New School Year, New Perspective

By Heather Cooper, Ohio H&V

As the new school year approaches us rapidly, so do a new set of teachers, routines, friends, aides, interpreters, and the often-dreaded team evaluations and educational plans.  As a professional working in the school setting, this was just “part of the job”. Throughout my 16 years as a speech-language pathologist, I took much pride in my interactions with families and the students with whom I work. I took the extra time to really learn about my families intimately; what were their outside activities, how was the family support system, what were the families doing for therapy outside of the school hours, etc.  I felt that if another professional were to ask me about my students or their families, I truly knew a lot about them–all of them.  I could successfully write goals and objectives time and time again, making sure I had all the aspects of the proper SMART goal.  My goals would pass any checklist that the state auditors could throw my way.

Flash forward to two years ago.  I found myself getting calls from my own child’s school because my daughter wasn’t hitting the benchmarks in the areas of reading and writing. Wow!  The news was a huge hit in the gut. Although I had concerns, I never expected to hear those dreaded words. My daughter, then a second-grade student, was always a child that I felt did not have the confidence in her academics as her older brother enjoyed, but “she worked hard.” I told myself, “she will catch up.” 

I will never forget the first Response to Intervention academic team meeting that my husband (also a school-based speech-language pathologist) and I attended. For the first time, we found ourselves on “the other side” of the table.  It was quite the eye-opening experience for both of us.  We weren’t the ones writing the goals, making light of the situation to make the families feel better, just “checking off the checklist” to make sure our bases were covered for the next state audit…. we were talking about our baby.  The staff rattled off all the data, discussed the black and white next steps, and we were expected to smile and just “sign the line to accept” the teacher-generated plan. What? Why? How? I had so many questions racing through my mind.  I was angry, scared, and desperate; however, I was quickly reminded of how I had sat in those same professional seats and displayed the same pretty pieces of paper to one of the families on my caseload just the day prior. On that very day, I changed as a professional. I knew from that moment on, I needed to change the way I looked at educational plans. I needed to begin to trade what seemed to be the best SMART goals for listening. I needed to make sure that I was truly drawing out the families’ fears and goals for their child and determine how I was going to reach those goals, and not simply write long words on a paper.

I began to look deeper into what I was writing to develop the goals for my students. Yes, I could write something that sounded great, but HOW was I going to develop that skill?  What resources did I need to make “it” happen?  I began to ask tough questions of academic teams as to how we were going to work together to develop the whole child, not just one particular skill or another.    I began to have conversations with families about how they can ask the questions to the team to calm their fears about the future. I now spend more time researching ways to connect similar families to add to their comfort systems, find ways for them to gain a further understanding of their child’s way of learning, and what pieces to the academic, language or social puzzle they may be missing and ways to find it. I look at each of these children as if I am their parent–every single one of them.

This academic year, I would encourage each and every one of you reading this, parent or professional, to take the following steps. Truly look into the lives of the parents sitting across the table from you. Listen “between the lines”. What are their goals? I mean REAL goals, not just something to “fill in the box.” What are the fears? Believe me, they have a ton! If you are a parent, make sure you are reaching out to at least one team member and letting them know the answers to these questions. Write them down on paper if you don’t feel strong enough to speak them aloud. If you have an older child, encourage them to write their own goals and fears. As a parent or a professional, ask the HOWs. Don’t settle for the pretty printed pieces of work placed in front of you. HOW are they going to really reach the goals that they have generated? Are those goals going to push the child to the next level?  

Parents:

1. Determine your goals, real goals. What do you really want for your child?
2. Find people to confide in and support those goals. (Who is your tribe?)
3. Request information about the steps the team is going to take to reach your goals; not just the objectives, but the actual steps the team is going to take to reach your child’s goals.
4. Take deep breaths and know that your child is going to succeed.

School team:

1. Find out what the parents really want for their child. What are their goals/fears?
2. How are you REALLY going to reach those goals- write nice SMART goals, but figure out what you are ACTUALLY going to do to reach them.
3. BE part of the Parent Tribe: the best teams with the best outcomes all work together with the same goal in mind.
4. ALWAYS be the one that brings the support, the vision, and when necessary, the tissues. This will mean more than any paperwork that you present at the meeting.

Most of all, remember, the pretty pieces of paper are so much more than what they appear to be.  They are a visual representation of the diagnosis; they put into writing some pretty raw emotions, especially early on. Above everything, take each meeting one breath at a time and know, at the end of the day, your baby is an amazing being who will thrive and grow, because they are loved. We shouldn’t accept anything less.  ~

Editor’s note: Cooper recently joined the Board of Directors for Ohio H&V, and works at the Miami Valley Regional Center as speech language pathologist on the Hearing Intervention Team, preschool through grade 12.