --> 00:23:45.279 a little bit of public testimony on that. Oh, 00:23:45.400 --> 00:23:48.849 yeah, you might have, huh? I did. Yeah. That 00:23:48.849 --> 00:23:52.710 was fun. Oh, man. My heart just fluttered again. 00:23:52.789 --> 00:23:54.869 And it was a long time ago. And I'm like, oh. 00:23:55.410 --> 00:23:59.650 Yeah. I forgot that you did that. I did that. 00:23:59.730 --> 00:24:03.769 I haven't even done that. You did a fantastic 00:24:03.769 --> 00:24:06.250 job. You did it with Christina Pisani. Yeah. 00:24:06.410 --> 00:24:10.289 Christine Pisani. Sorry. I corrected myself. 00:24:10.710 --> 00:24:13.029 No, you did. No, it makes me run. I don't know 00:24:13.029 --> 00:24:15.809 what year it was. I don't know what month it 00:24:15.809 --> 00:24:18.650 was. It was sometimes in the month. It was in 00:24:18.650 --> 00:24:19.829 the middle of the month. Well, let me tell you 00:24:19.829 --> 00:24:22.789 what. It was before sine die. It was. It was 00:24:22.789 --> 00:24:24.970 before the end of the legislative session, so 00:24:24.970 --> 00:24:28.890 it had to be in March or April. Was it? Oh, my 00:24:28.890 --> 00:24:31.910 goodness. No, I thought it was after sine die. 00:24:32.109 --> 00:24:35.690 It wasn't. Really? I almost guarantee you. I 00:24:35.690 --> 00:24:37.769 really thought it was after because we were just 00:24:37.769 --> 00:24:40.670 kind of still talking about the impacts of managed 00:24:40.670 --> 00:24:45.160 care. I don't know. It was a report. It wasn't 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:47.579 during the session. It was just a report during 00:24:47.579 --> 00:24:52.940 one of their quarterly reports. Yeah. I don't 00:24:52.940 --> 00:24:54.319 know how I feel about this, you guys. I've never 00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:58.839 been wrong before. No. It was Medicaid. They 00:24:58.839 --> 00:25:01.319 had to do a report. Yeah. I'm going to figure 00:25:01.319 --> 00:25:03.160 this out. It was sometime this summer, I believe. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:05.640 I'm in June right now. Okay. So I'll figure this 00:25:05.640 --> 00:25:10.160 out. What about... No, you go ahead. We did Heroes 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:13.539 in Plain Sight. That is our fun little race for 00:25:13.539 --> 00:25:15.819 rare event that we do. I love doing that one. 00:25:16.599 --> 00:25:20.059 Yeah, that's always just a fun one. It's a feel 00:25:20.059 --> 00:25:22.500 -good one. It is. We support our families with 00:25:22.500 --> 00:25:25.259 rare conditions. I think that's maybe why I like 00:25:25.259 --> 00:25:27.880 it. You and I are those families. It's like we're 00:25:27.880 --> 00:25:29.660 amongst our people sometimes. I get to see the 00:25:29.660 --> 00:25:34.180 kids and people annually, and it's nice to see 00:25:34.180 --> 00:25:37.880 them come out and feel supported. Yeah. And we 00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:40.079 love Race for Rare as a partner. And that's, 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:42.480 you know, like you said earlier, this is kind 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:44.779 of a recap of our year, but it's a recap of all 00:25:44.779 --> 00:25:49.480 of our partnerships too. What about when we went 00:25:49.480 --> 00:25:54.099 to Sacramento? Yes, that was fun. That was September. 00:25:54.339 --> 00:25:56.380 We're in September. I don't think anyone presented 00:25:56.380 --> 00:26:00.319 in Sacramento. Am I wrong? No, we didn't. No, 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:03.319 we didn't. We learned. We took it all in. We 00:26:03.319 --> 00:26:08.289 did. We took it in. The Sacramento airport. I 00:26:08.289 --> 00:26:10.109 remember being a little. No, never mind. That 00:26:10.109 --> 00:26:12.740 was the Denver airport. I was going to say there 00:26:12.740 --> 00:26:16.440 was an airport that tricked our escalators. Don't 00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:19.779 you slander me. That was up to the parent center. 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:22.500 You guys, I tried to walk up a down escalator. 