With Amy's Help

If you want an IEP team member to implement an IEP or support a student with significant needs, then the school has a responsibility to make sure that person knows how to do so.

You can’t hand a child a bike and expect them to ride it without teaching them how.

You can’t hand someone a fishing pole and expect them to catch fish without showing them where to cast, what bait to use, or how to reel it in.

And you can’t hand a teacher, para, therapist, or support staff member a 30-page IEP and expect meaningful implementation without training, coaching, and ongoing support.

Knowledge isn’t automatic. Skills aren’t and shouldn’t be assumed. Confidence doesn’t appear because someone’s name is on the schedule.

When implementation isn’t happening, our first question shouldn’t be: “Why aren’t they doing it?”

It should be: “Have we equipped them to do it?”

Because students don’t benefit from supports that only exist on paper. 😱 They benefit from adults who know how to bring those supports to life.

I can share this picture from 6 years ago of my 8 month old daughter waiting for her Zoom meeting with her Early Interventionist because WE HAD AN HONEST PEDIATRICIAN who IMMEDIATELY referred us to Early Intervention Services in Michigan, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and a geneticist.

Hi. I'm Amy. I'm an early child special education teacher. I was born, raised and educated in Michigan. I moved to North Carolina in 2009, obtained my Master's in Education in Special Education in 2013, moved back to Michigan at the end of 2018, became a mom in September of 2019, and moved back to NC in the summer of 2022. My daughter is amazing. She's smart, beautiful, brilliant, silly, creative, the best problem solver, impulsive, and hyperactive. You'd think, with all my knowledge and experience in ECE, I'd have all the answers and solutions, but I didn't, and I don't. We've worked with many early interventionists, teachers, therapists, social workers, developmental pediatricians, etc. We've been through IEP evaluations (without qualifying) and the 504 processes (yay!). We've been on medication journeys and insurance calls. I'm so thankful I have an incredibly independent child. However, what I wouldn't give for her to just willingly hug me for 10 seconds during daytime hours. But. Bedtime. Bedtime is where it's at. It's where we talk, laugh, learn, and finally, snuggle. It's when she asks me if y is a consonant or a vowel so she can syllable sleuth her name or what 36x36 is. She always asks me to stay with her. But tonight. Tonight. She actually asked me to hold her hand. I'm almost 40 years old. You other ladies close in age know that if (when) I fall asleep with her, I'm up for 3 hours in the middle of the night. But for this hand hold- it's totally worth it.

Great advice!
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