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Supplement IEP information with a transition book
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Before a special needs child in Arizona starts each year of school, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) is prepared by a group including the parents, teachers and school therapists. Although the IEP is an important part of setting up your child's education, parents can add valuable additional information with a transition book.
The idea of a transition book was given to us by an early intervention therapist from the Foundation for Blind Children. It is a narrative written in the first person as though your child is telling it designed to inform teachers, paraprofessionals or other people what your child's special needs are. For example, here is a paragraph from Maria's transition book:
I have some vision issues (cortical visual impairment; a hollow, atrophied optic nerve; astigmatism; and near-sightedness). I like to wear my glasses, so if I pull them off, you can put them in their case for a while. My vision is improving and I'm tracking better, but I need extra time to process what I see. It helps me if you hold an object within arm's length for several seconds, and move it slowly. I prefer visually simple pictures, and contrasting colors. When you're reading a story, it's better if I sit close and it helps if I can touch an object that you're reading about.
As you can see it includes medical information as well as suggested interactions but isn't written in the clinical style of an IEP. Maria has many disabilities, far more than I was able to fit in my Examiner bio, and on paper she sounds completely helpless. People who review her medical records expect Maria to be an inert blob of flesh and are often surprised to meet an engaging and charismatic little girl. The transition book presents her as a person rather than a collection of diagnoses.
The book is easy to create with Microsoft Word or any other word processor. Maria's has four pages of content plus a title page and a pictures page, but yours could be longer or shorter. There is a photograph of her on nearly every page and that helps people relate to her as a human being. We've found people who have read the transition book are much less surprised by Maria and relate to her more easily. With a new school year ready to begin, there is still time to create one for your child.
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