E86: Why Collaboration? With Lisa Baskin-Wright
We talk about how imporatant collaboration is...but it doesn't always work, right? In this episode, Lisa Baskin-Wright, a general education teacher first, then a parent advocate for her daughter, talks about her own experience with working with her child's IEP team using collaborative methods, what happened when that failed, and why she continues to try to return to collaboritive efforts as much as possible in her work as an Advocate!
We talk about how imporatant collaboration is…but it doesn’t always work, right?
In this episode, Lisa Baskin-Wright, a general education teacher first, then a parent advocate for her daughter, talks about her own experience with working with her child’s IEP team using collaborative methods, what happened when that failed, and why she continues to try to return to collaboritive efforts as much as possible in her work as an Advocate!
LAST WEEK TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!
- Rate and Review the Podcast in your preferred player & take a screenshot to submit!
- Make sure you are on the email list by CLICKING THIS LINK (and get a freebie in the process, too!)
- CLINK THIS LINK to fill out your submission form!
- You have until Thanksgiving 2022 to fill out your form to be entered into the drawings!
Unknown Speaker 0:00
So you’ve heard me talk a lot about collaboration and why it’s so important to truly get your child and effective IEP. But that doesn’t mean that I’m against having an advocate or having a lawyer, or even filing a state complaint when you need to, to get your child the services that they need. Now, my guest today is Lisa Baskin, right, and I’m so excited to bring this interview to you because she was a general education teacher first, and then has a child with a disability, and had to go through the process of trying to be collaborative, having that fail, and having to escalate the situation. But we talk a lot about bringing it back to collaboration and why collaboration really is so important and why we should always start there, when we’re trying to work with our IEP team. Stick with me, because today we are talking about what’s the big deal about collaboration and why is it so important.
Unknown Speaker 0:59
You are listening to the parent IEP lab, the podcast that helps you get an effective IEP plan for your child so that you can get them supported and learning in school. I’m Beth Liesenfeld, occupational therapist who started to notice trends in parents who got effective IEP s for their kids without having to fight with the school. My mission is to help you turn insider knowledge from the school side into effective parent advocacy for your child. The parent IEP lab is all about the important parent input, prepping for your upcoming meeting. And also talking about commonly missed opportunities for parents to get an effective IEP outside of the IEP meeting. So let’s dive into today’s topic 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.
Unknown Speaker 1:48
If you are listening to this podcast as it gets dropped right before Thanksgiving, you only have a couple more days to submit for our huge giveaway that’s happening right now. Just rate and review this podcast in your podcast player and take a quick screenshot, make sure that you are on the IEP lab email list and fill out the three question giveaway submission form. Literally, it’s your name, your email, so I can send you your goodies and your screenshot of your rating and review links to get you entered or below this podcast and your podcast player. And as a reminder, everyone who submits will receive the exclusive accommodations one on one guide and be entered into the drawing we are giving away 10 IEP one on one workbooks five spots in the December decoding IEP data workshop. And one lucky winner will get us that in the ultimate parent IEP prep course your complete guide to prepping for your upcoming meeting. And getting the follow through afterwards as well. The links to enter the drawing are below this podcast in your player. So enter before Thanksgiving, which is just in a couple of days. And thank you so much for helping this podcast grow.
Unknown Speaker 2:52
Hello, I’m so excited to be talking with Lisa today. And we’re talking all about collaboration and how that helps parents get a better more effective IEP. So Lisa, welcome. I’m so excited to have you here. Will you just start by telling our listeners who you are and what you do? And then we’ll dive into the topic of the day? Yes, well, first of all, thank you so much for having me. I’m very excited to be here. So yes, my name is Lisa. Right. I am an IEP coach. I’m a parent of an autistic, almost 17 year old daughter, and I’m a former classroom teacher. So I’ve had sort of a 360 view of the IEP table. So I’m really excited to talk to you about collaboration today. Yes. Oh my gosh. And I love we were chatting a little bit because I thought you were a special education teacher originally. And I’m like, Oh, you’re a general education teacher. I feel like that’s an even better perspective. So do you want to talk a little bit about what it was like to have kids on IEP s in your classroom? In the general education setting? A little bit? Sure, absolutely. So I began my career as a high school math teacher. And you know, in truth, I think we talked about this a little bit. You know, we talked originally that, you know, when I got my training back when the dinosaurs were still roaming herds. We didn’t, we didn’t get a whole lot about special education. IEPs you know, that was not part of our training. Unfortunately, I don’t think that it’s changed a whole lot in the 20 something years. But, you know, I really, truly in all transparency didn’t know very much about special education. I just had this insatiable curiosity about my students and how they learned and just wanted to be in that with them. And so I do remember a handful of students that, you know, they’d hand me this big document. I was like, I don’t really know what this is. And it’s so embarrassing to say, but I would like kind of just put it in the desk. I didn’t know it. So two students kind of come to mind one was this darling, darling boy, and I was sort of his first mainstream math experience. And I remember ever
Unknown Speaker 5:00
A week he had like a different color hair. He was just this darling kid. And he wanted to be called Skittle. And I was like, the hey, I can go with a Skittle, why not. And he was delightful. And he worked so hard. And he kind of buddied up with this kid, they, they didn’t look anything like it was hilarious. But they worked super well together. I did a lot of group work in my class. So I had them together. And I remember the mom saying to me, you’re the first teacher to ever like him.
