E139: How Will The IEP Lab Support You This Year?
From freebies to courses to summits, here is the plan to support you as a parent advocate this 2023-2024 school year! HAPPENING NOW The Ultimate Parent IEP Prep Course is open for fall enrollment until Thursday, August 24th, 2023! Go to https://TheIEPLab.com/COURSE to find out more!
From freebies to courses to summits, here is the plan to support you as a parent advocate this 2023-2024 school year!
HAPPENING NOW The Ultimate Parent IEP Prep Course is open for fall enrollment until Thursday, August 24th, 2023! Go to https://TheIEPLab.com/COURSE to find out more!
Freebie & Resource Page: https://TheIEPLab.com/freeresources
E138: How will The IEP Lab Support You?
Samson Q2U Microphone: [00:00:00] Well, I doubt you’ve ever wondered. You are too busy for that, but I’m hoping that you would be interested in hearing what the IEP lab is planning as far as events and offerings this year to support you. So stay tuned, because we are talking about courses, summits, freebies all this school year from the IEP Lab.
You are listening to the Parent IEP Lab, the podcast that helps you become an informed parent advocate to get your child supported and learning in school. I’m Beth Liesenfeld, Occupational Therapist, passionate about leveling the IEP information playing field for parent advocates. My mission of the Parent IEP Lab podcast and also the online courses, workshops, and summit of the IEP Lab is to break down barriers to being able to advocate with collaboration as it is the most effective approach you can take.
To advocacy, I saw in over 400 IEP meetings. We do this by providing you insider information from the school side so that you have context for what’s happening and create informed, thoughtful questions of your IEP team to have a clearer voice in your child’s plan. So let’s dive [00:01:00] into this topic today and think about what we can change and tweak.
To get the right formula for success for your child to learn and grow at school. Welcome to the lab.
If you are on my email list and I’m not landing in your spam inbox, then you likely know that the doors are open to my signature course, the Ultimate Parent IEP Lab. The course just got a fresh new update and it’s ready to help you determine your parent priorities, write your vision statements, parent input statement, and your advocacy plan.
Oh, and we also teach you how to present those things to get the best response from your IEP team. So go to theieplab. com slash course or use that link below this podcast in the description, and I hope to see you inside the course so I can help you kick that IEP meeting stress to the curb.
Okay, so I never thought I was creative. Well, I always thought that my version of OT was being a creative problem solver, but not like an artsy or an idea person. But then I started this business and every time I [00:02:00] hear a parent needing something or something that I feel like I can help with, I really want to fill that need.
And I can think of a workshop or a mini course or even just like a handout that’s going to be helpful to help fill that need. But I also have to balance that with I’m just one person in this business. So I thought you may appreciate knowing what’s coming this year from the IEP lab.
So you have a heads up when things come down the line and you can take advantage. And if there is anything that I’m offering that you feel like would be helpful for your parent group at school or your Facebook group friends or just a friend in general, then I would so appreciate you sharing either the podcast or telling them about a freebie and them getting on my email list
so that I can see if I can help them because that’s my mission is to get as many parents on that level playing field when it comes to education about IEPs. And I want the whole country to be able to advocate with [00:03:00] confidence for their kids so that we can actually change the system and make it actually serve our kids.
Yeah. So I would appreciate you sharing it.
And yes, that’s right. We are talking about some paid offerings today, but we’re talking about a lot of free things too. So there’s something for everybody.
We are going in somewhat of my scheduled order. So here we go. First up, the ultimate parent IEP prep course as doors are open right now. Uh, they’re only open until Thursday of this week.
So they close on August 24th of 2023, and as I mentioned, it’s my signature course, and it just got a refresh based on awesome parent input, so we’ve pulled out a lot of the information. It was just one big course, and then I was like, OK, well, step one was knowing the system, because successful parent advocates know enough about the system to know what to ask for when.
But the thing is that after a couple of years, you have that information down. And so you don’t necessarily need to go through [00:04:00] that when you come through the course all over again to prep for your next IEP meeting. Right? So I’ve pulled out that information and I’ve made it into the IEP basics mini course.
And so this is just to get the lay of the land with what an IEP is, what it’s supposed to do, what your parent role is in it. So of course when you come through the course the first time it might be really helpful even if this isn’t your first year going through an IEP to go through the IEP basics course, but then After that, you might review it from time to time if you need to look up something, but you might not need it.
