Transcript has been slightly edited/ formatted for readability

[dana_marie]: hi everybody

[michelle_she_her]: it's twenty twenty three

[dana_marie]: it is

[michelle_she_her]: are we feeling different

[dana_marie]: i'm not sure

[michelle_she_her]: oh

[dana_marie]: there's ever been a time in my life where i have felt different at the beginning of January that i felt at the end of December although maybe there is a weird calm that comes i would say after the holidays um and at the beginning of January i'm not sure i feel like a different person but i definitely feel slightly more relaxed after the rush of holiday and then obviously a little bit of a holiday break doesn't hurt either.

[michelle_she_her]: yeah i definitely slept a lot and read a lot of books during this break so i definitely feel more rested but still tired i feel like i could still sleep for days be honest

[dana_marie]: i mean always always is then that always the case

[michelle_she_her]: i also feel like there's something about the really so we are located in boston and you know it's cold here so if you also are somewhere where it's cold there's something about the cold air that's really invigorating dare i say that like things just feel fresh.

[dana_marie]: true

[michelle_she_her]: right right so but this time of year also makes me want to clean more so i know some people are super into their like spring cleaning but i'm always like this is when i want to throw things out get myself organized s all the things

[dana_marie]: oh until ten o'clock last night i was just popping around the house just organizing. i mean really it was a lot of just making piles and moving piles but it was a similar feeling of okay so maybe i do feel a little bit different at the after the holidays and and moving into the new year because i was : doing the exact same thing.

[michelle_she_her]: yeah so if you're listening and you're like this title said we're going to talk about organization

[dana_marie]: yeah

[michelle_she_her]: this is why this is why we feel like this is a really like the beginning of the school year and this time probably even more so than the beginning of the school year is a really excellent time to kind of take that energy of renewal and wanting to get organized and be on top of things were kind of like almost halfway done with the school year and this is a great time to get your kiddo stuff really organized and in order for you.

[dana_marie]: at the end of twenty twenty two just a couple of weeks ago in our past news letter that went out of the calendar year we talked a little bit about this because i think sometimes parents and caregivers can feel like if you didn't get organized in September or if you didn't get organized in august before the school year there's this feeling of like it's too late or you missed mark a little bit or you're behind and i actually you know i agree with michelle. I think this is actually a really good time to kind of reset. I'm not the biggest fan, i know michelle is maybe not either, of like new year's resolutions but i am a huge fan of resetting and getting organized for any time of the year but i really do think as far as school goes as far as special education goes as far as getting like michele said your kiddo stuff organized for their programming this is actually a really good time to do it at a halfway point.

You've maybe maybe had a second to breathe in the last couple of weeks um but heading into january a little bit more organized maybe than you left november and december is a good way to feel good about about the new year.

[michelle_she_her]: yeah and you know one of the things that comes along with having kids in school especially kids with disabilities or who have you're maybe nervous about or thinking that your child may be needing some additional support in school that comes with a lot of pieces of paper there's a lot of paper um and even though i think one of the things that was almost dare i say good about twenty twenty and the shutdown is a lot of schools did start to put lot like kind of really pushed schools to digitize more; but in the world a special ed, everything is still paper based. Even so then i would say real estate. Like a lot of school districts still won't accept a digital signature for things

[dana_marie]: right

[michelle_she_her]: you know and you can buy a house with a digital signature so we're like a lot of schools are little behind in that way so you might be sitting on a ton of paper or you might be in a situation where you're like i feel i should have received this piece of paper but i don't know where it : is but then you're not really sure so this time of year half way through the school year especially when thinking about if your child is making progress or might need some even if they're not due for an annual review if maybe they need a progress check in the best way for you to know whether or not to request that kind of meeting is to have the paper in front of you in an organized sort of way so that you can understand what it's saying to you.