Unknown Speaker 5:28
And feeling just so heartsick about that. I mean, he was 16 years old, he was delightful as the day is long. But that was his truth was that he did not feel that anybody liked him, because he was different. And he learned differently. And yeah, he would fall asleep in class, we had a little like, you know, approved, kind of tap on the back kind of thing to kind of bring him back. And I’d let him rest because I thought we need a little quick shot I and, you know, I just I think my instincts were probably pretty good, but I didn’t really know the process. And the other was a similar age student. And it was a girl and very, very different temperament. And honestly, not that I know anything about anything, certainly not at that time, but I am sure she didn’t have a strong sense of self, and she just seemed to not have much confidence and kind of a quieter demeanor. And I remember being in an IEP meeting, and everybody being like super, you know, quote, unquote, deficits focused, and my brain just sort of screaming like this as a human being like, can we talk about her as a full person and, and talk about what she brings to the classroom. And so I sort of had these two experiences that you know, for 20, something years ago that really kind of stand out, you know, and I had a lot of naivete in terms of special ed at the time that I really was very clear about, you know, human being as a human being. And that’s where we need to be operating from. Yeah, I feel like we get into this process. And I love I love the paperwork. But I love the paperwork even more when we can look at that paperwork and say, oh, yeah, this is, this is an awesome kid. Like, we can see all the strengths and all of the challenges that they have, and just kind of like, experiment and figure out like how to help them. And I feel like you have had that child centeredness from the beginning. And it’s so amazing. So, you know, when we talk about collaboration, I, I know I talk about collaboration all the time. And I’m so excited that we’re focusing on it today. Because I don’t, I don’t want parents to feel like when we talk about collaboration, that we’re saying, Oh, you have to compromise, and you have to be nice to them. Or you have to be like, the special education teams like best friend, and I don’t, I don’t want to say that at all. Actually, we had somebody that had gone through one of the sessions in the summit, and she said, Oh, I just I love these worksheets that were part of the summit. And she said, I can better communicate my child’s strengths without getting all mama bear on them. And I think there’s such a balance like that Mama Bear needs to come out sometimes. But I just don’t want people to start there. So can we talk a little bit about, like your view of collaboration? Because you’ve been kind of on multiple sides of it, like, what does collaboration mean to you? What does that look like to you? So in a nutshell, to me, and the focus I try to help teams sort of come to is, let’s just get curious together. Right? Like that child center, that child focused. Perspective is so important to me. And so when we’re all getting really curious about who this person is, how they learn what their temperament is, what kind of strategies work what you know, where I’ve tripped and fallen on my face, you know, whatever it may be, we sort of take the like, my side, your side out of it. And we become, like, kind of detectives together, right? And it opens up the door for inquiry, it opens up the door to say, Gosh, I think I think this might be what you’re talking about. This is what I think this might kind of look like in my classroom. Is that where you’re, you know, because none of us know everything there is to know right? And so sometimes there can be this, for lack of a better way of putting it almost like territorial, right? Like, this is what I see at home. So this is the truth, versus this is what I see at school. So this is the truth. And if those two things aren’t in alignment, there can be this like disconnect. And then it’s, you know, we feel like we’re at this impasse, and we don’t know how to get across. Where as if we’re thinking about the child from a place of curiosity. Then it’s like Oh, I wonder if right I wonder if at home
Unknown Speaker 10:00
It kind of looks this way. And if there’s this huge sort of discrepancy and what the child is able to demonstrate in one arena or the other, then we can get curious as to why, right? Like, you know, for example, I have a family I’m working with now where the child can demonstrate a really pretty high level of like academic readiness and reading skills, and this and that at home, that really is not demonstrating any of that in the school environment. So of course, the school team is quite worried about building those real like foundational stepping stones. And Mom is saying, look at all the things that he can do. Right. And so there was this little bit of a conversation the other day at an IEP meeting of like, we have to have goals based on what we see at school, which that is a true statement. And let’s get curious about obviously, the school environment in the home environment or different environments. But what is it about the home environment that’s working for him? What needs are being met in the home environment that either aren’t are more challenging for him in the school environment? And how do we start to bridge that gap a little bit? Because, sure, we’re all different in different environments. But we’re not wildly discrepant, so to speak. And so how do we have him be kind of a more consistent version of himself a true version of himself in, you know, kind of across the board? And that I think opens the door a bit differently? Yeah, I think so too. And, again, it’s child focused, right. And it kind of aligns everybody’s vision, right, of what that child can do. And then we’re just problem solving together. Right. Nobody’s right around.