00:26:22.539 --> 00:26:27.019 And then once I was redirected by a staff, by 00:26:27.019 --> 00:26:30.500 someone who worked at the Denver airport, I thought 00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:33.299 they were teasing me and I continued to try to 00:26:33.299 --> 00:26:36.240 walk up the down escalator. It's not my finest 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:40.059 moment. We had had a long journey. It's true. 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:42.779 Anyways, we didn't talk about Hands Around the 00:26:42.779 --> 00:26:44.779 Capitol. We did that. Oh, that's right. July. 00:26:44.859 --> 00:26:46.779 You know what? It's because it's not on my list 00:26:46.779 --> 00:26:48.240 because I didn't attend, but I would love to 00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:52.859 hear about it. I wasn't there. Oh, okay. 35th 00:26:52.859 --> 00:26:55.180 anniversary. I think it was of the ADA. The ADA. 00:26:55.319 --> 00:26:58.380 Yep. Americans with Disabilities Act. Thank you. 00:26:58.650 --> 00:27:02.829 So there were, oh my gosh, there were dancers, 00:27:03.170 --> 00:27:05.970 there were speakers, there were food trucks and 00:27:05.970 --> 00:27:08.730 activities and crafts. It was a really cool event. 00:27:08.930 --> 00:27:12.670 Then we all held ribbon hands around the Capitol. 00:27:12.750 --> 00:27:15.130 Around the Capitol. A ribbon around the Capitol. 00:27:15.130 --> 00:27:19.390 There was an aerial photo. Did the plane, did 00:27:19.390 --> 00:27:21.670 the plane ever plane? I don't think there was 00:27:21.670 --> 00:27:23.509 a plane. There was supposed to be a plane. It 00:27:23.509 --> 00:27:26.970 was a drone. Yeah. Oh, okay. I know what happened 00:27:26.970 --> 00:27:28.569 there. There was supposed to be a plane, but 00:27:28.569 --> 00:27:30.410 however, there could not be a flyover because 00:27:30.410 --> 00:27:36.009 the governor was in the house. So if he's away, 00:27:36.230 --> 00:27:39.109 then you can do a flyover. Gotcha. But he was 00:27:39.109 --> 00:27:41.470 there, so we couldn't do a flyover. Roger. So 00:27:41.470 --> 00:27:45.210 we just did an aerial drone photo. Okay. But 00:27:45.210 --> 00:27:48.490 I mean, that whole entire park was full. It was 00:27:48.490 --> 00:27:52.160 a good showing. Again, The community showed up. 00:27:52.180 --> 00:27:56.099 So many partners. I wasn't even there and I knew 00:27:56.099 --> 00:28:01.779 that. We've presented multiple times, I think, 00:28:01.799 --> 00:28:05.039 this year to CASA. And that's a partner that 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:07.180 is a really good partnership. That's a Guardian 00:28:07.180 --> 00:28:10.779 ad line of presentations. Yep. Yeah. So I have 00:28:10.779 --> 00:28:16.700 that on here. And then in quarter three of this 00:28:16.700 --> 00:28:19.859 year. Nope. Quarter four. I guess we're in quarter 00:28:19.859 --> 00:28:21.059 four. The end of the year. September. The end 00:28:21.059 --> 00:28:22.599 of the year. I don't remember when I just did 00:28:22.599 --> 00:28:25.660 it. I did it last month. IEP 101. Yeah. I did 00:28:25.660 --> 00:28:29.819 my first inaugural IEP 101. This is going to 00:28:29.819 --> 00:28:32.819 be a quarterly training that we are going to 00:28:32.819 --> 00:28:35.420 do. We've committed to doing just to deliver 00:28:35.420 --> 00:28:39.000 those basics. Whoever needs that. And how did 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:42.420 it go? Well, it went, it was a little slow start, 00:28:42.539 --> 00:28:45.799 but we're getting there. Again, we tweaked. Yeah. 00:28:45.819 --> 00:28:48.920 We changed a couple things. We're getting there. 