Are you a parent of a child with a learning disability? The deck is stacked against you for achieving a quality, special education IEP. Learn how to get the best possible program for your child.

What is an IEP ?
The special education IEP (Individualized Education Program) process was created by the Federal law called IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) to ensure that students with learning disabilities would receive an appropriate education.  The IEP process can be confusing, stressful, and sometimes terrifying to parents.  The process comes to a head at the IEP meeting, so this is often the most stressful part of the IEP process.

Why is this process so difficult for parents?  Through a series of 3 articles, we’ll look at the IEP process, why the deck is stacked against parents, steps to take to even the odds, the IEP success method to follow for an effective IEP meeting, and how to prepare for IEP 911.

What are the IEP Process Steps?
Identify that a problem exists and it cannot be solved
Educate yourself about the IEP process
Assess and test the student
Analyze the test results
Prepare for the meeting / get and give input in advance
Meet to review information and create (or deny) an IEP
Evaluate the plan and alternatives
Execute the plan or alternative
Negotiate changes
Monitor progress
Manage transitions
Repeat the process, at least annually

The IEP – Why are Parents at a disadvantage?
1. You are usually outnumbered.
2. The other attendees are speaking a language that is difficult for you to understand-educationese, legalese, and medicalese.
3. Your child is one of many students.  This is their job, but your child.  This sets you up for emotional reactions.
4. Because you are emotionally involved, it is harder to be objective.  You feel you have more to lose; it’s easy to become defensive or lose your temper.
5. The people sitting across from you are people you learned to respect, obey, and / or fear as a child.  Principals, medical people, teachers.  You may not see yourself as an equal.
6. You are asking for something.  It is implied that anything you ask for will take away from another student.
7. Some of these people attend dozens of IEP meetings every month.  You may go to one or two a year.  They have experience on their side.
8. The school personnel earn a salary while they attend these meetings.  You may give up some salary to attend.
9. The school district has an attorney.  You may know of an attorney!
10. You may not be sure what is “wrong” with your child.
11. You have no way of judging if the school’s recommendations will help your child or not.
12. If your child attends the meeting, hearing certain things may upset your child, then you.
13. If the school rejects the IEP, you may feel as if you have just lost your lifeline.
14. If you have argued before, threatened legal action, complained about an IEP and on and on, the relationship inside the room might have moved over to confrontational or adversarial.  The above are true even if you are in a cooperative, collaborative meeting and all working together.  You can continue the list from here if you have moved over to an adversarial meeting!

How do you even the odds?
1. You need to prepare for the IEP meeting and review test results before the meeting.
2. You need to study negotiating before the meeting.
3. You need to be organized and to have everything written down.
4. You need to bring a short list of topics you want to discuss such as a particular teacher / problem, etc.
5. You need to come ready with a written plan (See Part II and III).
6. You need to cite or quote the evidence and experts as proof of the validity or correctness of your plan and follow the IEP Success Method in Part II.
7. You need to understand the legal basis for what you are asking for.
8. If the meeting focuses on negatives, you need to redirect the meeting by pointing out your child’s strengths.  Discuss successes your child had outside of school.
9. You need to stay calm and bring someone with you to take notes so you can focus on the meeting.
10. If necessary, you need to bring an advocate or a relative with you who can be less emotional but is acquainted with your child.
11. If you are confused or not happy with the entire IEP, you need to remain calm and state that you need time to review the IEP before you sign.
12. If there is any area you are unsure of, you need to postpone decisions you are unsure of until you do the research.

Next: Part II will discuss the special education IEP Success Method and IEP Meeting Mottos.

