Episode 13 - Inside the IEP Process: Through the Eyes of Parents Part 2

In this episode, Iván Campos and Monica Rodriguez return to Fostering Futures but this time, they lead the conversation. Both longtime parents of children with unique learning needs, they open up about the day‑to‑day realities behind IEPs: watching their kids struggle, discover strengths, hit milestones, and learn coping strategies that ultimately shaped who they are today. Through their personal stories, Iván and Monica highlight the importance of flexibility, focusing on strengths, and embracing the “whole child” instead of just the goals on an IEP.

They explore what dyslexia, dyscalculia, auditory processing challenges, and autism looked like in their homes; how teachers and IEP teams supported (and sometimes challenged) their expectations; and how small victories from reading a sight word to cooking a meal can build lifelong confidence. The episode closes with reflections for parents who are just beginning the IEP journey, emphasizing self‑advocacy, balanced expectations, and seeing every child as more than their disability.

Highlights

• Monica and Iván revisit their children’s diagnoses of autism, auditory processing disorder, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and attention challenges, and how signs first appeared at home.
• They describe early struggles: delayed reading, difficulty with math mastery, writing challenges, sensory sensitivities, and social pressures.
• Why some goals don’t need to be repeated for years, and when to shift toward assistive technology or alternative skills.
• How strengths like art, cooking, theater, sports, and memory became powerful confidence builders for their kids.
• The emotional rollercoaster of watching a child push through frustration, bullying, transitions, and self‑advocacy barriers.
• How flexible thinking from both parents and IEP teams opened doors to meaningful growth.
• What accommodations actually look like beyond the IEP: noise‑canceling headphones, visual notes, transition supports, and study skills classes.
• The importance of helping teens understand their disabilities so they can self‑advocate in high school and beyond.
• Why parents must take care of themselves, ask questions, request help, and focus on strengths rather than deficits.

Takeaways

• Small wins matter reading one new word, learning a recipe, or handling a transition can change a child’s confidence.
• Don’t get stuck on rigid goals; shift toward strengths that inspire motivation, pride, and future independence.
• Accommodations only work if the student understands and uses them teach self‑advocacy early.
• Inclusion looks different for every child; growth often comes through trying, adjusting, and trying again.
• Parents should celebrate strengths during IEP meetings it sets the tone and centers the whole child.
• Asking for support is not a failure. SELPAs, case carriers, and administrators exist to help families navigate the process.
• Every child’s journey is unique. Progress may be slow, nonlinear, or surprising, and that’s okay.

Key Timestamps:

00:03:02 – Iván describes early signs of dyslexia through sight‑word struggles.

00:04:19 – Writing and motor‑skill challenges become more visible.

00:06:07 – Discussion of math goals, dyscalculia, and shifting to assistive technology.

00:10:23 – Monica explains her daughters’ structured routines and sensory needs.

00:13:37 – Success story: Monica’s son advocating for himself through note‑taking.

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram | www.cahelp.org | podcast@cahelp.org

Transcript

00:00:09 Intro 

The relentless pursuit of whatever works in the life of a child. 

00:00:18 Athena Cordero 

Welcome to Fostering Futures with CAHELP, a podcast dedicated to our relentless pursuit of whatever works in the life of a child. 

00:00:26 Athena Cordero 

I'm your host, Athena Cordero, inviting you to join me and countless others as we share our unique perspectives and expertise in the world of special education, behavioral health, social-emotional well-being, and community. 

00:00:39 Athena Cordero 

Follow us on Buzzsprout, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. 

00:00:45 Athena Cordero 

Hi, everyone. 

00:00:46 Athena Cordero 

I'm Athena Cordero, and I'm so excited to welcome you back for another episode of Fostering Futures. 

00:00:51 Athena Cordero 

Today, we get to hear once again from Iván Campos and Monica Rodriguez, two incredible voices you've heard before talking about navigating the IEP process. 

00:01:01 Athena Cordero 

We're doing things a little differently this time. 

00:01:03 Athena Cordero 

Instead of me leading the conversation, Iván and Monica are going to take the spotlight and share some of their personal experiences and insights with each other. 

00:01:11 Athena Cordero 

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the conversation. 

00:01:14 Athena Cordero 

Monica, I'll hand it over to you. 

00:01:15 Athena Cordero 

to you. 

00:01:17 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah, absolutely. 

00:01:18 Monica Rodriguez 

We both have children who face challenges on a daily, some with reading, learning, and some with social and sensory differences. 

00:01:28 Monica Rodriguez 

We thought it would be helpful to talk openly about the behaviors we've seen in and out of the home, how we support our children, and the little wins that make a big difference. 

00:01:39 Monica Rodriguez 

So, Iván, 

00:01:41 Monica Rodriguez 

Last time I shared that my son has challenges with auditory learning and that my two daughters are on the autism spectrum. 

00:01:50 Monica Rodriguez 

And you shared that your son was diagnosed with dyslexia and also struggles with math dyscalculia. 

00:01:55 Monica Rodriguez 

Did I say that right? 

00:01:56 Iván Campos 

You said it right. 

00:01:57 Iván Campos 

And just to clarify, that simply means he struggles with math. 

00:02:01 Monica Rodriguez 

Gotcha. 

00:02:01 Iván Campos 

With numbers. 

00:02:02 Monica Rodriguez 

Gotcha. 

00:02:03 Iván Campos 

And so the one thing that I don't know if I shared last time was that he also has attention deficit. 

00:02:10 Iván Campos 

So not the hyperactive type, but the internal type where he can appear not to be engaged or not to be learning. 

00:02:17 Iván Campos 

And so I think you miss a lot of instruction if you're daydreaming or you're thinking about something else versus what you should be doing in class. 

00:02:24 Intro 

Right, right. 

00:02:25 Iván Campos 

But I didn't realize how much of an impact it does to students until I went through that process with my son, so. 

00:02:32 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah, let's get into that. 

00:02:33 Monica Rodriguez 

Can you tell us more about what that looked like for your son growing up, like before he started maybe school? 

00:02:40 Monica Rodriguez 

And after what that looked like. 

00:02:41 Iván Campos 

The internal attention deficit, or. 

00:02:44 Monica Rodriguez 

The dysgalphalia, the all of that. 

00:02:47 Iván Campos 

You said it right, yeah, I did. 

00:02:49 Iván Campos 

So I'll start with the dyslexia, and again, it's challenges with reading and writing. 

00:02:55 Iván Campos 

I think it started to kind of, we saw some signs that something was maybe not all there. 

00:03:02 Iván Campos 

in first grade when they have those hundreds of sight words they have to learn. 

00:03:06 Iván Campos 

And the teacher sends this color home and you work on these. 

00:03:10 Iván Campos 

Well, we were stuck on the same color for a while. 

00:03:13 Iván Campos 

And then the children, my son all knew that, oh, my other friends are getting the gold cards now and moving on to the green ones or whatever the colors were, right? 