Unknown Speaker 11:44
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Because, you know, it’s not about that, right. Like, I do think we can actually just went live a few minutes ago, talking about least restrictive environment, which is, you know, kind of a piece of this puzzle. But yeah, you know, we can kind of get mired in our own perspective. And then when we become really wed to our own perspective, we could get a little defensive, right, yeah. And then it does, unfortunately, become a situation of the adults behaving badly instead of the, you know, like, Okay, I think this is what I know. You know, but I’m wondering what that looks like in your environment. Yeah, right. Or I’m hearing you say, you think this is what you know. And I’m curious how it plays out in mind. Right. And, and so I just, I know, I sound like a broken record. But I just think curiosity needs to be like the driving force. And I think I shared this in our previous conversation. For me as a parent, that was my pain point. Right? Like, as somebody that went into education as this like insatiably curious person, I wanted to know all the things about each one of my students, I felt that piece was somewhat missing with my daughter. And that was deeply painful for me. And I think I mentioned this in our in our earlier conversation, there isn’t a soul in education, that goes into teaching or working with young children that’s like, the amazing to go mess with some kids, to not listen to what anybody has to say, that is what I want to do with my life, I want to just mess with people education seems to be the perfect venue. Like There literally is no one that does that. You know, people go into education, because they’re interested in how kids learn. They’re passionate about a particular discipline. But there is some level of curiosity that drives them to the profession. And so they’re working in the same deeply flawed system, we’re as parents trying to navigate, and our children are trying to navigate. And curiosity takes action. It’s not passive, right. So when you’re, you know, have this huge caseload and you know, you’re tugged in a million different directions, and you don’t necessarily have the funding you need and all the things, you forget your why. And so when a parent shows up, and sort of leads with curiosity, and leads with that kind of lack of judgment, and inquiry, it creates space for the folks on the school side of the table to sort of reconnect with why they’re there in the first place. Yep. And I would totally agree with you because being somebody on the school team side, you know, I started to notice in these at meetings per year that I was in that same school team. And sometimes I would have seven meetings in one week with the same school team and every single feeling at the end of that was different and the people who really understood that curiosity or said, Hey, this issue is hot.
