Welcome to the world of IEPs


From the time Kennedy was born I knew that eventually we would be part of the world of IEPs. I learned my acronyms… LRE and FAPE… I took classes on IEP law where I learned that if you weren’t in total agreement, don’t sign ANYTHING. We went to Kennedy’s placement meeting for Kindergarten and I was handed everything I asked for on a silver platter. Really? Is it really going to be THIS easy?! We got our FAPE in our LRE and I was one happy mama! I was SUPER advocate! Until… now.

Two months into the school year and now things are starting to unravel… Kennedy isn’t doing exactly what they want her to do and suddenly her LRE is being threatened and I’m realizing maybe I don’t know as much about IEP law as I thought I did. I’m also realizing I am the the very tip of a very long battle… not just this year, but for the next… 13? 14? 15? years… and when we bring Kellsey home from Eastern Europe and SHE starts school, I will be fighting for her too.

If I could have one wish, it would be that my daughter’s team will remember that Kennedy is Kennedy. She is a little girl who is 5 and just starting out in school. She is getting used to a new world full of different rules and routine and sounds and colors and distractions that she needs to process in her brain. She is NOT her diagnosis. She has unlimited potential, and if they give her the time to prove herself, she WILL. I wish they could see past the Down syndrome and see HER, and I think this whole process would be much easier for all of us. In the meantime I will be her advocate at school and I will be her mommy at home. In both places I will always be her biggest fan.

Renee

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