00:03:23 Iván Campos 

But we were still on the first set. 

00:03:25 Iván Campos 

Wow. 

00:03:25 Iván Campos 

So that kind of got me wondering, but I also thought, oh, you know, my, my second child didn't really pick up on reading until he was probably six or seven. 

00:03:36 Iván Campos 

So I thought, okay, maybe he's going to be like the second, my second child and just take a little longer, but we'll eventually get it. 

00:03:42 Iván Campos 

It wasn't really until third grade where we're still struggling with reading, with writing, with pronouncing words that it became really a, 

00:03:53 Iván Campos 

I think we need to look at this a little bit much closer than just hope it's going to get better. 

00:03:57 Monica Rodriguez 

So would you say he was maybe taking a little longer doing homework than the assignment was for? 

00:04:03 Monica Rodriguez 

Because, you know, some teachers will say, you know, this sheet should only take them 30 minutes. 

00:04:08 Monica Rodriguez 

Was it taking them longer to do the one sheet that was supposed to be just the 30 minutes? 

00:04:13 Monica Rodriguez 

Is that was that like a little sign for you? 

00:04:16 Iván Campos 

I think everything took longer. 

00:04:18 Iván Campos 

And then 

00:04:19 Iván Campos 

With his writing, I noticed that even copying letters, it was, wait, who's writing this? 

00:04:28 Iván Campos 

I'm like, are you even trying? 

00:04:29 Iván Campos 

You know, in my head, I'm like, why is this so sloppy? 

00:04:32 Iván Campos 

You're just copying the letters, but not recognizing that it's all kind of connected. 

00:04:37 Monica Rodriguez 

Right, the motor skill too. 

00:04:40 Monica Rodriguez 

I think you had mentioned that that he had a OT services at some point right? 

00:04:44 Iván Campos 

Yes he did have OT services at some point and now he can draw he so she's just a gifted illustrator he even drew a logo for me for a low side project I have going on but he was the I told him look I need you to draw me this and this and I want to create a logo yeah and so he went to town and he hand sketched it that's really cool and so I think that maybe 

00:05:08 Iván Campos 

that OT paid off in many different ways in addition to academics. 

00:05:12 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah, I think it's great that all of those things that he went through kind of like opened up some maybe strengths that he now has that he didn't, right, or that he didn't know he had. 

00:05:25 Iván Campos 

And then, you know, for math, I think math really started to become a concern when they start handing out those multiplication assignments that the students need to memorize the ones tables, the two tables, 

00:05:38 Iván Campos 

And I remember growing up, that was like a big deal for my mom and dad. 

00:05:42 Iván Campos 

That I had to know my multiplication charts and be able to recite them, you know, forwards, backwards, without looking. 

00:05:49 Monica Rodriguez 

Right, it was different for us. 

00:05:50 Monica Rodriguez 

We had teachers that would make them be like standards, you know, we had to memorize them. 

00:05:55 Iván Campos 

Forward and backwards. 

00:05:57 Monica Rodriguez 

So tell me what exactly, was there like any goals revolved around the math component that, you know, eventually you kind of like, 

00:06:07 Monica Rodriguez 

you know, added resources and manipulatives. 

00:06:10 Iván Campos 

I think the focus in the beginning, thank you for asking that, I think the focus in the beginning was really about the literacy, but then there was math kind of hanging out there as also an area of concern or an area of need, but eventually we had the multiplication goal for we'll be able to times tables, right, through the IEP, right, the Individualized Education Program Plan meeting, and I think at some point, 

00:06:36 Iván Campos 

If you really have dyscalculia, or you have a learning disability, then it's gonna be hard to learn. 

00:06:42 Iván Campos 

And no matter how many times you do it, it may take more practice, but for certain conditions, I think no amount of practice is going to resolve it. 

00:06:53 Iván Campos 

And so at some point, I think it might've been when he was in sixth grade, that I asked the IEP team, why are we still working on multiplication tables? 

00:07:03 Iván Campos 

Because I don't use a calculator, sorry, I use a calculator in my job, right? 

00:07:09 Monica Rodriguez 

Right. 

00:07:09 Iván Campos 

And so, but we're holding him, is this holding him back that we expect this mastery to occur? 

00:07:16 Iván Campos 

I don't think it's gonna happen. 

00:07:17 Monica Rodriguez 

So they were probably doing like 80% or four out of five opportunities, and then he wasn't meeting those goals, those maybe small goals, and then you said, 

00:07:28 Monica Rodriguez 

Why are we even bothering with this at this point? 

00:07:30 Monica Rodriguez 

Couldn't we explore-- Or maybe open it with something else? 

00:07:33 Iván Campos 

Right, and couldn't we explore maybe assistive technology for math? 

00:07:37 Monica Rodriguez 

Right, because we live in a different world. 

00:07:39 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah, absolutely. 

00:07:40 Monica Rodriguez 

I completely see that. 

00:07:43 Monica Rodriguez 

I think for me it was also kind of similar with the math for my youngest, because she definitely struggles. 

00:07:48 Monica Rodriguez 

Her concept of subtracting and adding are very different. 

00:07:52 Monica Rodriguez 

She sees subtracting as a negative, because there really is, if you think about it, you put on a scale, 

00:07:57 Monica Rodriguez 

You're taking away, right? 

00:07:59 Monica Rodriguez 

You're taking away from something. 

00:08:01 Monica Rodriguez 

So even with the, like they added rulers, they did like the beans, they did all kinds of different little-. 

00:08:09 Iván Campos 

Manipulatives. 

00:08:10 Monica Rodriguez 

Manipulatives for that goal. 

00:08:12 Monica Rodriguez 

And at the end of the day, they realized it's just that she's like super positive. 

00:08:16 Monica Rodriguez 

She wants to add everything, right? 

00:08:19 Monica Rodriguez 

And so I said, well, at some point, it's been three years, 'cause it was like three consecutive, 

00:08:26 Monica Rodriguez 

IEPs of the school not being met, and I was adamant to continue to work on it, and then one of the teachers said, You know what, it's a repetitive thing. 

00:08:36 Monica Rodriguez 

It seems like she's always gonna have this struggle, but let's move it along with the calculator, which is interesting that you brought it up in your IEP. 

00:08:44 Monica Rodriguez 

It was a different thing they brought it up for me. 

00:08:47 Monica Rodriguez 

Because I was a little, you know, it was one of those times where I was just like, no, she needs to learn this. 

00:08:52 Monica Rodriguez 

You know what I mean? 

00:08:52 Iván Campos 

The times tables, right? 

00:08:53 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah, like she needs to, well, I mean, to me, you have, before you can read, you need to learn the ABCs. 

00:09:00 Monica Rodriguez 

Because it doesn't make sense that you can read and not know the entire alphabet, right? 

00:09:05 Monica Rodriguez 

In my brain, but that's my brain. 

00:09:08 Monica Rodriguez 

You know, that's not everyone. 