00:28:48.980 --> 00:28:50.900 It's going to be great. Yeah. It needs to get 00:28:50.900 --> 00:28:54.079 that momentum. It just has to. It does. And this 00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:56.660 quarter is always a hard quarter anyways. There's 00:28:56.660 --> 00:28:59.339 a lot of stuff going on. People are really busy 00:28:59.339 --> 00:29:01.019 and bogged down. And there's dress -up week. 00:29:01.619 --> 00:29:05.339 Oh. Next week? Is it? At school. Something about 00:29:05.339 --> 00:29:07.680 peppermint and then another one's pajamas. Pajama 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:10.819 day and ugly sweater day. They hate it. Yeah. 00:29:11.450 --> 00:29:13.930 Kids wear their pajamas every day anyway. Yeah, 00:29:13.950 --> 00:29:15.490 they do. Why do we have to have a special day? 00:29:15.769 --> 00:29:18.470 It's every day. That is true. Today, when I dropped 00:29:18.470 --> 00:29:24.869 my kid off at 10th grade, I don't think it was 00:29:24.869 --> 00:29:27.450 pajama day, but there was an individual going 00:29:27.450 --> 00:29:33.589 in her pajamas and slippers. They were maybe 00:29:33.589 --> 00:29:36.890 Uggs, but they're basically slippers. That makes 00:29:36.890 --> 00:29:38.990 me sound very old. They're basically slippers. 00:29:39.809 --> 00:29:43.480 Okay. you might have to know my leg fell asleep 00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:46.839 but now i can't like do anything talk about conferences 00:29:46.839 --> 00:29:51.140 um yeah september october november were full 00:29:51.140 --> 00:29:54.500 of them i had the envision employment summit 00:29:54.500 --> 00:29:58.240 yeah um where we got together with our partners 00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:04.500 statewide um in six different locations um business 00:30:04.500 --> 00:30:07.779 leaders vocational rehabilitation school districts 00:30:07.779 --> 00:30:14.490 um some parents to talk about employment for 00:30:14.490 --> 00:30:18.930 youth. How did that go being broken apart in 00:30:18.930 --> 00:30:21.069 six different, like? It went well. It did go 00:30:21.069 --> 00:30:23.440 well. Yeah. Okay. I mean, we. Definitely had 00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:25.539 different attendance at each of them, but I think 00:30:25.539 --> 00:30:27.960 at least at a minimum there were not less than 00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:31.779 20 people at each set. And it's regionally appropriate 00:30:31.779 --> 00:30:34.440 for those people. You get business leaders from 00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:38.559 or business representation from each of the regions. 00:30:38.779 --> 00:30:44.799 So it's relevant to families and educators and 00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:48.799 youth in Region 1, Coeur d 'Alene area, and then 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:53.720 all the way down to Region 7. And then I took 00:30:53.720 --> 00:30:57.400 a course to become a parent cafe facilitator. 00:30:57.460 --> 00:31:00.460 So I'm looking forward to hosting some parent 00:31:00.460 --> 00:31:04.160 cafes around families with disability, kids with 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:08.759 disabilities in 2026. We had the Idaho Pathways 00:31:08.759 --> 00:31:10.559 to Partnership Conference. That's a statewide 00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:14.160 conference for school districts to bring their 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:20.599 secondary transition teens to learn. about resources 00:31:20.599 --> 00:31:24.039 and better their school district's teams for 00:31:24.039 --> 00:31:26.440 transitioning their youth out of high school. 00:31:27.740 --> 00:31:31.160 Then we had regional parent summits in November. 00:31:32.420 --> 00:31:35.839 Angela and I spoke and taught at the Burley Conference, 00:31:36.299 --> 00:31:40.480 the United We Make Change Conference in Burley, 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:44.880 where there were about 200 people in attendance. 00:31:47.019 --> 00:31:51.559 we did that region people show up they do good 00:31:51.559 --> 00:31:53.900 for you guys good for burley yeah yeah it was 00:31:53.900 --> 00:31:57.740 great um that was co that was put on by uh the 00:31:57.740 --> 00:32:01.839 dd council and um their burley leaders so okay 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:04.930 um Sorry, I'm just thinking about how I said 00:32:04.930 --> 00:32:09.170 Christina Bassani. Like, I don't know. Sorry. 