<p>Early childhood education is an imperative aspect of the education field.  It is no secret that young children are extremely impressionable – and any positive learning experiences that they can encounter can impact them in a substantial way.  Even as advancing technology substantially changes the way that various ages of children and young people are learning, certain teaching methods and education techniques have remained the same and are still just as effective today as they were many years ago.  Because studies have proven that 85% of a child’s personality is developed before the young age of six, early childhood education is an imperative part of a young person’s life.</p>
<p>Early childhood education involves the shaping of the emotional, social, physical, intellectual and cognitive skill set of a young child.  Professional early childhood educators are specially trained to positively impact young children and help them grow into intelligent and effective adults.  Even though primary care facilitators and a child’s parents play a significant role in a child’s life, early childhood instructors provide nurturing education-oriented attention to a child.  Teachers should also closely involve a student’s parents during a child’s education to ensure that he or she receives the best and most effective type of education. </p>
<p>Do you wish to pursue degree program training in the early childhood development field?  Do you enjoy working with young children and watching them develop?  Are you patient, encouraging and kind?  Can you help young students who may possess severe or mild learning disabilities?  Many schools, like the McCann School of Business and Technology, offer convenient courses and hands-on classes that quickly prepare students like you for a career in early childhood education. </p>
<p>Students who enroll in training classes in the area of early childhood education will acquire standard degree program instruction for this important field.  Once these students graduate, they are able to obtain careers in pre-schools, primary schools, day care centers and nursery schools. </p>
<p>Courses will teach students the basics of early childhood education.  They will learn about: </p><ul>
<li>Establishing a creative, encouraging and nurturing learning atmosphere.</li>
<li>Helping students in the classroom and at home – instructors will closely involve a student’s parents and encourage parent-teacher interaction during the process of learning.</li>
<li>Developing age-appropriate lesson plans that are fun, educational and interactive.  Instructors will place a strong emphasis on learning through ways which are fun and positive to the student.</li>
<li>Assisting students with special needs and learning disabilities.  Students will become familiar with instruction methods that help students who may have difficulty with the learning process.</li>
<li>Providing any necessary care for young children, learn to focus on the emotional, social, physical and cognitive development of a child.</li>
<li>Collaborating with other early childhood education instructors to develop the most appropriate education plans for certain age groups.</li></ul>

Science Projects were easier in elementary school. Back then, you could submit a model rocket, an egg sucked into a bottle, or a simple science report on electricity. It’s different in middle school. Middle School science teachers want creative ideas, specific elements, in depth research, and detailed logs of the whole science fair process.

Finding a middle school science project that meets all these criteria has always been a challenge for our family. Our teachers wanted an experiment based, investigative project for the science fair. There are five different types of science projects, but most of the books in the library had projects that were actually demonstrations or models. It’s very important that you read the directions from your teacher and/or the science fair, and make sure that the project your child chooses fits into the right category – especially in middle school.

Here are the five types of projects.

1. Investigative projects – Most science fairs require students to submit an investigative science project. This type of project has an experiment that tests an hypothesis. The experiment will follow the scientific method, and may require a control group. (If you’re unfamiliar with this vocabulary, check out the free resource below!)

An example of an investigative project would be “How does salt affect the boiling point of water?” This can easily be tested by our experiment which adds different amounts of salt to water and recording the temperature at which it boils.

If you see the words experiment, scientific method, control and/or variable on the project instructions, you’ll probably need an investigative project. As mentioned before, they’re not easy to find.

2. Demonstration projects – In this type of project a student demonstrate a scientific principle, and lots of time the teacher wants it presented in front of the class as an oral report. There is no true experiment performed, because there won’t be a control or different variables.

3. Research project – Basically this is a science report. Students research a topic, and write what they discovered. Any type of science topic can be used for a research project.

4. Models – For a model project, models are built to explain a scientific principle or structure.

5. Collections - In this type of project a collection of objects is displayed to give an overview of a topic. An example would be a rock collection or a display showing pictures of various animals in a specific family.

Every middle school science fair will have slightly different criteria for projects. As you search for a project, make sure it’s the type of project your school requires. If you need help, check out “The Non-Scientist Parent’s Guide to Science Fair Projects”, which has guides for all the different types of science projects – including the experiment based ones! There is a vocabulary list that gives simple definitions to those vocabulary words you learned in middle school, but promptly forgot.

Believe it or not, science projects are designed to help students learn about science. Figure out which type of project your school requires, and you’ll be one step closer to showing your child how much fun science can be!

The Science curriculum is one of the most vital of subjects to understand as the realm of the Sciences intertwines with all the other core subjects necessary for a well-rounded and complete general education during the K-12 years. Nevertheless, fear not as there are simple, but detailed methods in place to help you select the best programs for your children and to enable them to apply the subjects of their Science curriculum to the many aspects of adult life after their home schooling is complete.