00:09:09 Iván Campos 

I remember we would go on like a family vacation and then my wife's an educator and she would bring a, 

00:09:16 Iván Campos 

one of those multiplication like little stringy thingies where they have to lace over the multiplication chart or something. 

00:09:23 Monica Rodriguez 

Oh, it was a chart. 

00:09:24 Intro 

Yeah. 

00:09:24 Iván Campos 

It was some kind of chart with lacing and in the car and I'm just driving the car and then I'm like, I don't think he's like, it's happening for him. 

00:09:33 Iván Campos 

But, you know, his mom is like, no, you need to learn them. 

00:09:36 Iván Campos 

You need to learn them. 

00:09:37 Iván Campos 

But at some point, again, we were talking about how can they be supported, right? 

00:09:43 Iván Campos 

I think I'm wondering, 

00:09:46 Iván Campos 

What about for you? 

00:09:48 Iván Campos 

I know your son had auditory processing, and then your daughter's with autism. 

00:09:52 Iván Campos 

And I think from what I recall from last time, they both present very differently with the autism, perhaps. 

00:09:58 Monica Rodriguez 

Yes. 

00:09:58 Monica Rodriguez 

My daughter's very, they're both very structured. 

00:10:02 Monica Rodriguez 

They like to be on time. 

00:10:03 Monica Rodriguez 

You know, that was never an issue. 

00:10:06 Monica Rodriguez 

You know, they were always ready for school. 

00:10:10 Monica Rodriguez 

I always said, okay, we're going to leave at this time. 

00:10:12 Monica Rodriguez 

They were ready. 

00:10:14 Monica Rodriguez 

I had a different struggle. 

00:10:15 Monica Rodriguez 

It was more of the academic piece because that is not always structured in some environments. 

00:10:23 Monica Rodriguez 

And I'm kind of glad that it wasn't all structured because it prepared them for the future. 

00:10:30 Monica Rodriguez 

Sometimes things are not on a calendar. 

00:10:32 Monica Rodriguez 

Sometimes things are not scheduled. 

00:10:34 Monica Rodriguez 

And how do we cope with that change? 

00:10:37 Iván Campos 

Is that something that 

00:10:39 Iván Campos 

I'm sure they're much older now than when they first were diagnosed, assessed, went through their first IEP, right? 

00:10:46 Iván Campos 

Would you say that social, being able to adapt to a change in schedule, has it gotten easier or harder with time? 

00:10:53 Monica Rodriguez 

I would say easier with the resources that we tapped into because, and the people, right? 

00:11:00 Monica Rodriguez 

Kind of also with me because I wasn't a very patient person before having children, you know, I wasn't born with that quality. 

00:11:08 Monica Rodriguez 

It's something that I had to develop with time. 

00:11:10 Monica Rodriguez 

And it really, I had people in my life at that time where they were just like, okay, perhaps this is rigid. 

00:11:20 Monica Rodriguez 

This idea is too rigid. 

00:11:22 Monica Rodriguez 

You're stuck on this, you know, let's get. 

00:11:24 Monica Rodriguez 

try to move them along. 

00:11:25 Monica Rodriguez 

Because if we get, for example, the math thing, right? 

00:11:27 Monica Rodriguez 

If we get too stuck on one thing, right, then it kind of closes off the opportunity for them to learn different other things. 

00:11:37 Monica Rodriguez 

We got actually into measuring cups after that, where they were showing her the difference between a cup and 1/2 cup. 

00:11:46 Monica Rodriguez 

and then eventually she got into cooking in that class. 

00:11:50 Monica Rodriguez 

She ended up being the person making the pancakes. 

00:11:53 Monica Rodriguez 

And I think if I would have been just like, no, let's continue with this math goal, she wouldn't have learned to do those other things that she was taught to do in the classroom. 

00:12:03 Monica Rodriguez 

You know, she ended up being... 

00:12:04 Monica Rodriguez 

She's great in the kitchen. 

00:12:06 Monica Rodriguez 

She does really well. 

00:12:07 Monica Rodriguez 

She bakes cakes, she makes breakfast. 

00:12:10 Iván Campos 

Okay, now you're making me hungry. 

00:12:13 Monica Rodriguez 

So we do have to kind of focus on their strengths and kind of run with those, right? 

00:12:20 Monica Rodriguez 

I think if I was to give someone advice on that, don't try not to be too rigid with it. 

00:12:28 Monica Rodriguez 

Allow for some flexibility and room. 

00:12:30 Iván Campos 

And maybe it's okay if that goal isn't met, right? 

00:12:33 Iván Campos 

Absolutely, and then I know that many times teams will IEP teams will want to continue that goal, maybe change the percentage, maybe change the amount of prompting, right? 

00:12:43 Iván Campos 

But I think sometimes... 

00:12:45 Iván Campos 

no matter how much you practice on, maybe this is not an area of strength that we can, and we're now frustrating the child. 

00:12:53 Monica Rodriguez 

Right, absolutely. 

00:12:54 Iván Campos 

Because they know that they've been working on this for years, and their peers have moved on. 

00:12:59 Monica Rodriguez 

Right, and you were asking me about my son, and he's in his 20s, he's in early 20s, and he's had a few jobs, and one of his goals in high school was to 

00:13:12 Monica Rodriguez 

if a regular ed teacher, because he was in some of his classes were regular ed, he would have to write them notes based on whatever the teacher said. 

00:13:21 Monica Rodriguez 

Whatever instruction was, his job was to write it in a piece of paper. 

00:13:25 Monica Rodriguez 

He was allowed time to do that. 

00:13:27 Monica Rodriguez 

The teachers knew that he was writing notes. 

00:13:32 Monica Rodriguez 

And eventually it ended up helping him with his jobs. 

00:13:37 Monica Rodriguez 

he would write out, like if somebody was giving an instruction to a whole group, like let's just say in a team huddle, he would put it on his phone. 

00:13:45 Monica Rodriguez 

So it was like the note taker in a way. 

00:13:46 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah. 

00:13:47 Monica Rodriguez 

And so one of his bosses noted that. 

00:13:51 Monica Rodriguez 

And we had an opportunity one time to talk, and he mentioned that in the call. 

00:13:57 Monica Rodriguez 

He said, I noticed your son actually takes notes. 

00:13:59 Monica Rodriguez 

He's the only employee I have that does that. 

00:14:01 Monica Rodriguez 

And I didn't realize that maybe that was helpful to him. 

00:14:05 Monica Rodriguez 

So I started to put it on a little piece of paper for everybody. 

00:14:09 Monica Rodriguez 

And turns out it worked out that that was not just helpful to your son, it was helpful to the rest of the team. 

00:14:15 Monica Rodriguez 

And he's shown a lot of really great attributes 

00:14:22 Monica Rodriguez 

in his employment. 

00:14:23 Monica Rodriguez 

I think all the tools and all the things that we went through when he was a little boy, elementary, high school, junior high, all those things that we did with the IEP to help him, helped him in the future. 

