Creating An Education Notebook

It's hard to believe, but in a few weeks my little guy will enter the public school system with three-year old pre-K. He will be attending at a nearby elementary school. This early pre-K is designed to help him be ready for Kindergarten because he has developmental delays related to Down syndrome. Our hope is that when time comes for Kindergarten, he will be able to be in an inclusion classroom at our neighborhood school. So, we are hopeful about this school experience.

Fairly new to the special needs community, I have heard a lot of horror stories about the school system and IEPS. I've heard I need to fully understand my child's rights and advocate and push for them. I've heard I need to be diligent about making sure my son's teachers are following his IEP. 

I don't know if all that is true, but I do know I'll need to be more involved with my son's education than I have been with my daughters. So to be prepared, I have put together an education notebook. One person suggested that I may want a new notebook for each year. Here are the dividers I included:

IEP/Eval - for his current IEP and any evaluations

Rights - to keep track of laws, etc

School - info from/about his school

Progress Reports - from his teachers

Class work - samples

IEP Prep - definitions, forms to prep for IEP

Resources - contact info re: education and support groups

Tomorrow, I'll share about the "getting to know you" document I plan on providing to my son's teachers.

What do you include in your child's education notebook?