S01 Episode 2 - IEPs with Child Advocate Sandi Ames | Pt. 1

Welcome friends, On today’s episode of Advocate like a Mother PodcastTM, Michelle and I got to chat with the Sandi Ames. Sandi is the director of CAN which stands for Collaborate, Advocate, Navigate. CAN is a non-profit that provides education and support to individuals with disabilities, their families and those that serve them. She is an incredible child advocate and parent mentor. We sat around Michelle’s kitchen table with Sandi and talked all about IEP’s -if you don’t know what an IEP it stands for “individual educational program”. We discuss goals and the actual assessment in our first part of this two part series. Sandi is a powerhouse advocate when it comes to IEPs and the school. She has been working in the field since the mid 80s! Having a child in “special education” means you need a lot of prayer and prep. She has a “house” metaphor that explains a great program for a student with a disability. In the “house” metaphor, first you need a foundation, or an assessment where everyone is in agreement. Second, you have your walls, which are the goals. The areas where your focus to help improve the child. Then you have the roof, which is the services. The amount of time each service gets. Then you have the neighborhood where they would be best placed. To any parent struggling with a child that has an IEP, you are not alone. We are here to help encourage you, and to help find your community. SHOW LINKS > Michelle mentioned that she wrote a blog post all about Eli's first IEP and a guide for other parents on how to be prepared for their child's first IEP. Read her article here >> https://www.littlestwarrior.com/blogs/news/a-guide-to-your-childs-first-iep > And our friend Tiffany Stafford (if you want to link to her, here is her FB link: https://www.facebook.com/tiffany.n.stafford ) made a great template for brag sheets or as she calls them, vision statements. You can find the template on her blog here >> https://our3lilbirds.blogspot.com/2017/05/how-to-make-one-page-profile-ellie-style.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR02VrGa0ZyYW-Tls2PSEm6aKgbxjvoNKfFRrFf-bcxXYUaxiFW5R8P-Qy4 > 18 TOOLS FOR INCLUSIVE UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORT WORKSHEET > https://advocatelikeamother.squarespace.com/s/18-Tools-for-Inclusive-Understanding-and-Support.pdf Email Sandi Ames: [email protected] Michelle & Ashley CONNECT WITH OUR SHOW INSTAGRAM | www.instagram.com/advocatelikeamother TWITTER | www.twitter.com/advocatelikeamom EMAIL | [email protected] --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/advocatelikeamother/message