So we kind of pulled it out separately so that, you know, when you go into the private podcast, for your next meeting in the next year, you go through the videos for the next year. You don’t necessarily have to go through that IEP basics course in order to get into the meat of what you’re preparing for, for your next IEP meeting.
And then the other major change that we did is we pulled out advocacy resources, that step four, and we pulled that into a bonus [00:05:00] module. So again, it’s, it’s kind of like removed. You don’t necessarily need it every single time, but if you’re like, Oh, do I need an advocate?
Do I need a special education lawyer? Do I need to look for more resources this year, either national or local?
Then you can go in there when you have time and you can dive into the advocacy resources and then you can kind of catch up. But you don’t need it in order to prepare for your IEP meeting every year. And then we added a couple things. Um, I had a parent, what I called a parent input plan, and I kind of split that in two.
So we have a parent input statement, which is a very common term that people use, and that’s the paragraph, and I mean like a short paragraph, that you put into the IEP. So you ask for it to be copied and pasted into the IEP. It has specific things in it. Now I’ve added a whole new module for that.
So We have examples that we go through, and then we also have a handout to be able to build this, so it does have all of the information [00:06:00] that you want inside the IEP.
And then the other part of this, which is what the parent input plan really was, but this is your advocacy plan. And your advocacy plan is because I hate it when parents are put on the spot inside of IEP meetings. And it can be done by teams that really, really have their heart in the right place. They want you to have input and then they ask you things that they didn’t prepare to ask you.
And I just, that drives me crazy. So this is your advocacy plan and it’s also a summary of what topics come up inside the meeting that you would need reference to right in front of you. So, this is also something to give your advocate or give somebody who’s coming with you to the meeting and they can look at that and be like, Oh, okay, I know exactly what you’re trying to do inside this meeting and they can support you better.
So those are the couple updates. It still has the private podcast so that you can listen on the go. Just like whatever you’re doing when you’re listening to this podcast, you can go ahead and go through the IEP prep course this way, and you [00:07:00] also have that 25 page workbook.
You have the videos with captions. You have transcripts of everything in the portal. And then if you do the supported version, then you still get the IEP live Q& A. And that’s Thursday evenings. And then we also added some Voxer support. So if you don’t know what Voxer is, it’s just like a texting app, but it’s with voice.
You can actually do it with typing or with voice. And so what we’re going to do is we’re going to open up two hours on Friday during the day. And I’m going to have my phone like at the ready. So if anybody comes into that Voxer group and has a question, then we can talk back and forth and answer your question.
And also if you’re in the group, you can also listen to everybody else’s questions because I hear over and over again that that’s just a major bonus to coming to the prep course is that you get to learn from other people’s questions and it’s so cool. Uh, you also get to see, Oh my gosh, like they have a really similar situation to me and that’s so helpful for parents as [00:08:00] we’re going through.
So we added that we’re testing it. We’re trying it out right now. We’re doing both the live Q and a. and the Voxer group. I can’t guarantee that we’ll do that in the future. We’ll probably pick one. We’ll try it this time and I’ll see what the parent feedback is. And then we’ll pick one moving forward. And then you also get the job form.
So if you want me to review goals, accommodations, your vision statement, that kind of thing, then you have a way to submit that. And then I will get back to you within 48 business hours. So there’s a lot in there. And then the price at this time is the self study is 179 and the supported version is 249.
And just so you know, I do have to raise the prices after this launch. So after Thursday, August 24th of 2023, that is not going to be the price. We have to bump it up a little bit, but just remember too that if you join right now and your IEP isn’t until the spring or we’ve had people like have their IEP during the first round and then they come back.
Again, because all alumni are invited back to the [00:09:00] IEP office hours and the Voxer support group. So you can come back again and again, twice a year to get that support. And it’s like an investment. It’s pretty awesome. So just know that if you’re like, well, I want to dive in and I want to kind of be prepared.
But my IEP isn’t until April. Well, that’s okay. You can jump into the office hours in the spring too. And it just, it doesn’t matter. So hop in today. That link is below this podcast in the description. It’s also just the IEP lab. com slash course as well.
Next, I have two bundles, which are free, and a summit that I’m a part of. So, Penny Williams from Parenting, ADHD, and Autism is doing a summit, and I’m so proud to be a part of it. I’ve been on her Beautifully Complex podcast. She’s amazing. Uh, so more on that in the next few weeks.
