So, at this point anxiety has reached an all-time high for me that I have never experience. When I found out that my caseload had changed and my first IEP was due in less than two weeks from the time I receive that case. Nevertheless, I started working on the IEP with the little information as to where I should start. Imagine the thoughts and feelings that I was experiencing at this time. SCARY TO SAY THE LEAST. I knew had to get this done because I did not want us to be out of compliance because the special education teacher did not know what she was doing. I reached out for support and let me tell you the support I received gave me the motivation and confidence that I can do this. I am a person that always doubt myself. So to hear from the experts and yes I say experts because they have been writing IEP’s for years, that I was doing a great job with what I had written so far gave me a sigh of relief. In the end, I finish the IEP on time and now because I was the first one out of the new teacher to complete a full IEP I am now able to assist my other colleagues that are going through the anxiety I was facing a week ago.
At this point I have now written three IEP’s, I feel that the more I write them the more comfortable I am becoming. Whenever I have down time I take it upon myself to research topics around writing IEP which has been really helpful to me, because just being told that I need to keep the school in compliance is not enough. This is a legal document that decide what services our students need that is going to help them be successful in school and in life. So I have taking the initiative to do the research for myself so that I can develop a well written IEP that is really going to benefit the student.
The frustration that I am still having is communication within my team. I cannot finalize an IEP until my IEP coordinator takes a look at it. The communication between us needs to be better. I will email him that when I am done with the IEP and my mentor has reviewed it with so that I can get the approval to go ahead and finalize it. It will take days or another email before I can get an answer. But I am remaining hopeful and staying positive of the possibilities thats yet to come.
The joy I get from writing these IEP’s is when I have to interview the students one on one. Getting to know the means the world to me. I have find out so much about them during the interview process that have help me to better service them in class and also help my co-teacher better understand their situation. Thats what I look forward to when I have to write an IEP and thats what keeps me going.
Breaking Barriers 