[dana_marie]: back in September we launched our organization binder which actually you can still download right now from our website if you had to our website and we um we have folks using that right now for those paper based documents like Michelle was saying there's a section for ieps and for progress reports is a section for evaluations there's a phone log or a section for communication log there's there's multiple different tabs to it. But why something like that system is helpful is because everything is in one place i think that another thing i have found this year working with all different families is that like michele said every school district is different. Some school districts are emailing you progress supports and draft ieps and evaluations and so and so forth some are snail mailing you consent forms and they're taking three or four days to get to your house. Some are putting ieps in the actual postal mail as well and you're not totally sure when you're going to get it or when it's going to arrive so you might also have a combination of things in paper based form things in digital form. So sitting down with a table of contents, a list of things that you should have and just seeing whether you have it in paper based form or digitally and can print it out, maybe is a good way to check, like michelle said, to make sure you had all the information you need to especially if you're heading into an iep meeting or a progress check meeting or maybe this is an evaluation um meeting coming up: that's a really good way to know if you have everything is to have a list in front of you that you can that you can check.

[michelle_she_her]: and what are some of those things that folks should be that we would recommend they should be putting together putting into order making sure that they have like right at their fingertips?

[dana_marie]: so when we sent out our last newsletter last month the first thing that we recommended and even before you get all of your papers together I really do recommend doing this task; to check dates in time lines. Do you know when your kids iep expires? When their iep meeting’s coming up? Do you know when their evaluation is supposed to be complete or when their eligibility meeting is coming? Because that will help give you kind of a parameter when putting this together is to know what we're planning for is this something that's going to be next week the second or third week maybe of january or do you have a little bit more time like we said some sort of obvious things that you obviously want to include is

at least the last couple of years of ieps if your child is already on an iep the reason. We say at least the last two or three years because it can be really super helpful for comparison. If you have the iep before or maybe two ieps before this helps you know whether they are making progress towards their goals, whether their services have shifted and maybe you didn't realize that. It helps to see if their accommodations are still working from two years ago or one year ago if there's something that needs to be changed there it's just really good to have at least the year before if not the two years before for comparison any evaluations that have been completed.

So every three years may be more the school district is required to offer a re evaluation for your child if they're already on an iep and through that re evaluation they might have updated cognitive testing, they might have should have some updated academic testing, maybe speech and language, occupational therapy. This could be anywhere from two seven or eight or more evaluations that were completed by specialists that you have reports for so gathering all of those putting them in one place is also super helpful so that you have the most up to date data is well.

Those are some of the more obvious things some things that we find the parents lose track of or kind of don't think to include progress reports michelle already mentioned that that you should be getting at least as often as your child is getting a report card. For little ones like pre-k those might be less often but once a child is in first grade, at least as often as they're getting a report card. I personally do recommend and this can get a little bit overwhelming so they're different ways to do this and it's more on an individual basis but i do recommend communication with school. So if you've been emailing with school if you can print out those emails put those in your binder to bring to iep meetings as well that can help to jog your memory around conversations that were had. That's another thing that we like to put in our section on a communication log where you're keeping track of when you're calling school when school is calling you, when you're emailing back and forth - whether it's with the special teacher or principal, assistant principal or anyone on the school team. Another thing that sometimes parents don't think about or forget to include but it can be super helpful are examples of student work. So if you get something home from your child's teacher that could be helpful for any number of different ways: it shows maybe one of their strength, something that they've mastered, something that they're really good at, and a copy of that to a binder. If it's a piece of work that really shows what they struggle with add that as well if you can take a copy of it or if you are able to keep the copy of it because if you're in an iep meeting, that might help to have something tangible to show where they might be having

a little bit of difficulty.

