IEP's

       In the educational world, there are things called IEP's.  An IEP is an Individual Educational Plan.  Students  who have some obstacle to learning can qualify for an IEP.  The qualification process typically begins when a teacher, counselor, parent, or even student begins to question a student's ability to learn.  Data about the student's  background, physical, mental, social, and emotional development and academic growth are gathered.  Generally, this information is brought to a formal meeting which includes the student's teachers, parents, any educational support personnel that might be involved, and, depending on the age of the student, the student as well.  At this initial meeting, a plan is made for the student's continued growth and a decision is made regarding assessment for special ed services.

      Assessment for special ed always includes an academic evaluation and might also include a psycho-social evaluation, a speech and articulation evaluation, a auditory and visual evaluation, and other assessments as needed.  Once the assessments are completed, the planning group reconvenes and makes a decision regarding special ed services and / or other kinds of support for the student.  Students can receive special ed services for a variety of concerns including auditory, linguistic, or spacial processing issues, fine or gross motor issues, psycho-social issues, and lots of other concerns.

     Recently, I began thinking about how all people deserve IEP's.  No one learns exactly like another person and we could all use an IEP to help us get through life.  For some people, that IEP might include academic services but others might have other kinds of special needs.  If they had a meeting like the aforementioned IEP meeting for me, there would not have been academic concerns - not as a child and not as an adult.  As a kid, I daydreamed a lot. I STILL daydream a lot  (when I am not running like crazy to get things done).  Although I was always accepted by other kids at school, I preferred to play alone or with one or two other kids at school. I still prefer solitude to much socializing.  I preferred quiet to noisy and I STILL prefer quiet to noisy.  I always wanted to be outside as a kid and I am still energized by being outside, preferably in the sunshine. As a kid, I struggled with not being "good enough" and, yes, I still struggle with that one too.  I don't know that any of these things get in the way of my learning but they can get in the way of my comfort.


     So what would my Individual Educational Plan look like?  Somewhere in the plan would be written an accommodation for my need for silence.  I would be allowed to wear ear plugs or go to a quiet place whenever the world got too loud.  There would also be an accommodation for my need for isolation.  Every day, I would have a guaranteed block of solitude.  In fact, I would have two or three of those blocks of time.  Additionally, as long as I was employed full time, I would also have at least a full day of alone time on the weekend.  My IEP would need to include an accommodation allowing me time to be outside.  If the sun is shining, I would be allowed to be outside, no matter what.  Perhaps a semi annual trip to the tropics should be included in my IEP.   I would also have access to physical and massage therapists on a regular basis so that those parts of my body that are starting to malfunction can be attended to.  And sleep:  there would need to be an accommodation for naps.  They are essential to my recharging.  I always get up early to have some solitude but I pay the price in a lack of sleep.  Naps are the perfect solution.

      I need to keep thinking about this IEP.  Perhaps I can even pay attention to my own recommendations.

     What would your IEP look like?



  ****  The beautiful girl in the photo is the wonderful and spectacularly talented Ms.  Isabel Grace Seekatz.     xoxoxxoxooxxo to her :) Love, Auntie JT

I Just Am

      Fun and games here.  Earlier this week Masked Mom tossed The Versatile Blogger award at me. This cute little badge brings with it the fun of creating a post that shares seven things about the honored blogger.  Additionally, the recipient is encouraged to then pass the award on to 15 other bloggers.  Now, I don't even KNOW 15 other active bloggers so, for now, I am sending it along to one blogger I know who knocks my socks off.  Let's hear it for Mark at Mark's Work.  Check out the insights this guy shares, all with wonderful warmth and humor.  And, don't tell anyone else lest they cry nepotism, but he happens to be my big brother.

Here goes nothing:

1.  MY HOMECOAST I have never lived  -  nor can I ever live  -  more than a 45 minute drive from the ocean.  The Pacific Ocean has been my homecoast (sort of like hometown only not so crowded) and will always be my best ocean friend but I am not actually married to it.  As kids we played at Tin Can Beach and vacationed in camp grounds down in Baja California.  As a college student, I hung out at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and went camping at Big Sur.  Post college, my beach haunts have mostly been on the NorCal coast.  I can get to a pleasant restful beach in 25 minutes.  I can get to cliffs and crashing waves in 35 minutes.  Love it.

