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One IEP meeting a year. That's it. And somehow we're supposed to build a real relationship with a family in 60 minutes (or, as I recently heard, 25...which, no).

This episode is about what happens in between those meetings, because that stretch of time is where the relationship either grows or goes flat. I'm sharing the system I've been using for nearly 10 years to stay connected with the families I support, including the tool I found out about from Rachel Madel and have never stopped using, and the six principles that guide every single update I send home. This is one of those things that sounds like more work but actually ends up being less, because when families are genuinely in the loop, everything else gets easier.

I also want to talk about something that still makes me a little fired up: what happens when teams judge families for not showing up, not following through, or not seeming engaged, without ever actually knowing what that family's life looks like. The only reason I knew what was really going on with one of my student's families was because I had built a relationship outside of that one annual meeting. And it made all the difference.

What You'll Learn:

Why IEP meetings alone are not enough to build the kind of family partnership that actually supports progress
The story of what happened when a team started judging a parent who didn't show up, and why I was the only one who knew the full picture
The tool I've used for nearly 10 years to send weekly updates to families (without spending hours on it)
How to reach families who aren't checking email, using a QR code and a piece of paper
The six principles behind my Caregiver Collaboration System, including why "no homework" is one of them
Why families not following through is almost never about buy-in, and what's actually getting in the way
What to say in a two-minute video when you have no idea where to start
How to frame a hard session for a family without adding guilt or making them feel like something went wrong
Why one mom cried watching a Loom update I barely thought twice about sending

Resources Mentioned:

Loom (free video recording tool): https://www.loom.com

Join The Child-Led Collective: jointhechildledcollective.com