Future Planning Statement

In our state there is a section in the IEP that the parents must fill out called THE FUTURE PLANNING STATEMENT.  (I'm yelling that in jest because it seems like such an overly big deal). 

Really it's a good idea to have such a thing.  Here is the area where you talk about the plans for your child, what you would like to see.

While I think it's a little bit presumptous to assume we know where our children will be at the end of high school graduation (at least when they are as young as my child is) I dont think it's a bad idea to be thinking ahead. 

What path are we going to want our child to walk?  Can we start to encourage that now?  After all isnt that what it means to raise a child, we instill ideas about their future into their sweet little heads, we teach them which way to go and we hold on to the back of their proverbial bicycle seat until they are ready to pedal for themselves.

I want to share our FUTURE PLANNING STATEMENT with you, keep in mind that our daughter is 7.  The point here is to simply to give a glimpse of what we have written. Here it is:

Mary Miller will attend college, most likely at The Ohio State University where she will be encouraged to use her strenghts in a Math/Science related major. She will also be strongly encouraged to pursue an advanced degree perhaps in a medically related field.

In the short term, daily action will be taken in order to manage her learning differences and pursue educational achievement in spite of her dyslexia and dysgraphia. With the goal of reading and writing at age/grade appropriate levels, her family will be utilizing the various local educational professionals, opportunities and forms of educational technology available in order to achieve these goals.