00:32:09.349 --> 00:32:13.630 Go on. That's okay. And then we did the Northwest 00:32:13.630 --> 00:32:17.250 Pyramid and Early Learning Conference where that 00:32:17.250 --> 00:32:20.509 encompassed a few of the Northwest, Pacific Northwest 00:32:20.509 --> 00:32:25.630 states, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, about 00:32:25.630 --> 00:32:28.710 early learning and the pyramid model through 00:32:28.710 --> 00:32:34.450 challengingbehaviors .org. where i spoke on family 00:32:34.450 --> 00:32:38.930 engagement in early childhood so child care um 00:32:38.930 --> 00:32:42.970 preschool to about 100 family or 100 providers 00:32:42.970 --> 00:32:47.930 um did you see that feedback yet not yet it's 00:32:47.930 --> 00:32:50.390 good i gotta i need to look i saw the email come 00:32:50.390 --> 00:32:53.150 through yesterday so i'm i'm super hopeful and 00:32:53.150 --> 00:32:56.660 then i spoke to some paraprofessionals that are 00:32:56.660 --> 00:32:59.400 getting their special education endorsement through 00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:03.539 another resource service administration grant 00:33:03.539 --> 00:33:08.839 that Idaho received to educate and elevate our 00:33:08.839 --> 00:33:12.339 secondary, our special education professionals. 00:33:12.660 --> 00:33:15.539 So this was all paraprofessionals who want to 00:33:15.539 --> 00:33:20.220 get that special education endorsement. So that's 00:33:20.220 --> 00:33:22.299 not giving them a teaching endorsement. It's 00:33:22.299 --> 00:33:24.460 just giving them an endorsement, like a para 00:33:24.460 --> 00:33:29.380 level. Yes. So they can they can they can do 00:33:29.380 --> 00:33:34.309 more. OK. And potentially. use that towards obtaining 00:33:34.309 --> 00:33:36.769 a special education degree. Wow. And is that 00:33:36.769 --> 00:33:39.990 a WIOA -funded initiative? So Resource Service 00:33:39.990 --> 00:33:42.990 Administration. RSA. Yeah, RSA. It's an RSA grant 00:33:42.990 --> 00:33:46.349 that Idaho applied for and was awarded. So the 00:33:46.349 --> 00:33:50.049 universities, so Boise State and University of 00:33:50.049 --> 00:33:53.950 Idaho, yes, are participating in that and educating. 00:33:54.650 --> 00:34:01.190 I think other, like... General education teachers 00:34:01.190 --> 00:34:03.829 can take it as well. It's just a college -level 00:34:03.829 --> 00:34:07.490 course. Very nice. And what was WIOA? Workforce 00:34:07.490 --> 00:34:10.269 Innovations Opportunities Act. Thank you. You're 00:34:10.269 --> 00:34:15.949 welcome. My bad. Yeah. Yeah, it's just a few 00:34:15.949 --> 00:34:21.489 things. I like that commercial. By the EOD, I 00:34:21.489 --> 00:34:26.030 need a RIP of the, I don't know. And it always 00:34:26.030 --> 00:34:28.670 cracks me up because I'm like, that is us. I 00:34:28.670 --> 00:34:32.170 never feel more ridiculous when I say some stuff 00:34:32.170 --> 00:34:34.329 like, did you guys see that new RFI? How's that 00:34:34.329 --> 00:34:36.989 going to impact the RFP? Yes. And I'm like, what 00:34:36.989 --> 00:34:41.409 am I even doing here? By the EOD, I need your, 00:34:41.489 --> 00:34:46.039 yeah. Why do I talk like this? Okay, I have to 00:34:46.039 --> 00:34:50.480 be honest. I did some download top secret that 00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:53.179 I classified stuff that I can't share with you 00:34:53.179 --> 00:34:58.460 yet between October and December. So a lot. Please 00:34:58.460 --> 00:35:01.960 tell us. A lot. I'll tell you in January. Okay. 00:35:02.039 --> 00:35:04.880 There'll be a very special podcast about it in 00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:08.340 January. But rest assured, even though I don't 00:35:08.340 --> 00:35:10.679 have anything, like literally nothing to talk 00:35:10.679 --> 00:35:13.719 about. between October and now. She was just 00:35:13.719 --> 00:35:16.440 watching TikTok. I was. Well, I've been doing 00:35:16.440 --> 00:35:19.119 all the conferences. You've been prepping for 00:35:19.119 --> 00:35:23.800 January. It's a pretty big deal. I was doing 00:35:23.800 --> 00:35:27.559 some top secret stuff. So that rounds out my 00:35:27.559 --> 00:35:31.179 year. I think I would be remiss if I did not 00:35:31.179 --> 00:35:34.539 mention our state professional development grant 00:35:34.539 --> 00:35:39.449 work that while the... cultivating