United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I'd really like to make a school fact sheet that is more targeted for older kids. I threw this idea around with Rich earlier. We just did our IEP meeting for transition to Jr. High today. We have an awesome team to work with in our district. They were very proactive and have an attitude as we will put any accomidations in there she might need, and if she doesn't use them it is no big deal and that if something comes up we run the accomidation through the school nurses office and then amend the IEP to catch it up to what we need to do. They even are having her tryout an android tablet from now till the end of the school year so that she can practice notetaking, use e-books, and transition to an electronic binder instead of carrying around a huge 3 ring binder that would weigh down her book bag in a hurry. I would love to know what kind of accomidations you have requested in IEP or 504 plans that your child found helpful. I'd also like to hear what kind of problems your child has encountered that could have been prevented with some up front communication. Thanks

I think that child's IEP or 504 is a very personal document and a fact sheet doesn't do it justice because each individual's needs are completely different. You just can't drop all the children into one bucket or label a child with the fact sheet which in this case will only be about the arm and not about any other issues the child may have.... I think it may even be detrimental because they may only look at the fact sheet and not take time to understand the other things involved for that individual.

Maia's document has changed each year as new issues arise and old issues are no longer issues. And the first paragraph describes Maia's injury - how it happened and how it presents itself so that teachers know what it is. And the other 90% is very personal to Maia and are things that really don't affect many other children in the bpi community.

Hi, I'm a senior in high school. I asked to have an extra book so I could leave one in the class room and leave the other at home. Books now a days are way too heavy... Another thing that would be helpful is if your child could be able to type their assignments instead of writing them long hand. I found these two things to be very helpful through out the years. Hope this helps!

wow- IEP? Really? My son is middle school altho we just started homeschooling and are loving it- an IEP might have really helped, extra books is def a good idea- Hoping some of the older kids will be at CAMP!