2. SOLITUDE AND SILENCE  Sometime I am going to do a whole post about the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory.   For now, though, I am going to tell you that I have most people fooled on the extrovert/introvert scale.  I suspect that the people with whom I work and socialize would emphatically claim that I am an extrovert.  HA!  I am only a good learner and learned long ago that extroverts are more acceptable.  I also learned that life appears easier as an apparent extrovert so I can play that role well, very well.  Truth is, I get exhausted doing that and the real me comes out after hours.  Give me solitude and silence anytime.

3.  BOOTS!  BOOTS!  BOOTS! So here's the deal.  I don't get along so well with winter.  We just 
don't appreciate each other enough, I guess.  One thing about late fall/winter/early spring , though, is that I get to wear boots.  Not those wimpy ankle boot things and not hiking boots nor cowboy boots but up to the knee, sometimes with maybe a two inch heel, strut your stuff boots.  My boots are not only made for walking, they are made for striding with focus. They come with skirts and tights or jeans and scarves but always they come with a presence.  They are sexy and they say, "Look out, people, here I come."  But always with a smile.

4. THE APPLE CULT   Yes, I am a longstanding, card carrying (iphone carrying?) member of the Apple Cult (Steve Jobs, may you rest in peace).  I love my MacBookPro, my current iphone (4s), my "music box" (aka a tiny shuffle and earbuds that I take to bed at night), and maybe, maybe, maybe Santa will spring for an ipad this year.  Even though I have a full time "real" job, I worked at the one and only Apple store in Somoma County for about six months about three years ago.  My sole purpose in working there was to gain more knowledge about technology in general and, specifically, about Apple products.  I LEARNED a great deal but I also BURNED myself out.  Future employment gigs may have to wait until I can leave the "real" work world. In the meantime, I play and marvel at what technology brings to my world.

5. HIS NAME IS.... Wilson or Oskar or Sammy or or or .... yup, I name things. Wilson is my phone, Oskar is my sweet silver VW beetle, Sammy?  Sammy is an absolute life saver at times.  He is my bicycle.  And on and on and on.  I even named the copy machine at work (Hal).  He functions better now that he has a name. Certain people with whom I am well acquainted give me grief about naming inanimate objects but I couldn't care less.  It adds whimsy and sparkle to my days. I even started a Facebook group several years ago for People Who Name Their Cars.  I think we are up to 47 members.  Look us up and join us!  Oh, and one more thing. Did you notice the male names?  Yup, all my toys are boys.  I can't help it.  They just are.  

6.  BEATING THE SUN UP  (as in, beating the sleepy head sun out of bed in the morning)  I have always been an early riser.  As a kid I got up early (as did most members of my family) and the habit has been mine ever since.  I typically wake up alert, ready to take on the day.  When I was in college I began a daily exercise habit that lasts until this day.  I do enjoy moving and I enjoy the solitude, particularly the early morning solitude.  The outside world is still and quiet and I have time to think.  For about 25 years I ran every morning.  Sometimes I ran on the college track, sometimes in the neighborhood, sometimes (on weekends) in the hills near where I lived.  There came a point where my knees were screaming too much so running became bike riding, and/or walking, and/ or elliptical cross training.  I like to throw in a couple of short weight training sessions every week just for fun.  I love the stretching part of exercise but it is the first part to be sacrificed to the gods of time.  I will likely pay for that someday, if I am not already.

7.  CUT FLOWERS  In my ideal world, I spend a regular amount of time out in the yard, futzing in the garden.  Notice I said "ideal world"?  The real world won't allow me much time for that so I get hints of outdoor flowers in the spring and summer and a few that last into winter.  About ten years ago, a friend of mine opened a small flower shop and that's when my cut flower habit began.  I would stop in weekly and she would teach me what flowers "went together" that week.  I blew between five and ten dollars of my hard earned money on a simple bouquet to put on the kitchen island every work.  When my friend had to close her flower shop down a couple of years later, it was too late for me.  I had grown fond of the lift I experienced every time I walked into the kitchen and saw the simple fresh flowers.  I continue to give myself that gift nearly every week.  It is such a simple thing to make me smile.

    So there you have it.  Seven things about me, none of them particularly exciting but all of them quirks that make me me.  I will pass the Versatile Blogger Award on to Mark and anyone else who wants to pick it up.