readers and 00:35:39.449 --> 00:35:44.230 the SMART 2 .0 program of that has ceased. Idaho 00:35:44.230 --> 00:35:47.349 was awarded a new grant and it is now called 00:35:47.349 --> 00:35:50.050 Stride. It is our state professional development 00:35:50.050 --> 00:35:53.449 grant. It will now focus on serving individuals 00:35:53.449 --> 00:35:56.130 or helping individuals in K through, grades K 00:35:56.130 --> 00:35:59.869 through three, using a multi -tiered systems 00:35:59.869 --> 00:36:03.710 of support approach in math and literacy. So 00:36:03.710 --> 00:36:08.590 our previous Our previous grants focused on literacy 00:36:08.590 --> 00:36:12.949 implementation and family engagement. Now this 00:36:12.949 --> 00:36:14.829 is going to focus on some math and literacy. 00:36:15.150 --> 00:36:18.289 Our focus never changes. It is always on family 00:36:18.289 --> 00:36:20.429 engagement, how to get families involved in these 00:36:20.429 --> 00:36:24.730 processes to the best of their ability and make 00:36:24.730 --> 00:36:26.889 it make sense for them. So your data leader stuff 00:36:26.889 --> 00:36:29.429 is going to fit right in. Our what? Your data 00:36:29.429 --> 00:36:32.320 leaders. Yeah. exactly he's gonna it was like 00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:35.619 it was a beautiful marriage yeah it was like 00:36:35.619 --> 00:36:38.440 i didn't plan it but it absolutely will it just 00:36:38.440 --> 00:36:43.199 marries right in there yeah so that's it i wanted 00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:46.239 to round this out because every year i say every 00:36:46.239 --> 00:36:49.159 year look i've been doing this for 40 years uh 00:36:49.159 --> 00:36:51.699 the last couple of years we've we've also talked 00:36:51.699 --> 00:36:54.940 about um professional development that that's 00:36:54.940 --> 00:36:57.219 a huge thing about what we do is that you know 00:36:57.219 --> 00:37:01.980 we're not just a group of you know, women in 00:37:01.980 --> 00:37:07.019 their... Anyway. Jeez Louise. Anyway, that we 00:37:07.019 --> 00:37:10.500 talk about what we know about. So professional 00:37:10.500 --> 00:37:13.360 development round off. We did a lot of stuff 00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:17.119 from a lot of professional development from the 00:37:17.119 --> 00:37:21.539 Federation of Families this year. Case. Yep. 00:37:21.539 --> 00:37:28.059 And that is special education. The Council of... 00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:30.920 Advocates. Advocates for special education. Perfect. 00:37:31.260 --> 00:37:36.940 I continue to do a lot of work through CADRE 00:37:36.940 --> 00:37:42.239 and that's our dispute resolution folks. Just 00:37:42.239 --> 00:37:47.019 some of the topical calls. I try to seek that 00:37:47.019 --> 00:37:49.000 information out as much as possible when it's 00:37:49.000 --> 00:37:50.420 available because that's my bucket. That's where 00:37:50.420 --> 00:37:54.059 I land. I believe you also went to OSEP. Oh, 00:37:54.260 --> 00:37:56.820 I forgot. And you didn't talk about that with 00:37:56.820 --> 00:37:59.199 me. Yeah. So it wasn't memorable. Memorable. 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:03.980 Usually they come. And this year we have some 00:38:03.980 --> 00:38:06.860 travel restrictions and only one per center could 00:38:06.860 --> 00:38:11.159 go per grant. So I did. I attended OSEP and that's 00:38:11.159 --> 00:38:15.360 the Office of Special Education Programs. And 00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:19.059 it was it was different this year because it 00:38:19.059 --> 00:38:22.949 was. Not as many people. It was restricted. But 00:38:22.949 --> 00:38:26.630 it was a different range of topics, a lot more 00:38:26.630 --> 00:38:32.550 school choice topics, a lot more, more. What 00:38:32.550 --> 00:38:35.590 I thought was really cool at this particular 00:38:35.590 --> 00:38:41.730 OSEP is how much focus was on bringing the parent 00:38:41.730 --> 00:38:45.789 center in to support families in this work. And 00:38:45.789 --> 00:38:48.659 we already do a really. pretty good job with 00:38:48.659 --> 00:38:51.099 our State Department, but