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PASS hosts Individual Education Plan workshop

  • Published
  • By Bekah Clark
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  The Scott Air Force Base Parent Advocates for Students and Schools, or PASS, hosted an Individual Education Plan workshop at the Airman and Family Readiness Center to help military parents of special needs children in meeting their children's educational goals.

This workshop focused on aiding parents in the development of confidence and the advocacy skills needed to ensure the successful implementation of their child's IEP, according to Amy Uptergrove, A&FRC chief.

An IEP is tailored to an individual student's needs and helps teachers and service providers understand a student's disability and how it affects the student's learning process. The plan describes how the student learns, how the student best demonstrates that learning and what teachers and service providers will do to help the student learn more effectively.

Tracie Bauer and Laurin McWhorter, special services case managers from O'Fallon School District 90, covered the IEP process, parent's rights, and how to create and maintain partnerships with providers, teachers, and counselors within a school.

Attendees were given the opportunity to network among themselves, share information, and were given other avenues of support to explore.

"The websites given out today are phenomenal resources that I had no knowledge of," said attendee Jeanette Northrop. "The (workshop) instructors were so knowledgeable and answered all my specific questions. Another plus today was the ability to network with other parents and share information."

The information provided also helped enlighten parents on how the school evaluates and sets programs for their children.

"The instructors were very knowledgeable; it was so nice having them address issues about special needs children," said attendee Steffanie Norgard. "It's easy to get your dander up that someone's messing with your child so this helped me learn about how IEPs are written and that the focus of the school is just like the parent's - to help the child be successful."

The next PASS workshop, focused on Autism IEPs, is scheduled for Sept. 22 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the A&FRC. In November, PASS will host a School Portfolio Workshop that will teach parents a simple way to condense documents that characterize and facilitate their child's progress during their educational career.

PASS is a volunteer organization that provides military parents and guardians with effective ways to advocate for their children as they transition between school systems due to military moves. PASS promotes peer to peer networking among parents, organizes workshops on topics chosen from workshop participant feedback, and is a key link between local schools and the military community.

If you want to learn more about PASS, contact the A&FRC at 256-8668 or find them on Facebook by searching "Scott AFB; Parent Advocates for Students & Schools (PASS)."