Before beginning to map out your children’s Science curriculum and its content, a few tasks need to be accomplished to ensure you find the best home school solutions for your child.

1. Determine your child’s grade placement – If previously in a public or private school, get the lesson plans, or at least subject areas, of their Science curriculum instruction before home schooling.

2. Determine who will be conducting the home school classes – If it is one parent or both, some other family member, or even a hired teacher. Since they are an integral part of home schooling and developing the Sciences curriculum, they need to be in the following steps in determining the curriculum or any other curriculum they may be teaching. If hiring an outside the family teacher, this will ensure they know your expectations of them.

3. Find the your state’s Board of Education (BOE) content guidelines for your child’s Science curriculum or one of the many home school websites that have full curriculums for your child’s grade level – Determine the content requirements for the coming year and the next three years of public education; example: if this is grade level 3, then also get the content guidelines for years 4 through 6. This information is necessary in developing the Science curriculum in the next step.

4. Compare at least three to five Science curriculum and home schooling sources for the course content requirements in Step 3. Find the sources that either somewhat overlap, refresh, or begin the next progression of the curriculum. This can be augmented by placement testing for the learning level. Placement tests are easily found through search engines and many are free to download. Some may contain tests for Bible studies, but the remainder of the tests helps determine your child’s knowledge level without reference to religious or secular factors. They also identify where your child is in relation to the BOE grade requirements before going to Step 5 in developing their Science curriculum program.

5. Evaluate the new Science curriculum progression for the next two to three school years, or four to six semesters, to make sure there is a smooth and logical progression in the content for the remaining years of their home school program. This process should be done each year to allow adjustments for new course content or revised curriculum requirements.

6. Select the best Science curriculum for your child’s home schooling program. Congratulations! You are now done with the easy part. Teaching the content and staying on schedule is the difficult, but most rewarding part.

Some reminders and tips:

· The steps recommended above are suggestions. However, they can be used for any home school curriculum.

· Parents need to evaluate their child, who is going to teach the courses and select the Science curriculum that best suits their child and their teacher in their home schooling program. · It is imperative to remember the diversity and wide scope the Sciences include – Life Science, Natural Science, Information Technology, Biology, Earth and Space Science and many others.

· Because of the diversity, it is good to see what will be required in the coming years so that the child is prepared for the natural progression and as they gain the knowledge necessary to approach the entire Science curriculum that will be necessary in fulfilling their general education requirements through home schooling.

There are numerous benefits of home schooling a child. Benefits include choosing an appropriate and proper home school curriculum, which includes math, science curriculum, history, and geography for your child. For more information about Home School and Curriculums, please do visit our site – http://www.homeschoolcurriculum.org/

With so many people today turning to online colleges and universities to get an advanced degree, a mad rush is on to fill the needs of these education consumers. And it’s no wonder that online degree programs are so popular because they allow the student to work at their own pace, set their own flexible schedule for study and homework, and save money by eliminating all the costs associated with staying on campus.

However, the popularity of these online education programs has produced a new internet scam, the diploma mill. By posing as a legitimate school some web sites are able to cheat consumers out of their hard earned money instead by providing essentially worthless online degrees at an apparent bargain. And unfortunately, many have been very successful at this, deceiving many smart and intelligent online consumers. So how do you protect yourself against this kind of online education fraud?

Well the best way is to be sure that any school or distance-learning program that you choose is fully accredited. This means that the school or program has been reviewed by its peers in the education field and validated or verified as providing a high quality education according to excepted educational standards. This assures you then that the education you will receive at this particular online college or university is worth investing in because it is generally recognized for its educational value.It also means that a degree in this program will be valuable as you attempt to find employment later on.

Although being sure that a distance learning program is fully accredited is important, these days is becoming necessary to take it even a step further. It seems that some of these diploma mills had even gone so far as to set up their own accreditation agencies so that it will appear that they are an accredited school when in reality they are only accrediting themselves through another agency that they also own.