[michelle_she_her]: so one of the things i wanted to put out there is sometimes parents and caregivers feel keeping track of items almost feels like it's a gotcha for the school and that's not what. This is about this is about you being an informed and prepared care giver

to be an active participant in your child's meeting and having these things these documents these artifacts at your fingertips to reference to jog your memory it's going to give you things to reference for your parent concern statement it's going to give you things to talk about with your child for the vision statement so that you and or your child are able to be active participants at your meeting. And this includes the communication logs. Know that the school staff are also have some sort of communication log that they are also referencing when they're having conversations with you because let's be honest not everybody has a million and one things happening in their lives at all times so we're not always remembering everything we have talked about or gone over and having that kind of log to just say oh yeah i remembered! i asked you on this date for this teacher or therapist is going to be like oh gee i forgot let me resend that let me send it to you

[dana_marie]: right

[michelle_she_her]: right so coming i think intentionality is everything and there is no gotcha here like if that's not your intention right so please don't feel like being a prepared caregiver is going to make the school feel edgy or that it's going to create something adversarial because it should not feel that way. It should be open and honest communication across both bridges here.

[dana_marie]: i think you bring up a really good point to and something that i've seen honestly a lot and it's when you enter into an iep meeting as prepared as you are whether you're the school side or the parent or caregiver, those meetings can feel stressful they can feel overwhelming and so sometimes it's just having the documentation and information in front of

you that just makes you feel more prepared, than it makes feel a little bit less stressed we always recommend like michelle said that parents have their parent concern statement as part of that collection of documentation in their binder something that they can read you might have in your head you've maybe i thought about it you've definitely thought about it for probably weeks and months ahead of the meeting what it is that you want to cover but sometimes you can get into those meetings and like i said they can be really overwhelming and you're overwhelmed you forget things

[michelle_she_her]: sure

[dana_marie]: just that's the reality of the situation and so having everything in front of you like michelle said isn't to show like i got a it's to say i'm prepared i have everything i need also i have this information to rely on in case

[dana_marie]: i forget something

[michelle_she_her]: hm

[dana_marie]: that i want to talk about

[michelle_she_her]: absolutely

[dana_marie]: i think that's an important part to

[michelle_she_her]: so I strongly

[dana_marie]: oh

[michelle_she_her]: recommend caregivers if you have not already used the link down in the show notes or on our website to go download your copy of our binder organization system you can print it out at home or you can even send it to, we recommend if you have like a

staples or something nearby has some pretty colors and stuff and make it real durable and if you are having difficulty accessing a printer you can also set up a digital sort of binder which can be helpful if you're somebody who really likes digital organization you can also use this your organization system to set yourself up digitally as well if that works better for you.  

[dana_marie]: and if you're listening to this and you're like this is all too much i am already i'm trying to organize my house i'm trying to put away christmas presents i'm trying to get everyone back to school so that i can take a breather; if this all feels a little bit overwhelming pick one thing you don't have to do all of these things at once. Pick one thing to do in the next couple of weeks at the beginning of january set yourself up and that one thing. It could be just reaching out to your child's special education teacher and asking when their annual review is. and that's something that's going to set you up for success. It's something that you can check off your list pretty quickly once you've done it. It might not feel overwhelming. So pick one thing that you can do in the next couple of weeks to help you get organized. It might be

printing out one evaluation or one iep. It might be just checking the due date. It doesn't have to be everything right now, all at once. Start with one and then see if that kind of prompts you

over the next few weeks to to get organized

[michelle_she_her]: and i mean i'll say that this is also a great time of year to schedule a twenty minute complimentary session with us and that can be an organization session where you sit down with us over zoom and you bring the things that you have and we just walk you through the different steps sometimes that can be really really useful for just getting started and then giving you a couple of really good action steps to follow whether that's continuing to work with us in some capacity or things for you to do on your own going for, so this is also

a really good task to use that session for.

[dana_marie]: awesome

[michelle_she_her]: so on that note make sure you check out the show notes for the links to the binder organization system the complimentary consultation and you can always find us everywhere liter our handle is empowered number two advocate dot com on the web and then that is our handle on all the social medias so we appreciate you being here we wish you a happy healthy thriving twenty twenty three and we're so

grateful that you are here with us

[dana_marie]: can't wait to talk to you soon