00:14:36 Iván Campos 

That's awesome that you're sharing that. 

00:14:38 Iván Campos 

It's a success story. 

00:14:40 Monica Rodriguez 

Absolutely, absolutely. 

00:14:42 Iván Campos 

Would you say that for your daughters, and I know that they present with autism a little differently, right? 

00:14:49 Iván Campos 

And you mentioned that they're very structured, right? 

00:14:51 Iván Campos 

Now they're much older. 

00:14:53 Iván Campos 

How is that? 

00:14:55 Iván Campos 

Perhaps in life, there's structure and then structured activities, structured events, and then also we go somewhere and then things aren't lined up in the right order or maybe how do they handle change? 

00:15:09 Monica Rodriguez 

So one of the things that we definitely did strive in these meetings was to talk about how to cope. 

00:15:15 Monica Rodriguez 

You know, there is no 

00:15:18 Monica Rodriguez 

Easy fix you mentioned that the last time we spoke, you know, there is no easy fix It's not like miraculously in a second somebody can shift gears, you know that that doesn't happen But if you help the child with coping skills like okay, you know, not everything is structured, right things happen all the time And so how do we help them with some goals we play some goals? 

00:15:40 Monica Rodriguez 

with you know, like maybe putting 

00:15:44 Monica Rodriguez 

giving them like a little bit of extra time in between the transitions. 

00:15:48 Iván Campos 

'Cause I'm imagining it can create anxiety. 

00:15:50 Monica Rodriguez 

Absolutely. 

00:15:51 Monica Rodriguez 

So for my youngest, it was a stuffed animal. 

00:15:55 Monica Rodriguez 

So that's her cope. 

00:15:57 Monica Rodriguez 

This was, she didn't get a phone until she was well into like early teens. 

00:16:02 Monica Rodriguez 

She used a stuffed animal quite a bit, and she was allowed to have it in high school. 

00:16:06 Iván Campos 

Middle school, high school. 

00:16:07 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah, in high school as well. 

00:16:10 Monica Rodriguez 

she has the noise sensitivity, so she was allowed to use noise canceling headphones in some cases, not all the time, but in some cases, obviously, where there was like, teachers there to observe and assist. 

00:16:25 Monica Rodriguez 

like if they went out on an outing on the bus or something, she couldn't use the noise canceling headphones for the safety purpose. 

00:16:31 Monica Rodriguez 

But 

00:16:32 Monica Rodriguez 

in the IEP, we talked about like those little things that could help her transition to the next activity because she struggled every time. 

00:16:40 Iván Campos 

So it sounds like you're talking about like accommodations? 

00:16:44 Monica Rodriguez 

Absolutely, yes. 

00:16:45 Monica Rodriguez 

A lot of that, I think now, she's 19, has helped even on car rides because in the past she had meltdowns in car rides. 

00:16:56 Iván Campos 

So the car ride, was it going somewhere? 

00:16:59 Monica Rodriguez 

Yes. 

00:16:59 Iván Campos 

Or the car itself. 

00:17:01 Monica Rodriguez 

No. 

00:17:02 Monica Rodriguez 

going somewhere, the anxiety of going somewhere she doesn't know. 

00:17:06 Monica Rodriguez 

We've had emergencies in our family, right? 

00:17:08 Monica Rodriguez 

We've had people pass away or people getting hurt, people in the hospital. 

00:17:12 Monica Rodriguez 

You know, things have happened in our lives in the last 19 years of her life. 

00:17:16 Monica Rodriguez 

So we did definitely do try the best that we could and help her with those transitions. 

00:17:26 Monica Rodriguez 

when she finally got her phone, it was then music, because she could use music. 

00:17:30 Monica Rodriguez 

Or I would play music in the car. 

00:17:33 Monica Rodriguez 

She's a big Queen fan. 

00:17:34 Monica Rodriguez 

So we'd put Queen on, and it would just kind of soothe her. 

00:17:38 Monica Rodriguez 

It actually was something from high school that we used later, because it started with the teacher mentioning music. 

00:17:46 Monica Rodriguez 

She's like, you know, I didn't notice that she really likes to sing. 

00:17:49 Monica Rodriguez 

She's always humming songs. 

00:17:51 Iván Campos 

So maybe it brings some type of calmness to it. 

00:17:54 Monica Rodriguez 

Right. 

00:17:55 Monica Rodriguez 

So what they would do in between transitions, sometimes if it was like a kind of a difficulty for her, they would put like, let's just say a little clip of a Disney clip that she liked. 

00:18:06 Monica Rodriguez 

Little things like that that helped her through the next activity. 

00:18:12 Monica Rodriguez 

And again, you know, just trying to help her with the future because eventually, 

00:18:18 Monica Rodriguez 

you know, they're gonna need assistance, right? 

00:18:20 Iván Campos 

They don't stay small forever. 

00:18:21 Monica Rodriguez 

No, they don't. 

00:18:22 Iván Campos 

And you know on this-- Just grow up. 

00:18:23 Iván Campos 

This topic of accommodations, when I was a service provider in the schools, you know, you would write the accommodations as an IEP team, but my role was speech pathologist, and so it was the classroom Gen. 

00:18:36 Iván Campos 

ed teacher who would be implementing, right? 

00:18:38 Iván Campos 

Or maybe if it was part of a team with RSP resource, period, for special ed, or maybe another special ed teacher, 

00:18:47 Iván Campos 

program, those were kind of accommodations that were done throughout the school day, right? 

00:18:53 Monica Rodriguez 

Right. 

00:18:54 Iván Campos 

And so I didn't really connect with me until my son had accommodations on his IEP. 

00:19:01 Iván Campos 

The value of them and the importance of them and how it's not just about writing stuff down, but it's about actually finding ways to incorporate them into his day. 

00:19:12 Iván Campos 

And so your discussion on that topic kind of 

00:19:17 Iván Campos 

brought that to my forefront, the importance of them, but also for the teachers that interact with your child, for them to also know what they are, but also know how they can be done. 

00:19:29 Intro 

Right. 

00:19:30 Iván Campos 

So it's because it'll say extended time. 

00:19:32 Monica Rodriguez 

Right. 

00:19:33 Iván Campos 

What does that mean? 

00:19:34 Monica Rodriguez 

What does that mean? 

00:19:35 Iván Campos 

What does that mean in science? 

00:19:36 Monica Rodriguez 

It'll break that down, right? 

00:19:36 Iván Campos 

What does that mean in math? 

00:19:37 Iván Campos 

What does that mean in language arts, right? 

00:19:40 Iván Campos 

But also the beauty of them are is that, 

00:19:45 Iván Campos 

You know, sometimes there's a long list of them. 

00:19:48 Iván Campos 

And but you have to really narrow down to the ones that are actually going to be that your child is actually utilizing. 

00:19:54 Intro 

Right. 

00:19:55 Iván Campos 

Because they look good on paper. 

00:19:56 Intro 

Right. 