So how can you make sure that a school is legitimately accredited then? Perhaps the best way to do that is to visit the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or CHEA website. This is a nongovernmental agency that does research on accreditation issues in the education field. Basically they maintain a list of accrediting agencies that are up to proper standards. So all you have to do to be sure that a particular distance learning school is legitimately accredited is to visit their web site, enter the name of the educational institution, and conduct research to see if it’s accreditation is indeed by legitimately recognized agency.

Essentially this means that you not only have to check that an online college or university is accredited, but also that the accrediting agency is reputable as well. This may seem to be a lot of extra steps to have to go through, but doing so will help assure you that whatever distance learning degree program that you choose will be a wise investment for your future education and employment.

In 1907, Maria Montessori founded the first Montessori school in Rome. Its overall purpose was to give four to seven year old children from lowincome families a fullday educational program.

The idea quickly developed and grew in popularity and thus more Montessori schools were formed in Europe and India. It did not take long for the school method to cross over to the United States of America.

In fact, Montessori’s teaching methods created great interest in the United States from 1910 through 1920. Unfortunately, Montessori’s methods seem to be largely forgotten in the United States until the late 1950s.

It was around that time when a second Montessori movement started in America. This time, the main focus was on a set of private schools that served an almost entirely middleclass population.

The Montessori educational system struggled with it’s own success when it started having trouble finding enough teachers. In fact, it took that teacher shortage to start the creation of freestanding private Montessori teacher training centers. Each of these centers were not associated with any college or university and taught the Montessori teaching methods to aspiring educators.

In the late 1960s, some parents started to call for the public schools in their local areas to offer the Montessori education model for their elementary school children who had graduated from private Montessori preschools.

The publics rush of support was given a boost by government funds being made available for new Montessori programs starting up in public school areas. Today, over one hundred U.S. school districts have some type of Montessori program.

But just why has Montessori become so popular  Many believe it is due to the programs ability to overcome three major problems that the public school systems are still faced with. While the public school system has been put into a state of upheaval, the Montessori school systems have flourished.

Using their unique teaching methods, Montessori students have demonstrated a consistently high level of reading comprehension and academic performance. In the book Montessori Parents Guide, we dive deeper into how a Montessori program is powerfully unique and sets itself aside from current teaching methods.

One of the advantages of homeschooling is that you are not obligated to follow a strict lesson plan. The structure of your schooling at home is totally up to you, and you are free to follow the interests and learning style of your child. There are, however, some very fun lesson plans that are designed to put your child at the helm of their own educational experience.

One fabulous way to bring learning to life is to visit your local, or even not so local, museums. Start with the subjects that most interest your child, such as science or history, and go to those museums. Suddenly, subjects that were only known to your child in books are made more visually real, stimulating your child’s natural desire to learn. And exploring the museum is an adventure that will not be forgotten quickly.

Nature hikes are another way to broaden your child’s experience with science and nature, learning about the flora and fauna of your local area. Most cities or towns have a nature trail that is typically free to visitors and might even come with a guided hike at no extra cost.

Baking at its best is another great lesson plan for kids to gain an awareness of their creativity in the kitchen. They are encouraged to be creative and if things do not taste so great, it teaches them how to solve the problem of taste by experimenting with different spices or methods of cooking. Baking also integrates math because measuring requires them to get familiar with fraction adding, for doubling recipes, as well as units of measure.

Art in free form is also another great tool to help with just about any lesson or subject. It helps to take a trip to the hobby store and load up on all kinds of different things that can be made into an art project. Then, let your child select the things they would like to use to create with. This assists with spatial skills, hand-eye coordination, as well as giving them a hands-on experience where they control the project outcome.

Going to the library is a resource that should never be underestimated, especially if you are homeschooling. you can, however, utilize your library’s resources even further. An example of this is to regularly attend readings by authors. This is a wonderful way to show your child that reading is very fundamental skill and can be extremely exciting. At most libraries, when an author agrees to hold a reading, they make it into an event, including refreshments. Also, who knows the author’s intent and expression better than the author themselves? It is very worthwhile and entertaining to hear a book read by its own creator.

With these ideas, you can both have lots of fun and be able to enjoy each other all while learning in the process. And, who knows, you might also learn a thing or two that you didn’t know in the process!