As a firm believer in early intervention, I often reflect on my time working in Wisconsin, leading transition meetings for children that would soon be turning three and had been receiving some early intervention services.  Many times at this age, the services usually revolved around speech and language or gross motor skills.  

I would meet with families to discuss the transition from county services to school, explaining we would evaluate and hold a meeting prior to the child turning three.  This was followed by my team completing a thorough evaluation and facilitating an evaluation meeting, allowing us to plan for a smooth transition.  After you have done this for a while, you naturally make observations of the children and families you encounter. You can see the parents who know there is something wrong but are hesitant to acknowledge.  There would be some of these meetings where you would come to the realization that the child should be evaluated for autism.  What made these interactions all the more challenging was you were still a complete stranger to these families.

These encounters are etched into my memory as some of the hardest discussions I would have in my career.  Conversations related to autism are raw, emotional and typically shocking to the parents, which is why I always encouraged both to be present if possible.  More often than not, parents never saw it coming or didn’t want to acknowledge the possibility.  

As parents, we want our children to be healthy and happy, always removing barriers that make life harder.  We also compare our children to other children, often thinking about the differences when compared to others the same age.  It’s not something we like to admit, but it’s human nature and I fully admit to doing so.  Circling back to these difficult meetings, I always wanted to find the words to ease the impact, but in reality, there wasn’t any.  What I could do was assure them that we would develop an IEP specific to their child’s needs.  I may have had to share the news with these families, but my team challenged themselves with creating goals that would move the child forward.  This was our chance to really provide early intervention!   We can’t “fix” everything but we will try hard to afford them every opportunity to succeed.  

These situations have lead me to where I am today as an educational consultant.  After years of having these meetings and seeing parents feel lost and overwhelmed, I wanted to give them support for these challenging times.  Parents should feel empowered and provided guidance through this process.  You don’t know what you don’t know, and I am here to help.  

#standreadytosupport