there's a lot of states 00:38:51.099 --> 00:38:53.159 out there that don't have a relationship. And 00:38:53.159 --> 00:38:56.219 we are lucky that we do. And so in some of the 00:38:56.219 --> 00:38:59.960 spaces at OSEP, I actually was called on and 00:38:59.960 --> 00:39:03.500 asked to really explain our relationship. And 00:39:03.500 --> 00:39:05.420 sometimes that happens, right? You guys know 00:39:05.420 --> 00:39:08.500 that that happens because we're an anomaly in 00:39:08.500 --> 00:39:13.119 the land of... We did a whoopsie. Yeah. We keep 00:39:13.119 --> 00:39:15.480 saying OSEP, but we never... She did it. Oh, 00:39:15.480 --> 00:39:17.039 you did? My bad. Special education programs. 00:39:17.219 --> 00:39:19.159 My bad. You did on that one, didn't I? I was 00:39:19.159 --> 00:39:23.960 in pain at that time. Yeah, I did. And we've 00:39:23.960 --> 00:39:26.800 also been on a lot of new committees. A lot of 00:39:26.800 --> 00:39:28.940 new committees. I started to write down committees 00:39:28.940 --> 00:39:31.579 and then I was like... I don't think anyone wants... 00:39:31.579 --> 00:39:34.699 If you would like a list of all of the committees 00:39:34.699 --> 00:39:37.519 that we sit on, I would happily provide it to 00:39:37.519 --> 00:39:41.199 you. But it's a lot of being in the space of, 00:39:41.440 --> 00:39:43.900 okay, well, did you tell parents that? How are 00:39:43.900 --> 00:39:46.329 you telling parents that? yeah absolutely that's 00:39:46.329 --> 00:39:49.510 kind of in every space that you can possibly 00:39:49.510 --> 00:39:53.010 imagine in any system that impacts children especially 00:39:53.010 --> 00:39:56.050 those children with disabilities or special health 00:39:56.050 --> 00:39:57.530 care needs we're like and how you telling parents 00:39:57.530 --> 00:39:59.789 that yeah is that parent -friendly language is 00:39:59.789 --> 00:40:03.550 that accessible i I must have said that six times 00:40:03.550 --> 00:40:05.210 on Friday at my infant -toddler coordinating 00:40:05.210 --> 00:40:07.789 council meeting. Ooh, that's not really parent 00:40:07.789 --> 00:40:10.409 -friendly. Ooh, are we disseminating that information 00:40:10.409 --> 00:40:13.869 to families? So that is the space that iPool 00:40:13.869 --> 00:40:17.010 exists in. We are at the tables, at the system 00:40:17.010 --> 00:40:20.949 levels, but we are representing you, not us, 00:40:20.969 --> 00:40:24.139 as just individual. Parent, family members. We're 00:40:24.139 --> 00:40:26.539 representing the systems. My favorite is when 00:40:26.539 --> 00:40:28.679 people see you coming off mute and they're like, 00:40:28.739 --> 00:40:31.219 okay, we're about to have to take this back to 00:40:31.219 --> 00:40:35.699 the drawing board. Yeah, that's true. So that's 00:40:35.699 --> 00:40:39.659 it. How about a big cheers to 2026? Yeah. Did 00:40:39.659 --> 00:40:43.139 you? I will just say at the end of at the beginning 00:40:43.139 --> 00:40:47.019 of 2025, I'm really glad that we are here in 00:40:47.019 --> 00:40:50.119 this chair. We all have like a quasi smile on 00:40:50.119 --> 00:40:52.559 our hands. We're still employed. We're still 00:40:52.559 --> 00:40:56.420 employed. We can still help families. There was 00:40:56.420 --> 00:40:59.619 there was a minute there where we were. No, I 00:40:59.619 --> 00:41:03.059 was called into question. And yet we persevered 00:41:03.059 --> 00:41:07.860 and overcome. Cheers. We're proud of you, too. 00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:19.639 Thank you so much, everyone out there, for listening 00:41:19.639 --> 00:41:23.420 in. And know that if you are in Idaho or planning 00:41:23.420 --> 00:41:26.579 on moving to Idaho and have questions on systems 00:41:26.579 --> 00:41:30.179 or services for children with disabilities, please 00:41:30.179 --> 00:41:32.920 consider reaching out to us on our website at 00:41:32.920 --> 00:41:38.980 iPullIdaho, that's I -P -U -L -Idaho .org, or 00:41:38.980 --> 00:41:45.000 by calling us at 208 -342 -5884. Be sure to tune 00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:48.659 in next time. Until then, this has been unlimited 00:41:48.659 --> 00:41:51.139 parenting. Thanks for listening.