So, it is free, and then you can upgrade to the FastPast as well. Uh, so that’s going to be really, really fun. Keep an eye out on email for that, my Tuesday newsletter. And I also might do an additional email, um, in that week so that you don’t miss the free [00:10:00] registration as well. And then also I’m part of two free bundles, and I don’t know if you know about bundles.
This is a new thing that I had never heard of, and so this is a group of people, like myself, that get together and make up an additional offering. So it’s something that you can’t get anywhere else. Or it’s something that is available, but you have to pay for it and we offer it for free.
And this is so people can find us. They can try us out. They can see what’s inside some of our offerings. Uh because it’s hard for us very very small micro businesses to get the word out So we put in that extra work so that we can give you guys free things and you can share it with your friends And so those are two free bundles.
Those are coming up. One is at the beginning of september one It’s the And so I’m really excited to be able to advertise that, push it out. Again, I probably will have it in my newsletter on Tuesday mornings, if you’re on the email list. But also probably push out one more email during that week so that you make sure that you get all of the free stuff because there’s some, I mean, we’re talking [00:11:00] about like 20 people contributing to these bundles.
And so it’s amazing. You can just like scroll through and, and read the descriptions and see which ones you want and then download them. It’s. Pretty cool. So, um, heads up on that.
And so as far as emails go, I know that some people don’t obviously read my emails over the summer even though I send them. So sometimes that system will bump me to the promotions tab in Gmail or they will pop me into spam because I’m sending an email at the same time every week. So make sure that you’re on the email list by signing up for any freebie on my website.
And also make sure that you’re getting emails from hello at the IEP lab. com and that they’re not going to spam So an easy way to tell is Tuesday morning If you’re not getting an email from me then hop into your spam folder on Tuesday morning I send it really early in the morning So Tuesday morning And you can check to see if it’s in there and also you can download another freebie or the same freebie again and it And if it like [00:12:00] goes into your inbox, just make sure you’re opening it.
You can even send me a reply to that email and just be like, Hey, thank you. And that will ensure that like, Oh, okay, this person isn’t spam. You’re actually replying to them. So just a few hints as far as that goes. And then the next free thing, which I’m going to be honest, you’re probably going to want to snag the VIP ticket this year.
I’m. I’m just saying, is the Second Annual Parent Advocacy Summit. This is hosted by me, and this year we’re focusing all on accommodation. So last year, if you hadn’t gone to the summit last year, it was IEP basic information, it was about IEP paperwork. You can actually still go back and purchase the VIP ticket for that if you would like to.
Um, but this year we’re focusing all on accommodations. So each speaker will be talking about a challenge, not a diagnosis. So something that I see a lot is that parents will go into a Facebook group and they’ll say, my kid has ADHD, what accommodations should I ask for? And I totally understand why you’re asking those kinds of questions because you don’t even [00:13:00] know where to start, right?
So in the summit this year, we’re having a lot of like sessions to kind of teach you about the structure of it, but also every single speaker is talking about specific challenge. So instead of ADHD. We’re going to say something like, your child might have the challenge of initiation or follow through.
And this impacts something like turning homework in, right? And so we’re going to talk about the different ways that we can structure, um, either turning homework in or initiation in general. And the speaker is going to talk about that in the session. And then if you upgrade to the VIP version. Then I’m going to have a handout for every single session that is the outline of the suggested accommodations and what to consider from that speaker.
So it is going to be super, super helpful. That’s all I’m going to say. So that’s scheduled to be October 13th to 15th. It might vary a little bit. We might go to the 16th. I’m not quite sure yet. Um, but save the date, October [00:14:00] 13th to the 15th for that summit. It is free if you go along with it day by day.
You get 24 hours to watch those sessions for the day. And then if you want to watch them later,
Or if you want to watch them later, or if you want the extras that come with… The VIP pass, then you can upgrade and you have it for as long as I’m in business and you can listen to them. And I think we’re going to do the private podcast for it as well if you upgrade.
So we’re playing around with the offerings of that. So let me know if you have any input by hopping into the Facebook group and you can let me know what you want for the summit this year. But I’m really, really excited. It was really fun last year, especially the live Q and a’s. That was my favorite part.
Because you guys had such amazing questions. And I just would have never thought of that. So I just love doing that too. So, um, we already have some speakers lined up, but you might see a little plug in one of the newsletters for people to apply for speakers and sponsors. We definitely need sponsors.