00:19:57 Iván Campos 

And but does the student want to use them or utilize them? 

00:20:02 Iván Campos 

And so I'm thinking about how accommodations are so important, but also being able to 

00:20:10 Iván Campos 

have the student feel empowered and utilize them themselves, right? 

00:20:14 Iván Campos 

And I know that each child presents differently with a disability. 

00:20:17 Iván Campos 

Some of them may be more aware of what they are, but once it starts clicking for them, and I know you mentioned your son, about how when he was, he's utilizing some of those skills in his job now. 

00:20:29 Monica Rodriguez 

In his adult life, yeah. 

00:20:30 Iván Campos 

So I think it all connects, and it's powerful when you see it, the fruit of it. 

00:20:35 Monica Rodriguez 

Right, right, recently he got into cooking. 

00:20:40 Monica Rodriguez 

And I think he likes somebody, so he thinks, that's a way to impress. 

00:20:45 Monica Rodriguez 

So I think it's a good thing when a man cooks. 

00:20:48 Iván Campos 

But in your kitchen still. 

00:20:49 Monica Rodriguez 

Yes. 

00:20:52 Monica Rodriguez 

So he had asked to teach him how to make pasta, specifically Alfredo, right? 

00:20:57 Iván Campos 

Like from scratch. 

00:20:58 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah, from scratch. 

00:20:59 Intro 

Wow, right for some. 

00:21:00 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah, so he, yeah, he got real savvy with that one. 

00:21:03 Monica Rodriguez 

So for a few weekends, he was like, well, I need you to show me. 

00:21:07 Monica Rodriguez 

So I was physically showing him how to do it. 

00:21:11 Monica Rodriguez 

And he would forget a step here and there. 

00:21:13 Monica Rodriguez 

So I said, what? 

00:21:15 Monica Rodriguez 

How come I'm not putting this on paper? 

00:21:17 Monica Rodriguez 

I already know him. 

00:21:18 Monica Rodriguez 

Like, so I wrote it in a recipe, like a really nice little recipe for him to keep forever, right? 

00:21:26 Monica Rodriguez 

The minute I wrote it and sent it, he 

00:21:30 Monica Rodriguez 

caught on to it more than he did when he was actually watching me do it. 

00:21:34 Monica Rodriguez 

was really interesting because I was talking, okay, then you do this, then you put this here, then you take out the cheese, you put, don't just put half the bag, put the whole bag. 

00:21:43 Monica Rodriguez 

And even though I'm very animated when I talk, it didn't register until he saw it in writing. 

00:21:50 Monica Rodriguez 

It was like, it's almost like he 

00:21:52 Monica Rodriguez 

visualized my mannerisms my tone of voice with the words and just a little example of Why it's so good to find out, you know our challenges early in life because it's gonna help you in the future. 

00:22:08 Iván Campos 

And so I'm just kind of thinking about your son and say that You opened up some container a certain way and then now he's opening it the exact same way And then maybe telling his siblings. 

00:22:19 Iván Campos 

This is how you open it. 

00:22:20 Iván Campos 

This is a mom did it, right. 

00:22:21 Monica Rodriguez 

This is a mom did it. 

00:22:22 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah 

00:22:22 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah, it's kind of neat once they get into that. 

00:22:25 Monica Rodriguez 

I mean, I know your son is young still. 

00:22:27 Iván Campos 

He's a high schooler, freshman. 

00:22:29 Monica Rodriguez 

Okay, so he's in high school. 

00:22:30 Monica Rodriguez 

I don't know why I thought he was in junior high. 

00:22:31 Monica Rodriguez 

Okay, so he's a freshman. 

00:22:34 Monica Rodriguez 

So high school is wonderful, I think. 

00:22:36 Monica Rodriguez 

And when they're on an IEP, I think the other thing that's kind of the challenge for them is feeling included. 

00:22:43 Monica Rodriguez 

How does that look for your son? 

00:22:46 Monica Rodriguez 

Does he have like any, you know, questions about 

00:22:50 Monica Rodriguez 

his IEP compared to other kids in the class. 

00:22:53 Iván Campos 

You know, I think this all kind of started in middle school where in the 6th grade, their middle school was six, seven, and eight. 

00:23:00 Iván Campos 

The case carrier came to me, I think, after the first meeting. 

00:23:03 Iván Campos 

And, you know, after a long first meeting, and she goes, they proposed at the part two meeting to do some mainstreaming for him. 

00:23:13 Iván Campos 

And at the time, they were still developing their co-teaching classrooms. 

00:23:18 Iván Campos 

Co-teaching is where you have two educators within the same classroom. 

00:23:23 Iván Campos 

One is a special ed teacher One is a general general education teacher and they both co-plan co-teach and co-assess the same group of students and they're all their students, right? 

00:23:35 Iván Campos 

so I What I so we we tried that right we tried kind of before they had co-teaching just putting them in Gen. 

00:23:42 Iván Campos 

ed or like a language arts class mm-hmm and 

00:23:46 Iván Campos 

And with, there was a special ed aide in the room for other students, including him, right? 

00:23:53 Iván Campos 

It was scary. 

00:23:54 Iván Campos 

You're talking about preparing to high school, right? 

00:23:56 Iván Campos 

How we got to high school, right? 

00:23:58 Iván Campos 

Yeah. 

00:23:58 Iván Campos 

It was kind of scary as a parent. 

00:24:00 Iván Campos 

We're like, wait, but he needs that support in special ed. 

00:24:03 Iván Campos 

And this teacher is like, well, how about we just try it? 

00:24:07 Monica Rodriguez 

Oh. 

00:24:07 Iván Campos 

How about we just try it for a few weeks? 

00:24:08 Iván Campos 

Let's collect some data and then let's see how he does. 

00:24:12 Monica Rodriguez 

It goes back to being the flexible. 

00:24:14 Monica Rodriguez 

Person I was hard. 

00:24:16 Iván Campos 

It was hard because I'm like we had developed a lot of Structure supports in place for him now. 

00:24:23 Iván Campos 

He's gonna go out there So it started with that one and then eventually by the time he got to high school Now he's in a co-taught math class and everything else is gen-n Very cool. 

00:24:36 Iván Campos 

And so we've gone from third grade not struggling with sight words struggling with writing. 

00:24:44 Monica Rodriguez 

And reading. 

00:24:46 Iván Campos 

Reading also, but writing, not even just the, also the formation of letters. 

00:24:51 Monica Rodriguez 

The motor skills, yeah. 

00:24:52 Iván Campos 

And now being able to, so I've seen such growth, but I also want to credit teachers who saw potential in him, but also kind of pushed me outside of my comfort and saying, how about we try this? 

00:25:05 Intro 

Right. 

00:25:06 Iván Campos 

And then eventually we said, well, he does have a study skills. 

