{"id":877,"date":"2009-07-13T14:46:53","date_gmt":"2009-07-13T19:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=877"},"modified":"2009-07-13T20:08:52","modified_gmt":"2009-07-14T01:08:52","slug":"the-power-of-getting-organized-do-it-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/the-power-of-getting-organized-do-it-right\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Getting Organized &#8211; Do it Right!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"The%20Power%20of%20Getting%20Organized%20-%20Do%20it%20Right%21%20\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"border: 0pt none; float: left;\" title=\"File Binders\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/images\/file.binders.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"101\" \/>Last week on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?page_id=38\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Community Helpline<\/span><\/a>, Kim asked<em> &#8220;Should a child&#8217;s special education file include copies of all evaluations and reports, especially those requested for annual review?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Sharon answered: <em>&#8220;Your child\u2019s record at the school district has to be a complete history of your child\u2019s journey through special ed.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A complete history &#8211; yikes!   <strong>How do you accomplish that?<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Nina emailed she made it her summer project last year&#8230;<em>&#8220;I organized all the documents I have into a chronological file as you suggest in <span style=\"color: #000000;\">From Emotions to Advocacy<\/span>&#8211;it took months and is in 3 gigantic binders!&#8211;but I have already had occasion to find things there several times.  There were documents in there that I had totally forgotten I had.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Congratulations, Nina, on organizing the file.  Most parents have the same reaction you describe &#8211; &#8220;I&#8217;d forgotten all about that!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>It&#8217;s hard for people to get started but it pays off! You need a simple, foolproof document management system.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The special education system generates mountains of paper. If you don&#8217;t have a file for your child, it is time to create one. If you have already started a file, it&#8217;s time to review the file.   If it is not complete, begin now.<\/p>\n<p>Wrightslaw has created a parent-tested system for tracking your child&#8217;s educational history and a method for quickly locating any document in your child&#8217;s file. You can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">learn the specific steps for organizing the file<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">get helpful tips<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">download a sample Master Document List<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fetaweb.com\/03\/organize.file.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Organizing Your Child&#8217;s Special Education File<\/span><\/a> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fetaweb.com\/03\/organize.file.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">http:\/\/www.fetaweb.com\/03\/organize.file.htm<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the first steps.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1.<\/strong> Gather Information About Your Child<br \/>\n<strong>2. <\/strong> Make a Master Provider List<br \/>\n<strong>3. <\/strong>Organize the Master File<br \/>\n<strong>4.<\/strong> Create Your Document List<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Remember these rules:<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do not write on your original documents.<\/li>\n<li>Do not use a marker or highlighter on your original documents.<\/li>\n<li>Do not release your original documents to anyone.<\/li>\n<li>Keep your notebook current.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When you take your organized file to the next school meeting, you will understand the power of getting organized. You will gain a sense of control.<\/p>\n<p>If you need to ask an attorney&#8217;s advice, the first thing she will want to do is review your child&#8217;s file. If you have organized the file correctly, your attorney will be able understand your child&#8217;s history by seeing the development step by step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week on the Community Helpline, Kim asked &#8220;Should a child&#8217;s special education file include copies of all evaluations and reports, especially those requested for annual review?&#8221; Sharon answered: &#8220;Your <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/the-power-of-getting-organized-do-it-right\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,35,18,7,136],"tags":[1303,132,96,374,1319],"class_list":["post-877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-eligibility","category-ieps","category-legal-news","category-strategies","tag-documentation","tag-iep-meetings","tag-paper-trail","tag-special-education-record","tag-strategies"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3452,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions\/3452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}