On August 29th, 2011 RAIN had our first back to school picnic. It was well attended and it was fun. It was a potluck, with tons of food! I was able to meet some parents who had children in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) program. I was also excited to meet parents from some of the other schools.
It felt like the ECE parents were much more acquainted with each other. It is nice to have that support early in the education process. As the parent of a fourth grader now, I wish I had known more parents in my shoes to help explain IEP (Individual Education Plan, another Blog in of itself), inclusion, fully supported, special education, sensory issues, and the list of initials is endless. Once your child is placed in the school system there is little in the way of knowing who has an IEP, 504, RTI (more special education language).
The hopes of RAIN was to provide families with the needed resources and support for their child in an environment of accepting parents. Some of us have 'been there, done that', some of us have great knowledge of resources in the community, some of us just need an adult outlet with people who know exactly how tough it is to have special needs children, some want to learn parenting techniques, some want to understand the public school system. We all come with different backgrounds, different needs, at different places in our lives. We can all learn from each other if we want. My hopes is we can learn from the ECE parents how to come together as parents and those of us with experiences can help others through the process. As the year gets off the ground, I hope to meet more parents this year. I am hoping the web site will be a wealth of knowledge and resource. The web site is not a substitute for contact with each other. Reach out and let's help each other make this year a good year for our children, teachers, and ourselves.
It felt like the ECE parents were much more acquainted with each other. It is nice to have that support early in the education process. As the parent of a fourth grader now, I wish I had known more parents in my shoes to help explain IEP (Individual Education Plan, another Blog in of itself), inclusion, fully supported, special education, sensory issues, and the list of initials is endless. Once your child is placed in the school system there is little in the way of knowing who has an IEP, 504, RTI (more special education language).
The hopes of RAIN was to provide families with the needed resources and support for their child in an environment of accepting parents. Some of us have 'been there, done that', some of us have great knowledge of resources in the community, some of us just need an adult outlet with people who know exactly how tough it is to have special needs children, some want to learn parenting techniques, some want to understand the public school system. We all come with different backgrounds, different needs, at different places in our lives. We can all learn from each other if we want. My hopes is we can learn from the ECE parents how to come together as parents and those of us with experiences can help others through the process. As the year gets off the ground, I hope to meet more parents this year. I am hoping the web site will be a wealth of knowledge and resource. The web site is not a substitute for contact with each other. Reach out and let's help each other make this year a good year for our children, teachers, and ourselves.