00:25:11 Iván Campos 

And eventually he moved into a cult taught 

00:25:13 Iván Campos 

English class but then also he had study skills the study skills class he kind of felt that he was outgrowing it in terms of it's a special ed class where they the teachers help them with homework with assignments kind of check up on them and make sure they're doing what they're supposed to be doing where the case carrier was telling me I think he's outgrown that I have you thought about visiting the class and I'm like but he needs that. 

00:25:42 Intro 

Okay. 

00:25:42 Iván Campos 

So I was kind of resisting a little bit. 

00:25:45 Iván Campos 

But where I'm getting to all this is you asked about how does he feel in high school, right? 

00:25:49 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah. 

00:25:50 Iván Campos 

Well, I think high school is a huge transition, a lot of space for growing and learning, but also for them knowing who they are. 

00:25:58 Iván Campos 

And I'm very proud of when I got an e-mail from his case carrier telling me that he's advocating for himself in the science class and went and told the science teacher, sir, 

00:26:10 Iván Campos 

Ma'am, I get retakes on my quizzes, or I can get extended time, or whatever the accommodation was. 

00:26:20 Iván Campos 

And the teacher said to him, I've never had anybody tell me theirs. 

00:26:23 Intro 

Oh, wow. 

00:26:24 Iván Campos 

And so I'm saying that as I've seen him go from struggling, the self-esteem issues with, I stand out, I'm different, those kids are not getting those services, only me. 

00:26:34 Iván Campos 

Now we're 

00:26:36 Iván Campos 

I can see through the drawing that he learned to draw because I think he learned to draw as a coping mechanism because he couldn't do the academics. 

00:26:43 Monica Rodriguez 

Right, right. 

00:26:44 Iván Campos 

So now he's really good at art, but now he's in high school. 

00:26:47 Iván Campos 

And so I can kind of see him flourishing and growing. 

00:26:50 Iván Campos 

And I've learned to embrace him for who he is. 

00:26:54 Monica Rodriguez 

And doing things that bring confidence to him, right? 

00:26:56 Monica Rodriguez 

You, you, you probably had some reluctancy, but you know, it eventually ended up being, you know, 

00:27:06 Monica Rodriguez 

something good for him. 

00:27:07 Monica Rodriguez 

He developed that confidence. 

00:27:09 Monica Rodriguez 

It reminds me of like. 

00:27:10 Iván Campos 

But it takes such a long time. 

00:27:12 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah, absolutely. 

00:27:12 Iván Campos 

And it's scary as a parent. 

00:27:14 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah. 

00:27:14 Iván Campos 

Because you can see them kind of wanting to, but also struggling. 

00:27:19 Iván Campos 

And then you feel like, well, what can I do as a parent? 

00:27:24 Iván Campos 

And it's almost like it's their journey. 

00:27:25 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah. 

00:27:26 Iván Campos 

As much as you want to. 

00:27:28 Monica Rodriguez 

You're just observing. 

00:27:30 Monica Rodriguez 

It's hard. 

00:27:30 Monica Rodriguez 

It's hard to sit back and watch, you know, them flourish. 

00:27:34 Monica Rodriguez 

It's part of that mama papa bear feeling we get, you know. 

00:27:38 Monica Rodriguez 

Reminds me of my middle child. 

00:27:41 Monica Rodriguez 

So she's, I know, middle child. 

00:27:43 Monica Rodriguez 

She's amazing. 

00:27:44 Monica Rodriguez 

Are you a middle child? 

00:27:45 Monica Rodriguez 

I am, actually. 

00:27:46 Monica Rodriguez 

That's why I have that feeling about middle children. 

00:27:50 Iván Campos 

I'm a middle child. 

00:27:51 Monica Rodriguez 

I am. 

00:27:53 Monica Rodriguez 

But she actually struggled with bullying in junior high because of her IEPs and being pulled out of classes. 

00:28:02 Monica Rodriguez 

And kids are just not nice sometimes, they say things and why do you go to that class? 

00:28:08 Monica Rodriguez 

And then she would come back with little treats from the speech pathologist or, she did have a counselor as well to help her with the social skill piece because she struggled with social skills. 

00:28:19 Monica Rodriguez 

So 

00:28:21 Monica Rodriguez 

I didn't know a lot of the bullying piece up until high school. 

00:28:26 Monica Rodriguez 

She started to be a little bit more vocal. 

00:28:28 Monica Rodriguez 

Like, I went through this in junior high. 

00:28:29 Monica Rodriguez 

I don't want speech pathology no more. 

00:28:31 Monica Rodriguez 

I don't want a counselor. 

00:28:32 Monica Rodriguez 

She started to kind of like argue about it. 

00:28:35 Monica Rodriguez 

And so we actually put some goals in her IEP to help her kind of in a sense. 

00:28:42 Monica Rodriguez 

I don't know if pushing is the word. 

00:28:45 Monica Rodriguez 

to encourage her in a direction maybe that she may flourish in, for example. 

00:28:51 Monica Rodriguez 

There's something I didn't mention about my daughters. 

00:28:53 Monica Rodriguez 

They have amazing retention for memory. 

00:28:58 Monica Rodriguez 

They could remember front to back, back to front, a whole movie. 

00:29:03 Monica Rodriguez 

They could remember lyrics of songs just by listening once. 

00:29:08 Monica Rodriguez 

My youngest is a singer, so she learns even a language that isn't hers. 

00:29:14 Monica Rodriguez 

She doesn't speak Spanish. 

00:29:15 Monica Rodriguez 

You know, I didn't teach my, that was one of my flaws. 

00:29:17 Monica Rodriguez 

I didn't teach my kids Spanish, but she can sing a song in Spanish. 

00:29:22 Monica Rodriguez 

And so my middle child also has attributes. 

00:29:25 Monica Rodriguez 

She's not the singer, but she's definitely the actress. 

00:29:29 Monica Rodriguez 

So she is a major, right now she's majoring in media communications. 

00:29:34 Monica Rodriguez 

She's always been fascinated by theater arts. 

00:29:37 Monica Rodriguez 

She actually became an actress in a play at this high school and they were really known. 

00:29:45 Monica Rodriguez 

She became the stage manager for a couple of productions. 

00:29:50 Monica Rodriguez 

And it was really because of her amazing retention of memory. 

00:29:55 Monica Rodriguez 

Like she could remember, they did Hamlet. 

00:29:58 Monica Rodriguez 

That was like Camelot. 

00:30:00 Monica Rodriguez 

They did, you know, big, major, long theater art type of things, you know, and 

00:30:06 Monica Rodriguez 

She thrived That's where she got her strength. 

00:30:09 Monica Rodriguez 

That's where she got her confidence. 

00:30:12 Iván Campos 

But you know, that's so huge in terms of they have to find something that is theirs that they can own Absolutely in terms of building. 

00:30:19 Monica Rodriguez 

For her she picked on her own. 

00:30:21 Iván Campos 

And once they find that for themselves, I think it really Helps them with the rest of their academic life. 

00:30:29 Iván Campos 

Yes, because I'm sure this was all at school the theater and all that right? 