Unknown Speaker 15:00
Sending it home, like, I don’t know what’s happening, maybe this is happening and kind of threw out some ideas and just problem solved. That’s when we got an effective IEP. And that’s also when we, as the school team, were super jazzed to implement that IEP as well, which I know is a big pain point for, for parents is like, Okay, I think we have this great IEP, I fought hard for it. And sometimes we fight really, really hard for it. And then if the school team feels like, either it’s not their idea, or their plan, or they feel intimidated by the parent, or like, they’re gonna get in trouble, then all of a sudden, it falls flat. And we don’t do our best for that kid. I hate that. Hate that. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about your own experience as a parent, and coming into meetings? Like, I’m guessing that you still had that curiosity in mind when you came to every IEP meeting, but that probably didn’t work all the time. So can you talk a little bit about your experience with meetings with that? Sure. I mean, I definitely always came in curious and I think that I am a nervous talker. That is my temperament. The more nervous I am, the more I talk, right? And my husband is exactly the opposite. It’s absolutely hilarious. I can only imagine what the folks on the school side were like, oh, gosh, here come the rights. Like, could they be more different, right? Hilarious. And I think would try
Unknown Speaker 16:28
to flood, like with stories, and so to look back with, with my own critical eye, you know, I probably could have done a better job of maybe listening and holding space for something else. You know, we didn’t have we had this very strange experience actually like it, it took us a year for my daughter to even be found eligible. So we definitely were like trying to die on the eligibility Hill for a year. Yeah. And then once she got in, it was like speech only. And so we always were feeling that that sense of gotta fight, you don’t see I need to show you. So sort of that feeling of like I have to prove to you, which I have to say is a really terrible position to be in, especially when you don’t think there’s anything wrong with your child, because you don’t think disability is wrong. You just think it’s part of the human spectrum. And yet you’re trying to defend what’s quote, unquote, wrong, like, Yeah, this is very, like, disconnecting space to be in. Yeah, we had really lovely, for the most part, really lovely, like teachers and service providers, working with my daughter. And I felt connection to them and relationship with them. And there were times where we could be sort of curious together. But truthfully, I felt like those moments were actually outside of the IEP meeting, where we didn’t have the district folks, or the lawyers, or the whatever’s the gatekeepers, so to speak, sort of overseeing that it was more than like, I’m calling you at home, but like, let’s keep it between the two of us. And I’m curious about or let me share this about my own personal experience with my child. And I do think that that happens sometimes, too, right? Especially, I mean, I used so hated that we had to get lawyers involves so my last choice, but it does, it changes the tone. And so, like my natural collaborative nature, like just found other ways to kind of do it. And so that part of what drove me to my current work, right, is that I want that IEP meeting to be able to be the space that was like, covert for me. Yeah, you know, let’s do it out in public, so that we can avoid that icky, litigious, yuck, that we can avoid. Yeah, like, obviously, there’s some situations where it’s unavoidable, but like, most of the time, I truly think it can be. And so, you know, that’s the work I really do with families is, don’t do it how I did it.
Unknown Speaker 19:06
I mean, so So let’s dive into that a little bit more. So if if somebody is listening, and they’re like, we’re already past collaboration, like, I feel like, we’ve already got the team on defense, I’m feeling defensive every time I talk to them, like, where where do you even like, start to try to get past that because it is like, it is so much better for your kid for the IEP to be effective for the follow through, like, how do you get over that? That tension that happens? So it’s so funny, you ask the question, it’s such an important question. I actually have a family I’m working with right now, where that’s, that’s where they’re at. Right. So the first IEP meeting I went to, there was another outside provider who’s sort of been acting as the IEP guide, but like, that’s not their specialty. So they were like, you gotta get somebody else besides
Unknown Speaker 20:00
Be and of course, they’d recommended an attorney. But thankfully, it’s me and not an attorney. But there were three representatives from the Office of Civil Rights. So it could have been, wow, that very tense, type space. My advice in that moment, is to name the elephant in the room.
Unknown Speaker 20:21
You know, what, we’ve really been on kind of a rocky road, you guys are probably feeling a bit defensive, I know I’m feeling a bit defensive, I really want us to like hit refresh. The most important person in the room is the child, so named the child, I really, really want us to try to shift this study Jamek. I do think that that starts ahead of the meeting in writing, which is why I think like, I know, Jessica, and you talked previously about parent input. You know, I’ve been doing this about a year now. And I finally feel like I could sort of name my process, it’s like evolving. But I, I really do love
Unknown Speaker 21:05
submitting the parent input statement, any sort of proposed changes with, you know, as attachments to an email that expresses gratitude. And these are the things I’m hoping to talk about. And I name in that email, to avoid surprises at the IEP table, or in full transparency, so you know exactly where I’m coming from. I always say, I want to have a collaborative conversation with you, let’s get curious about my daughter, let’s get curious about, you know, whoever the child may be. So you start to set the tone ahead of time, I have a family that I’m working with where there’s definitely a difference in ideology in terms of AAC. Now wants a really robust system provider, a school based provider wants pecs, right, mom,
Unknown Speaker 21:58
expressed, you know, that difference of opinion, and said to me, during our call, I’m really worried I sort of put this person on the defense, I said, we’re going to name it and the email ahead of time,
Unknown Speaker 22:11
you can name your boundary.
