As most of you know, I am a special education teacher and just in case you didn’t know, I love my job! This is what I believe I have been called to do! However, I now have such a new found perspective that only a parent of a special needs child has… Which is such a bonus for me as a special education teacher!!

When Olivia was evaluated and had her first IFSP meeting, which is like an IEP for infants to age 3, I felt all of the nerves and anxieties that my parents must feel when their child is evaluated or when IEP meetings are held. Wow… Receiving my notice and procedural safeguards was a reality check! I thought to myself… Don’t be the parent who says “I can wallpaper my whole house with all of these procedural safeguards.” Just don’t take them… As I joked and gladly accepted my very own copy of procedural safeguards! Next reality check… I rambled!! If you haven’t been on the other side of the table, it is awkward and difficult to say all of the things your child isn’t doing and to hear that she is functioning below where she should be. So, I did what most people do in awkward situations…I rambled! For years, I have sat in meetings where parents fill every second with a story or something funny that their child did, well it is probably because they are trying to keep from crying!! It isn’t easy being told that your child’s receptive speech skills are at 100% zero months. Ouch!

So, future and current educators and service providers (myself included) extend your parents some grace! I can assure you, it isn’t easy where they are sitting. Put yourself in the parent’s shoes, what if it was your child being discussed. Our kids will be behind and they may not be able to do everything that the typical kids can do, but that is the beauty of special education. Push them, include them, and have high expectations for them!! Have we gotten so far away from the idea that everyone’s success will look different?! Have we become so focused on the score of a standardized assessment that we fail to acknowledge the small daily successes?!

The world we live in is changing in so many ways and more and more kids are being identified as having a disability of some sort. I pray that Olivia has teachers who will push her academically, encourage her when she struggles, and love her when she is at her worst. I pray that she is not dismissed or limited by the score of an assessment but is pushed by her ability to grow, and I pray that her teachers believe that she is worth the extra effort! These are all things that I am sure most parents want for their kids, whether they have a disability or not! Having this new perspective, I hope and pray that I have been or can be this for my students… I hope that I can encourage you to be this for your students too, you are a huge part of our village!!