00:30:33 Iván Campos 

But it went along and those pure relations 

00:30:36 Iván Campos 

relationships having friends yes being part of a group of students that you can identify connect with your you know and in high school you go through so many perhaps ups and downs right your friends this week next week or not right right and then also you know this group that group but also just them I then learning who they are and what they want to do with their lives. 

00:30:58 Monica Rodriguez 

Identifying with themselves yeah it's um it that one was I loved watching all of her shows we went to all of her shows 

00:31:06 Monica Rodriguez 

My mom doesn't speak very fluent English. 

00:31:09 Monica Rodriguez 

She enjoyed watching her act. 

00:31:13 Monica Rodriguez 

When they promoted her to stage manager for two consecutive years, she also got an award for Thespian. 

00:31:21 Monica Rodriguez 

So she's an honorary thespian. 

00:31:23 Monica Rodriguez 

She has her an actress. 

00:31:25 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah Well for the school they hand out an award and she wore a sash the day of her graduation Because of her, you know the honors of being in theater arts for four consecutive years, you know She eventually trained the up-and-coming class that took over the program 

00:31:43 Monica Rodriguez 

And, it is amazing what she was able to accomplish with that one. 

00:31:47 Iván Campos 

It's like you're showcasing that it's the academics are important. 

00:31:52 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah. 

00:31:52 Iván Campos 

The reading, the writing, the math, those subjects, right? 

00:31:56 Iván Campos 

But also there's, we need to tap into our children's other skills that they may have. 

00:32:02 Monica Rodriguez 

Right. 

00:32:02 Iván Campos 

And not just be so focused on. 

00:32:06 Monica Rodriguez 

Rigid. 

00:32:07 Iván Campos 

The rigid multiplication tables. 

00:32:09 Iván Campos 

For my son, my wife, when he was maybe about, he's 14 now, so when he was probably about 11, she decided to sign him up for golf lessons. 

00:32:21 Iván Campos 

She decided to, meaning I wasn't on board because I knew that I would have to also take him. 

00:32:27 Iván Campos 

Right, So, and I don't play golf. 

00:32:30 Iván Campos 

And so the coach that we were working with at the time, I can tell that the coach was not accustomed to working with somebody with perhaps 

00:32:39 Iván Campos 

some internal attention deficit or even just needed him from needing things repeated to him, appeared not to understand. 

00:32:48 Iván Campos 

And so I told my wife, I wasn't going to take him yet at that point, but I said, you know, have you shared with the coach about, you know, how he learns? 

00:32:58 Monica Rodriguez 

Right. 

00:32:58 Iván Campos 

Well, I shared it with him and I said, well, I was there the other day and I think he needs a reminder because I think he's being a little harsh. 

00:33:08 Iván Campos 

Other things. 

00:33:09 Monica Rodriguez 

Other things that trickle in from the academics. 

00:33:12 Iván Campos 

And so then I go to him and I said, okay, so you're going to plan this shot. 

00:33:15 Iván Campos 

And again, I don't know anything about golf, but I'm asking him, which club? 

00:33:21 Iván Campos 

And also, what kind of stroke is it? 

00:33:24 Iván Campos 

going to be a long stroke, a short stroke? 

00:33:26 Iván Campos 

I don't know anything, but I'm just there to kind of ask him questions because as we're in the golf course, I'm helping him maybe, or maybe he doesn't know I'm helping him with this, but planning. 

00:33:37 Iván Campos 

Planning what's coming next and that was one thing that he struggled with earlier younger is executive planning Being able to plan take notes But now that he's he's been an avid for probably the last year now That was a whole fight to get him into avid as a child with a disability and so it's been amazing just to see him learn some of those skills and also opera operationalize them goodness, that was a struggle operationalize them 

00:34:07 Iván Campos 

and own them and now utilize some of those skills for other parts of his life. 

00:34:12 Iván Campos 

But I can see that the golf was huge for him in terms of building his self-esteem. 

00:34:18 Monica Rodriguez 

Right. 

00:34:18 Monica Rodriguez 

And can you imagine what that would have looked like if you would have been more rigid about him just doing timetables for the next three years because he just didn't catch it? 

00:34:28 Monica Rodriguez 

Then you wouldn't have the opportunity to see him flourish in golf because you're rigid on that goal. 

00:34:34 Monica Rodriguez 

I just think 

00:34:35 Monica Rodriguez 

for anybody who's listening that's starting, the process or mid process or even closer to high school, like right when they get to high school, I would say focus on goals that will matter in the future. 

00:34:51 Monica Rodriguez 

I know you don't know what that looks like because we don't have that little crystal ball. 

00:34:55 Monica Rodriguez 

We don't know what the future holds. 

00:34:57 Monica Rodriguez 

But focusing on their strengths, you know, our kids are going to have challenges. 

00:35:03 Monica Rodriguez 

And the sooner we as parents accept that and remove the rigidness and become a little bit more flexible, the easier it'll get for everybody involved. 

00:35:15 Monica Rodriguez 

that includes teachers, that includes administrators, parents, the child, it's just, it's a tough, it's a tough thing to go through sometimes. 

00:35:26 Monica Rodriguez 

You're gonna have your good days, your bad days, your emotional ones, days that you feel like the small wins are 

00:35:34 Monica Rodriguez 

just it makes your day right to see your kid flourish. 

00:35:39 Monica Rodriguez 

I would say for me in my experience, the big wins to me were like watching my daughter walk, you know, with her cap and gown, graduate high school, my son shaking the hand of that principal, you know, being student of the month for two months consecutive. 

00:36:00 Monica Rodriguez 

Because, you know, 

00:36:02 Monica Rodriguez 

they had their challenges as babies and kids, so seeing these teenagers develop confidence and use the goals for their own benefit and even in adulthood is amazing. 

00:36:18 Iván Campos 

I think for me, I would say that if I were to talk to myself when I was younger, and then as we started this process is to be more, to really look at the whole child. 

00:36:32 Iván Campos 

And not just focus on they can't do this right and there's so many years behind on this Don't don't let that cloud their potential of who they can become right and I think as a parent you can get stuck on what they can't do right because many times in an IEP meeting you'll hear about They can do these things and then there's a long list of what they can't do right and so I think it's important to not get stuck on the now but to continue to 

00:37:02 Iván Campos 

chart a way forward with the child in mind and not leave the child out of the IEP meeting. 

00:37:10 Iván Campos 

Because it can become so about the goals, but not about the child. 

00:37:13 Monica Rodriguez 

Right. 

00:37:14 Iván Campos 

And so I think for families, that may be helpful to also explore, as we've been talking about the theater with your daughter, golf with my son, and then I know your other son, sorry, your son in the other episode, you talked about 

00:37:30 Iván Campos 

he likes to put things together, right? 

00:37:31 Monica Rodriguez 

Yeah. 

00:37:32 Monica Rodriguez 

And he was a football player. 

