For this assignment I had the opportunity to interact with other professionals in the school. All these professionals play an important role in children’s IEP meetings. During these 2 weeks I had the pleasure to interact with the entire professionals and learned what they had to say about IEP and parent involvement. One thing is for sure and which they all agreed to what Ms. Val a speech therapist had to say, “Parent involvement is very important in a child’s education, because there is just so much we can do at school, to be able to see progress there has to be carryover at home”. I have to say I fully agree with what she told me. Most of their learning’s happen at home as they do in school in order for children to succeed we need to work together and build connections from home to school. Mrs. Laura the occupational therapist in special ed feels the same way. In the beginning of the school year Mrs. Laura send letters home to get permission by parent and doctors to start OT (occupational therapist) and she had a hard time getting those sheets sign, she wishes parent were more involve and attentive to their child. For the therapist it’s very important to start therapy as soon as possible, because they all have different goals they need to meet. All the goals are set up by the therapists the time is quarterly or time wise therefore they need to start working to accomplish the goals they have. Miss. Eva is a physical therapist she comes in and works with a child in Special ed, she is 4 years old and has no body movement in her back. When the child sits down, her back goes straight to the floor. Miss. Eva is working hard to help the child in Special Ed. Miss. Eva says, “She is trying hard to help Emily achieve her goals and makes the activities fun for Emily to enjoy”. Miss. Eva role in IEP meetings is very important, because she states what is best for Emily, they also asked for the family to help do the same activities at home with her this will help the process of progress.
I learned new experiences with the professionals in this field of Special Ed. I was able to see what is inside the IEP and the construction of it. I was able to see teachers, therapist, parents, and administrators point of view in a sitting of an IEP. Everyone contributes but they are all advocates for the children. Mrs. Phillis the coordinator of Elementary support services agrees with me when I talked to her about many parents not understanding Special Ed, especially Hispanic families sadly but true. I enjoyed observing and interacting these two weeks it was an experience.
I agree that parent involvement is one of the most crucial things to have a child's IEP be successful. I work in a classroom with 9 autistic children and we recently just had conferences. Every single parent was there and they supported their child 100%. I thought that it was sweet they were really concerned and they asked so many questions about how they could do more and how they could help their child become a better learner. I think that it is interesting because I see much more parent involvement with children that have special needs then children that do not.
ReplyDeleteI would say that most special ed. staff are advocates for their students. I agree that parental involvement is paramount to a child's success in school.
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