Unknown Speaker 22:14
And at the same time, let people know that you really respect their perspective, you know, so in her case, I can’t remember my exact wording. But it was something like, I really like the child already has a robust system. So taking parts of it away, or literally taking away the child’s voice, right. So I am uncomfortable with any path forward, that takes away my child’s voice. That’s my boundary. But I know we can put our heads together and come up with a really strong path forward to support my child’s communication development. I’m excited to work with you. And then that person, when they read, it goes, Okay, they’re not going to come to the meeting and yell at me.
Unknown Speaker 22:58
Right? Because that person is a person. That speech pathologist is like, oh, gosh, I upset mom. Oh, gosh, they call the meeting about this. Oh, no, they’re going to come and yell at me. So if it’s upfront, before you ever set tell in the room, you say,
Unknown Speaker 23:16
I just can’t be part of a decision that takes away my child’s voice. But I know we can come up with this path forward together, you’ve still set the boundary.
Unknown Speaker 23:27
And you’re creating space for us to come up with a plan together. And so I do think that there’s ways to shift even if things are really a D, or they feel really icky. And it doesn’t have to mean that you totally
Unknown Speaker 23:42
go against your own, like moral compass or your own boundary for your child like you can still hold firm and create space for forward progress. Yeah, I absolutely love that. I think, you know, in my mind, before we we talked, I’m like, oh, yeah, like start with collaboration. And then if you need to get back up, or you need to get help outside. But I love the way that you name the boundary right up front. And I do think that helps this school team know, like, what’s happening, like, what are we doing at this meeting. And I’ve seen that with like vision statements as well, where if we know, the vision statement ahead of time, if we know that this parent, like we had a middle school parent that was like, she is going to go to this post secondary program for people with intellectual disabilities. And there was like a checklist even for this program. And it was like, we come to the meeting, and we’re like, we have to solve this problem. Like if she is going to go to this program. We have to figure this out. Like let’s figure this out and just brings that collaboration and problem solving. And something that you’ve talked about before I think is this like mismatch between like you mentioned like educators personality, of being open, and hey, we can change
Unknown Speaker 25:00
If the plan if it’s not working, and the legal system, do you want to talk more about that? That kind of oil and water situation? Really?
Unknown Speaker 25:09
Yeah, you know, I think. So I’m part of the master IEP coach community. And this last summer, we had a conference. And the very first question that Catherine Witcher who’s the founder of the Master Ip coach mentorship presented to all of us was, what is the difference between a law a policy and a habit.
Unknown Speaker 25:31
And there are teachers, therapists, parents admins alike, were a whole mix in that community, which is lovely. So you’re sitting at a table, not just with other parents or not just with other teachers, you’re sitting with sort of every representative of an IEP team having this conversation. And I honestly think that
Unknown Speaker 25:54
there are districts that get into a habit that they think is following the law. But it’s actually just a habit. And so it’s sort of exploring that of Wait a second, just because we’ve always done it this way. Do we have to do it this? I didn’t know, we didn’t have to do it this way? What kind of like that we don’t have to do it this way. Maybe we can. You know, I just think there’s space there. Right? Of there’s curiosity there to like, oh, is this a law that we have to follow? Why do we have a district policy on this? Does the district policy is that in conflict with the law that actually like this policy that we’ve had that isn’t in alignment with the law has created some really bad habits on our part, or, and it can go the other way too, right? Like parents can really think like, this is the law and you have to follow in, it’s like, actually, you know, the laws kind of a gray area, we can explore it, this is what we typically do. But we can explore other ways. Like, you know, I think that sometimes parents feel like they have to be experts on the law. I think sometimes parents feel like, well, the school team knows. And if they said that’s how it is, then it is how it is. And like, you can ask the question of like, clash, you know, especially if something just sounds really wonky to you in a meeting and you’re like,
Unknown Speaker 27:19
that just doesn’t make any sense to me, there is a way to ask and you really don’t have to be snarky about it. You really can say, Gosh, I am in no way trying to be rude or disrespectful. But that really doesn’t make much sense to me, can you please share the district policy on that? So I can read it and better understand. And like, most of the time, there isn’t a policy most of the time, it’s just a bad habit? Yeah. But like, it’s a way to name it without, you know, a lot of fire and fury. You know, it’s like, I’m kind of calling you on this, because I think it’s nonsense, but I’m doing it in a way that like, maybe I’m wrong, maybe there is a policy, and then like how does that policy apply in this particular situation? And if that policy is more restrictive than the ID, EA, can we come up with a with a middle ground solution? Like I just, you know, I do think that
Unknown Speaker 28:15
there’s not that there aren’t knows in life, but like within this special ed rel like there’s, there are ways to navigate a know, and trying to find a common ground? Yes. Really kind of helps us push through, well, then how would this look like in this situation? Right? So like, if you get as a parent like, No, we don’t do that here. No, that’s not how we typically do it. But you can agree that the child needs a particular support or has a particular need. Well, then, okay, so let’s like, let’s press pause. Let’s just take inventory. We all agree that Lisa, you know, needs this support. Okay? Yes, we all we all agree Lisa really needs to support. Okay. You’re saying this is how the district typically does it? I’m saying that makes me a bit uncomfortable. Let’s throw out some different ideas of what could possibly work.
