Do you have IEP facilitators, or someone who calls and schedules your IEP meetings for you? In my previous district, we had someone who called the parents, lined up the meetings, got all of the paperwork together, and such. The only thing she did not do was write the IEP itself. That was our job! =) It was so nice. Now, I am my IEP facilitator and along with preparing the IEP itself, I have to call the parents and do all of the paperwork needed to set up the meetings. My very organized self has had minor anxiety attacks and I fear that I am going to overlook something and fail to hold a meeting when I should. =/ Eek! With my multiple calendars with things highlighted, everyone's folder having the dates labeled, and their personal folders with information...I should be good, right?!
Okay, so because I am new to the building, I have had to figure out the times accompanying each student and gauge if they are appropriate (in my mind) or not. I have four students that have come to me saying, "We were going to graduate at the end of the year last year, but it didn't happen." Okay, so with that phrase you might gather that these kiddos are done with speech services. They are all speech only kiddos, working on carryover, and even with my tongue-twisters were successful. Side note - do you use tongue twisters in speech therapy? I love them! Anyway, as the new speech therapist, I am now in the midst of the inner-battle of calling the parents and beginning the dismissal process or changing them to my 5 minute kids program. Do you/Have you used the 5 minute kids program?
I have also had to figure out why some students are at the carryover level and are seen 1 x week for 15 minutes vs 1 x week for 20 minutes. I'm still struggling to figure out the difference. Some of my students are on "observation only" status, which is monthly, but for artic, and I am not sure I understand that either. Insight, anyone?! If I understood why it was happening, it might not make my head spin, but I don't get it.
I hope your week was spectacular! I definitely had a spectacular week. If it is any indication of the year, it is going to be a great one! I wish the same for you!
I am my own IEP facilitator, lol. I have never had anyone to schedule my meetings or do any paperwork for me, so that must have been nice! What a major change for you! You will figure it out and get your own system going! I just go through all my IEPs, write due dates in my calendar for each month, and at the beginning of each month I schedule all the meetings I need to have for the month. It's worked well for me and I have never missed a meeting.
ReplyDeleteHi Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI am also my own facilitator. I use my calendar function on my email to set up all my IEPs (like Jenn) at the beginning of the month. One thing I would stress-make sure to document all of your conversations with parents. Part of our IEPs have a "Documentation of Attempts" page. This way, I have my own record of what was said during each call. You will make it through!
Also, the kiddos on "observation" are provided indirect speech therapy. In Ohio, we call it "consultation." This means you check up with them for a few minutes and I ask their teacher how they are doing in the classroom on their speech. They don't actually receive "direct" therapy (coming to see you once per week) but you keep an eye on them in case they slip backwards. Keeping them on "observation" just makes it easier to quickly put them back into therapy if they need it again. Here, they are still considered to be on an IEP so make sure to attend the meeting if necessary! Well, I hope my rambling makes sense and helps! You'll do fine and I'm sure all the changes will be nothing in a few weeks :)
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled on to your blog via Pinterest...what a great read! You're the newest addition to my Blog feed :) Hope things are continuing to go well!
Let's Talk Speech Therapy
Rachel