The IEP eligibility meeting is stressful. This meeting is where you debrief with the professional who did the evaluation, the IEP coordinator, and the child’s teacher. It feels so critical when you are trying to get your kid the support they need.
We attended two of these meetings for my son. I mentioned these in last week’s blog. The first determined he wasn’t eligible for an IEP but there was another evaluation to do. The second we got him his IEP!
How the meeting works
- The evaluator reports their findings.
- The IEP coordinator will ask questions about the impact of the findings on the child’s education. This the opportunity for the teacher to provide their insight.
- The group discusses if an IEP is recommended for the child.
- Determine what the next steps look like.
Advocacy is key
I’ve learned that one of my most important jobs as a mom is to advocate for our kids. Let me tell you as some one with social anxiety, advocacy has never been my strength. It sure does come a lot easier when you are doing it for your kid.
Throughout the year of going through the IEP evaluation process, advocating for what my son needed was a lot of work. The eligibility meeting was no different. Since the process had taken so long, we had started private therapy (I will focus on this in next week’s blog post). He started speaking occasionally at school. The IEP coordinator seemed reluctant to recommend an IEP for him. My husband and I were aligned going in that we were going to push for it. We knew getting it while in preschool would be really important for the transition into kindergarten.
The Village
They say it takes a village to raise a child. This is especially true when the child has extra needs. We are really lucky that part of our village is my son’s daycare teacher. In our IEP evaluation meeting, she could tell that there was hesitancy about giving him an IEP. She made sure to emphasize where he was struggling. She talked about the fact that because he has selective mutism he is not able to advocate for himself at school. Getting him extra support at school to work on that was what we all wanted. I’m pretty sure her advocacy on my son’s behalf is the reason why we got the IEP for him.
Share in the comments. How has advocacy played a role in your journey with selective mutism? Who in your village has helped you in some way dealing with selective mutism?