00:37:33 Monica Rodriguez 

That was a sport that really helped him. 

00:37:38 Monica Rodriguez 

It's a very structured sport, and it just developed his confidence. 

00:37:47 Monica Rodriguez 

he has amazing physical strength and we didn't know that. 

00:37:51 Monica Rodriguez 

We didn't know that until he started that sport. 

00:37:53 Monica Rodriguez 

He was in a league for six years. 

00:37:55 Monica Rodriguez 

The fact that he was so committed to this league, there was days I didn't want to go to the. 

00:37:59 Iván Campos 

As a parent, right? 

00:38:00 Monica Rodriguez 

Oh yeah, it's a lot of work. 

00:38:02 Monica Rodriguez 

I would get off at 6 o'clock, practice started right at 630. 

00:38:05 Monica Rodriguez 

So when did I have time to make dinner? 

00:38:07 Monica Rodriguez 

Sometimes I would, make dinner the night before, take it to the park. 

00:38:11 Monica Rodriguez 

We'd have spaghetti at the park, you know. 

00:38:14 Monica Rodriguez 

I had to, the little ones, my two younger daughters. 

00:38:16 Monica Rodriguez 

It was a, it was... 

00:38:17 Iván Campos 

Now you can have fettuccine, Alfredo. 

00:38:20 Monica Rodriguez 

I got really good at making fettuccine the night before. 

00:38:24 Intro 

Your son can make it for the... 

00:38:26 Monica Rodriguez 

For his future children. 

00:38:29 Monica Rodriguez 

Yes. 

00:38:30 Monica Rodriguez 

for the football practice. 

00:38:31 Monica Rodriguez 

But yeah, just building on their strengths, finding something that they enjoy. 

00:38:36 Monica Rodriguez 

I tried by trial and error. 

00:38:38 Monica Rodriguez 

I put him in T-ball. 

00:38:40 Monica Rodriguez 

He was the kid in the glove at the end of the field. 

00:38:42 Monica Rodriguez 

You know, he didn't like T-ball. 

00:38:44 Monica Rodriguez 

And then I tried soccer. 

00:38:45 Monica Rodriguez 

He's not a runner. 

00:38:46 Monica Rodriguez 

So it's like, okay, soccer, not soccer. 

00:38:48 Monica Rodriguez 

Baseball. 

00:38:49 Monica Rodriguez 

We tried baseball. 

00:38:50 Monica Rodriguez 

That didn't work out. 

00:38:52 Monica Rodriguez 

We tried all kinds of, we tried, the last thing that we tried was boxing. 

00:38:56 Monica Rodriguez 

So he's now, he actually took that through in his adult life. 

00:39:00 Monica Rodriguez 

He's a great boxer. 

00:39:01 Monica Rodriguez 

He's actually considered doing it maybe professional because he's great at it. 

00:39:06 Monica Rodriguez 

But yeah, just thriving on their strengths. 

00:39:09 Monica Rodriguez 

There is a part in the IEP in the beginning, and they'll ask you, what do you want to share about your child. 

00:39:16 Iván Campos 

That's right. 

00:39:17 Monica Rodriguez 

Don't get shy with that one. 

00:39:19 Monica Rodriguez 

Talk about all of the positives. 

00:39:22 Iván Campos 

I would always wait until we went over all the present levels, and then I would answer that question. 

00:39:29 Monica Rodriguez 

And I was opposite. 

00:39:30 Monica Rodriguez 

I would start with that one, because I wanted to set the tone. 

00:39:33 Monica Rodriguez 

Like, we're not just here for the goals. 

00:39:36 Monica Rodriguez 

Right. 

00:39:36 Monica Rodriguez 

We're not just here for this goal that... 

00:39:39 Monica Rodriguez 

my child didn't meet. 

00:39:40 Monica Rodriguez 

We're here to discuss her, him, and discuss their strengths, to build on those strengths, to help them, yes, address the challenges, but help their strengths. 

00:39:53 Iván Campos 

One last thing I would say I would advise to parents, right, is as we talked about being able to see your whole child, find out their strengths, 

00:40:05 Iván Campos 

Yes, academics are important. 

00:40:07 Iván Campos 

Yes, they're part of the IEP meeting, but don't just get stuck on the goals, right? 

00:40:11 Iván Campos 

But also see your whole child as a unique individual. 

00:40:16 Iván Campos 

The other thing I would say is that also for parents, sometimes it's important that when the IEPs are challenging, 

00:40:25 Iván Campos 

or maybe are not going the direction that we think they're going or we want them to go, that we also get support for ourselves through navigating that ups and downs of the IEP meetings. 

00:40:38 Iván Campos 

Parents can reach out to their case carrier, to their district, to their principal. 

00:40:45 Iván Campos 

the SPED director for, special education director for that district. 

00:40:48 Iván Campos 

And they can also reach out to the SELPA, or special education local plan area. 

00:40:53 Iván Campos 

We here at Desert Mountain SELPA, we get calls from parents that reach out when they need some additional support or guidance with an IEP meeting. 

00:41:00 Iván Campos 

And so I would say that's something I would tell parents now. 

00:41:04 Iván Campos 

I wish maybe I didn't go that route because I had educator colleagues, but maybe it would have made a 

00:41:12 Iván Campos 

maybe it would have been different if we went down that route and got in the SELPA involved. 

00:41:16 Monica Rodriguez 

Right, right. 

00:41:17 Iván Campos 

So, Monica, I really want to thank you for this conversation we just had. 

00:41:22 Iván Campos 

I've learned so much about who your three children are, your son and your two daughters. 

00:41:27 Iván Campos 

And at first, I thought, okay, we're going to talk about the IEP. 

00:41:32 Iván Campos 

We're going to talk about accommodations. 

00:41:34 Iván Campos 

We're going to talk about maybe some tips for 

00:41:37 Iván Campos 

how to navigate an AEP meeting, but I've learned so much about who they are and their strengths. 

00:41:42 Iván Campos 

And to me, that's just amazing that it's, we haven't pathologized them or made them the focus in terms of their disability, but we're celebrating who they are as humans and their contributions to society and to their families. 

00:41:57 Iván Campos 

And so I just want to thank you for sharing those things with me. 

00:42:01 Iván Campos 

It's resonated with me and 

00:42:03 Iván Campos 

my role as a parent, but also here at the SELPA. 

00:42:06 Monica Rodriguez 

Well, and I appreciate you, Iván. 

00:42:08 Monica Rodriguez 

You know, you've had a lot of great points, and you also shared a lot of challenges, too. 

00:42:14 Monica Rodriguez 

But I do want to focus on the fact that, you know, you have an amazing human in your life as well, you know, and that it sounds to me that he's on a good road. 

00:42:26 Monica Rodriguez 

You know, I'm going to wish him the best in high school. 

00:42:30 Monica Rodriguez 

It was very nice to meet you. 

00:42:31 Monica Rodriguez 

I hope you and I get to have another conversation soon, and we'll talk soon.