If you are the parent holding your autistic child’s hand a little longer, standing a little closer in unfamiliar places, or planning every detail before stepping out the door—please know this: you are not doing it wrong. You are responding to your child with intention, care, and deep understanding.

Intentional goal-setting helps teachers and students focus on what truly matters, especially in special education, where progress is often incremental, deeply personal, and worth celebrating. This is the perfect time to reset expectations, realign priorities, and set goals that feel meaningful rather than overwhelming.

As December ends and January begins, special education teachers carry unique emotional and professional weight. This reflective, advocacy-focused post explores what administrators need to understand—and how strong leadership can support teachers through one of the hardest transitions of the school year.

December in schools is heavy. The days are shorter. Everyone is tired. Schedules are unpredictable. Behavior feels louder. Paperwork still exists. And somehow, the pressure to finish strong shows up louder than ever. This is your permission slip to stop chasing perfection and start choosing sustainability.

Progress monitoring does not have to be complicated, time-consuming, or perfect to be legally sound and instructionally meaningful. What it does need to be is intentional, aligned, and defensible.

Winter break is a much-needed pause for educators—and for many families, it’s also a time filled with excitement, uncertainty, and disrupted routines. For families of students with disabilities, extended breaks can raise questions about progress, regression, behavior changes, and what support will look like when school resumes.

Extended breaks can be overwhelming for students with special needs—but with intentional preparation and a few proactive strategies, transitions become smoother and more predictable.

Excellent teaching doesn’t happen by accident. It’s designed—intentionally, collaboratively, and with the whole student in mind. Using unit plans to outline the journey and lesson plans to guide each step equips teachers to deliver structured, aligned, and responsive instruction.

Your IEP notes are more than paperwork—they reflect your professionalism, your respect for families, and the seriousness of the decisions you make. Write every note as if it will be read in a hearing… because it might be.

Some of the most valuable minutes of a conference might have nothing to do with IEP goals at all. They might be spent laughing about the child's quirky sense of humor, or hearing about their weekend soccer tournament, or learning that they're obsessed with dinosaurs this month. These moments of human connection lay the foundation for trust that makes harder conversations possible when challenges arise.

Annual IEP meetings are required, but they're not the only time IEPs can or should be changed. When we wait for scheduled meetings while students struggle with inappropriate services, we're failing to provide FAPE and we're missing opportunities to support student growth.

Parent advocates don't make meetings adversarial—our response to them does. When we approach advocates as partners who can help us better understand and serve students, meetings are collaborative even when advocates are present.

IEP meetings are not supposed to be quick formalities where we get signatures on documents. They're legally required collaborative planning sessions where teams—including parents as equal members—work together to create individualized education plans.

Presenting unified recommendations might feel more comfortable and professional, but it undermines the collaborative process IDEA requires and that students deserve.

Real collaboration is sometimes messy. It involves diverse perspectives, genuine discussion, and making decisions together in real time.

We are experts, but we're not the only experts in the room. The most effective IEP teams recognize that professional knowledge and parent knowledge are both essential, both valuable, and both necessary for creating truly individualized education plans.

Creating inclusive classrooms is ongoing work. It requires commitment to keep learning and improving. It demands collaboration among educators, families, and students. It needs adequate planning time and resources. And it starts with a fundamental belief that all students can learn and deserve to do so alongside their peers.

This post details six strategies that transform inclusive classrooms to meet all students' needs. This is the second blog post in a series entitled Beyond the Classroom Door.

Let’s be honest—by the time summer rolls around, you don’t want to hear the word “IEP” again until September.

And yet…
Come Fall, how often do we say to ourselves:

• “I should’ve organized this earlier.”

• “I wish I had a better plan for this student.”

• “I feel like I’m already behind—and it’s only the first week.”