Unknown Speaker 29:09
Right, like try to build from the Yes, yeah. Oh, my gosh, I love that so much.
Unknown Speaker 29:16
So as we start to wrap up, I just need to point this out. That while most people come and find the podcast and come into my course, because they have that immediate stress of the IEP meeting coming up, you had mentioned that there’s so much time for the rest of the year before your next IEP meeting to like change things up. And that’s actually like why I named my business that IEP lab because I think you can change it as you go and it should change because you’re going to discover more about that kid and what works and what doesn’t. Can you talk about a little bit more about your experience in in developing those relationships, and changing the plan outside of the IEP meeting.
Unknown Speaker 30:00
Yeah, sure. So, you know, I do think that establishing those open lines of communication leads to, you know, a positive working relationship, you know, you don’t have to be besties with these people, although it’s lovely, obviously, if you get along well, but you do not have to be best friends going out and grabbing dinner. But, you know, an IEP meeting can be called at any time.
Unknown Speaker 30:23
And if, you know, let’s say there’s a goal in the IEP, that you just are struggling to wrap your mind around, or maybe those service providers are struggling to wrap their mind around it, or they’re not quite sure what the baseline is, they just weren’t able to get clear data on that, or whatever it may be.
Unknown Speaker 30:39
Goals don’t have to last for the whole year, like they’re written that way. But they don’t have to be and they can be changed at anytime, right? So this idea of a home to school communication, a streamlined home to school communication, I always like to start with the parent asking the school team, what kind of communication system works best for you? Yeah. Right. Like, I’m not trying to ask you, I know, you’re strapped and stressed and this and that. But I also know that when we’ve got these huge gaps in communication, like things go sideways and wonky, and nobody wants that. So, you know, let’s do our weekly check in, you know, like, you send me a three to five sentence email, I send you back, we have this sort of closed circle communication that happens once a week or once every other week, whatever it looks like for the team. And then you choose the point person and have an action plan. So like everybody knows, right?
Unknown Speaker 31:30
You can be asking throughout the year, Hey, how’s my kid doing on you know, that one communication goal, or that one academic goal or whatever? Do we need to come back to the table and maybe tweak this a little bit. And, you know, I have had situations usually goal changes require us to come back to the table and have an official meeting. But you can do it via email, if you’ve got really well streamlined communication happening, where we can make some of those changes without coming back to the table. But I think sometimes parents think that, oh, gosh, this was set in October in our annual and it can’t really be talked about again till next October, but I just can’t stand goal number four, and I don’t want it there. No, it can be changed at any time, you can express concerns. Or you can say like, Okay, this is you’re sitting in an IEP meeting, and okay, this is the goal we think we want to work towards. We’re going to do it for 60 days. And we’re going to come back to the table and 60 days, and this is the data we’re going to collect. And this is how we’re going to collect it. We’re going to do weekly check ins with you so that you have a sense of things. But let’s let’s plan to come back together in two months, see where we’re at, you know, so even the decisions around how we meet and connect and communicate. All of those things are super important. So that nobody leaves the meeting like oh, well, we have this great conversation. But right. Now what, right? You don’t want people to feel that way. You want people to walk out of the meeting and be like, great conversation. I know that. So So supposed to this, they’re doing that I’m doing this, we’re all doing that, and I’ll see in 60 days, or I’ll see in 90 days. Mm hmm. Yeah, I love that. And the communication system is so key. I think a lot of teams have gotten into and I’ve seen this in the coaching calls that I do. It’s like, oh, we have this behavior chart. And I’m like, You can’t ask for different information in that, like start with asking them what they do. Because you’re right, like, if they’re in the habit of doing a communication app, you’re probably going to have more communication, if you’re using what they’re using, if that’s okay with you. But then if what they’re using isn’t like quite right, you can ask for that to change too. And the better relationship that you have with them of this, like, let’s try this, let’s try this. Or even if you’re having some sort of behavior challenge, it’s like, hey, we need to, like collect some more information about this. Can we do it this way? Or can we use this template or whatever? And most of the time, the team will say, yes. Most of the time, if you approach it, right, they will say yes, because they’re