So if you know somebody that wants to be a sponsor, let me know, send me an email at hello at [00:15:00] the IEP lab
I would love to encourage sponsors to kind of donate one VIP ticket so that somebody who can’t afford the VIP ticket but really needs it would be able to do that, things like that. So I definitely need a lot of sponsors and of course we’ll, we’ll contact the sponsors from last year and see if they’re up for it as well.
And then in November, I will have some sort of Black Friday deal and you know that the, the prep course is never discounted. It’s never bundled or anything, but I will probably have something packaged together for this Black Friday deal as well. So heads up on that.
And then here is where my mind goes a little bit wandering and I want to help everybody, but I just don’t have time to, or it’s just like too much and I can’t handle it because I’m only one person in this business and I’ve been asked a couple of times to do these two things.
I’ve been asked to help homeschoolers make their own IUP to coordinate different service providers. Like if you’re patching together outpatient therapy and maybe you do get services from the school team still, you know, patching those things [00:16:00] together and coordinating them so that you can make sure that your child is getting all of your priorities met and that you have goals in there, and that everybody’s talking to each other.
So like, if you have an outpatient OT and a speech therapist, that they’re talking to each other. And I just think this is so great. Um, and also keeping people on the same page with what accommodations are working and what things are happening in your world as far as your vision statement, things like that.
I would absolutely love to do that. My husband was homeschooled and his family adopted four kids from Russia who each have some sort of disability. And so I saw them be homeschooled. Um, they’re all adults now.
And in my particular area, there’s a ton of people in that homeschool and I served a lot of them when I worked in the outpatient clinic. So I just would love to help this group of people. And if that’s you, I do have something that I could help you with if you want to schedule a one on one power hour.
This is a topic that I would absolutely love to help you with. I have some of the tools that I would pull from other places to help you [00:17:00] coordinate this, especially like how the IEP works in the most important sections of the IEP so that you could run this IEP and kind of put it together for yourself and your kids.
So you just let me know, you schedule a one on one power hour, you can find that information on my website. Um, and I’d love to help you with that. And then the last thing is that if you don’t have an IEP yet for your child, like you’re going through the evaluation process, you’re not quite sure if they are going to have an IEP yet,
or you have a 504 and that’s just what you think will continue to happen, right? There’s no real need to get an IEP or maybe it’s been really hard for you to get an IEP and you’re you feel kind Of stuck there, but either way, it’s like stable. You think that you’re gonna have a 504 for the next couple years But if you still need some help with what accommodations to ask for how it works if you should advocate for an IEP, let’s schedule a one on one power hour or join the Parent Advocacy Club because I think you’ll really get helpful information from there. It’s 24 a month right now. The IEP power hour is a little bit more expensive because it’s really, really [00:18:00] intensive with me for an hour. You get my full attention and then you get the recording and then you get the summary. So Um, so there is personalized support in the Parent Advocacy Club too, and you’re going to benefit from all the topics in there anyway.
I still can’t believe that we’re offering the Parent Advocacy Club for 24 a month, um, because it’s an, because it’s an on demand training. It’s personalized support in the live IEP Q& A, and it also has the downloadable tool. So it’s, it’s pretty awesome. It’s pretty valuable.
And then just looking forward, we’ll do our prep course launch again in the winter, late winter or early spring. So just remember that if you join the supported version, you get the office hours again, so you can come back in the spring as well.
So, okay. That gives you an outline of what’s to come from the next few months from the IEP lab. And I’m sure that I will have more that fills in the gaps.
Like I have another freebie that I’m going to be offering you guys. So that’s what I’ve got for now. So I really hope to get to serve you inside the prep course. If you have any connections to people [00:19:00] wanting to sponsor the summit, let me know. Watch your email for those applications.
And of course, for all of the freebie stuff that’s happening in September, make sure that you’re on my email list and you’re getting my emails and you’re opening them, even if you don’t have time to read them right now, because that will impact if you get them in your inbox later. So if you have any questions, feel free to find me on Instagram.
It’s so funny that I have way more people listening to the podcast, way more people on my email list than I do over on Instagram. So, follow me on Instagram, send me a DM if you have any questions or any suggestions for the Summit or anything else.
That you would like to have in your support for this coming year. So thank you so much for trusting me to help you with your advocacy this year. I’m just so honored every time anybody joins a course, I get so excited. I look at my husband and I’m like, Oh my gosh, look, I get to serve another parent. So I’m really quite excited about it too.
So I’ll be back next week with an amazing interview that you don’t want to miss. So see you same time, same place next week. If I don’t see you in the prep course [00:20:00] office hours before then, thanks so much. Bye.