Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Advocating and a big meeting coming up

Lots of good advice has been shared on other threads recently as it seems several families are facing rather unnerving in-person or virtual meetings. Some of the crowd-sourced tips were -
- Research your state laws. This information is often found on the state department of education website. You may wish to print and put this in an advocacy ring binder to refer to over the years as the legislation may change over time.
- Research the school or district policies and practices. This information is often found on their website. You may wish to print and put this in an advocacy ring binder to refer to over the years as the policies/practices may change over time.
- Have any test results and other pertinent facts available to share (milestones, reading lists, other accomplishments/achievements)
- It is good to have them speak first. If asked to speak first, you may simply wish to thank everyone for attending and summarize that you are all here to share information and ideas about how to best meet your child's educational needs... and that you would like to hear from them.
- Agenda
- Know who is in the meeting, and their role(s)
- Stay calm
- Know what you are asking for
- TAKE NOTES including 5Ws ( Who-What-Where-When-Why-How ) of differentiation, so you can summarize in an e-mail afterward [Some families announce they plan to record the meeting and then do so, rather than taking notes.]
- Use active listening (rephrase what has been said, and put it in a question form) to clarify understanding
- Be open to receiving the school's data/observations.
- Listen to any proposals they may make, ask appropriate probing questions, such as how a proposal may work, how the proposal may help your child, the schedule/frequency of service delivery, etc
- Do not be forced to make a decision if you need time
- Summarize next steps & time frames, and/or need for a follow-up meeting
- Thank everyone for their time & interest
- After the meeting, write a summary which may include points of agreement, decisions, next steps, timeframes for implementation, etc. Share this letter of understanding with the meeting attendees, possibly by e-mail.

Do you have lists of these things, to share with the school so they may compare what they see at school with what you are seeing at home?

There may need to be agreement as to what the child's needs are.

This depends entirely on the child. Reading? Bringing books from home? Math? Using an online program? Cluster grouping with intellectual peers of similar readiness/ability? Visiting a higher grade level classroom for one or more subjects?

What have you done so far to advocate... are you familiar with these resources...

- Davidson Institute for Talent Development offers a database of resources including a guidebook “Advocating for Exceptionally Gifted Young People” http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Resources_id_14781.aspx

- Some districts encourage parents to prepare well for the notoriously brief parent-teacher conferences, and being familiar with this may also help parents prep for an advocacy meeting. The Davidson Database (http://www.davidsongifted.org/) lists several resources for "parent teacher conference", including:
1) http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10296.aspx
2) http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Resources_id_12628.aspx
3) http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10286.aspx
4) http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10050.aspx

To prepare for advocacy, many parents undertake activities like these...

- Read school policies. These are often found on a school or district website. Look for information related to identification, and any description of programs/services they may offer to gifted pupils. Print these pages to add to a folder or ring binder of papers that you will bring to meetings and keep as your paper trail. As the years pass, you may wish to tab your binder by year, adding new versions of these policies as they are updated.

- Read your state laws about gifted education and special ed which may come into play due to her ADHD diagnosis. Print these and place in your advocacy folder or binder. You may wish to look at Wrightslaw, also the National Center for Learning Disabilities for IEP and 504 info. Here is a recent post

- Look at lists of gifted characteristics. Make a checklist or inventory noting which of these characteristics/behaviors you see in your child. You may wish to include specific examples. Place this in your advocacy binder.

- Create an inventory of kiddo's milestones, skills, accomplishments, achievements to-date. Arrange the list by date... for example, when she knew the alphabet, first read, did math, inquired about certain things. Be sure to indicate what was child-led, initiated by child, done of their own interest & motivation. Include the child's current interests pursued at home, attention span, etc. Place this in your advocacy binder.

- Create a list of books read, by date. For emerging readers, be sure to indicate any books which were read aloud to the child, or co-read with the child, as opposed to being read independently (with questions on certain words, discussion about the book, etc). You may wish to look up the lexile or reading level of the books which she chooses and reads independently. A spreadsheet format may be convenient for documenting your DD's reading list. Place this in your advocacy binder.

- Learn the grade level outcomes at the school. What is a child expected to know and demonstrate at the end of each grade? Place this in your advocacy binder.

- Comparing the inventories/checklists you created with what is taught at each grade level, what grade level do you observe your DD performing at? Document this and place in your advocacy binder. It may be math, 2nd grade... reading, 3rd grade... science, 2nd grade etc. Meanwhile she is in 1st grade.

- Gathering this data helps you guide a discussion if a meeting should flounder or seem at an impasse. For example, rather than feeling that the meeting is family Vs. school, you might ask if you might all look together at the data and see what it may indicate.

Wishing all the best for you in the meeting, so that significant progress is made with the school and meeting your DD's educational needs.

PS: No longer homeschooling??