like, oh, yeah, you’re right. We do need to look at that. And it’s an easy, yes, right. Yeah, no, usually it really is. I mean, that one meeting that I shared about with OCR being there, they really don’t have enough data on this child’s self advocacy skills. So we defined what that would look like in the classroom and on the play yard. And they set forward an action plan to collect the data over the next six weeks. And we have another meeting, not next week, following week, right. So we’re going to come back and we’re going to look at what are the present levels. We’ve already sort of agreed upon this action plan. We defined what it looked like. So if we should come back to the table ready to have a conversation. Yeah. Which is crazy. It is a great thing. Yes. I love that follow up. That’s so amazing. So I know that we could go on and on and on and we could slip into other topics so easy. I almost asked you a question that was
Unknown Speaker 35:00
Switching topics because I just want to hear your opinion on it. But if parents are like, Oh my gosh, I love Lisa, what does she have? Can I work with her? Where do they go to find out more about you? The best place if they’re on Instagram is to find me on Instagram. My handle is at Lisa Baskin, right? It’s like the ice cream. Except not, which is very sad.
Unknown Speaker 35:21
I have a website, but it’s super sad. It’s Lisa Baskin right.com. Truly, like coming on Instagram, I try to be pretty present on there, I do offer a free 30 minute phone consultation. And I’m more than happy to do that. I really like to offer that consultation so that I can get a sense of Am I a good fit for you? Do I have the skill set that you need to help you move forward, I feel like I can individualize the advice better than I can just via email or just via social media. And then if somebody wants to move forward working with me, they can and there’s a couple of options for that. But you know, if if they walk away from that phone call, like, Oh, I got it, like I’m good. For now. I’m like, great. That’s fantastic.
Unknown Speaker 36:05
That’s amazing. Thank you so much for doing that. And thank you so much for coming on. And just sharing your experience, both as a parent and a general education teacher and an advocate. It’s amazing to talk with you. So thank you, oh, my gosh, thank you for having me. This was wonderful. Of course. You know, what I love about Lisa is that she has really tangible small steps that we can take to say, Okay, this doesn’t have to be a gigantic overwhelming thing. We can build collaboration piece by piece. And we should always start there, right. Even if you feel like you have to escalate the situation to get what you need. We always want to return back to collaboration as soon as we possibly can. Because really, you’re going to get the most information back from your team, if you have a strong relationship with that. So I hope that if you connected with Lisa, if you loved what she had to say definitely connect with her. And links are in the show notes on the IEP lab.com. Also, if you are in a sticky situation right now and you feel like you there’s no collaboration going on. And if you want to talk through your specific situation, I know there’s a lot of parents in that situation that are talking in the Facebook group. So if you are interested in joining us in the Facebook group, if you haven’t joined us yet, that link to join is below this podcast in your podcast player. And all you have to do is click that link, answer the membership questions and we’ll get you in, make a new post kind of explain what the sticky situation is. And we might be able to coach you through what your options are to get back to collaboration as soon as possible. Or if it sounds like you really need some outside help from an advocate or a lawyer, we will definitely help you make that decision as well. So hop into the Facebook group if this just hit you wrong, and you’re like, yes, I want to collaborate, but it’s just not possible right now, we can definitely help and support you in whatever situation you are at right now. And then just a final reminder to enter the giveaway you only have two more days to enter. We’re closing entries on Thanksgiving Day. So make sure that you’re utilizing those links below this podcast in your podcast player to enter into the giveaway, all you have to do is rate and review the podcast and then submit that through the Jot form. And all of the links are below this podcast in your podcast player. Thank you so much for all that you are doing. I see people pulling friends into the Facebook group, I see friends sending other friends episodes of the podcast. And of course your rating and reviews help this podcast to get in front of more parents just like you who might be searching for some tips that we have included in the podcast episode. So thank you so much for sharing it and for making our community grow and just really building a community of parents helping parents and really trying to understand how we can get to this collaboration. Even if we feel like we have to go through a period of tension first. So thank you as always for taking the time to listen. I will see you same time, same place next week. And have a great week.