Empowerment Through Empathy
LearningPerspective, LLC
Mimi Somsanith
You're here!
You've found the way!
LearningPerspective, LLC has one vision and two missions to support that vision. LP LLC’s vision is for all parents to be empowered through empathy in their educational support to their children in their homes and in their schools.
The first mission, Get Out of Homework Hell is for all parents with emphasis on diverse learners’ perspectives & capabilities. For example, concrete demonstrations and visual aides are required for some but beneficial to all.
Don't have much time?
Need step by step resources?
You've come to the right place!
50% Off
NOTE that this is not a group meant for professional advocates to give professional advice to IEP parents. This is for ALL GUARDIANS, including IEP parents, to engage & encourage each other towards developing learners’ abilities which may include brainstorming collaborative efforts in the IEP.
If you're not yet ready to join and become a
LearningPerspective member in our private Facebook group,...
You Can Follow
for more information on these platforms for free:
Teach Kids Anything group are for members who would like to see updates on educational and everyday learning tips and tools. I created this group because one educator refused to believe that my daughter could learn in the general classroom and stated that my daughter belongs to a special school. As the title suggests, kids can be taught when we know and demonstrate in the way they learn.
Mission One
*Use the navigation toolbar on upper right corner to skip this page if you understand Homework Hell already.
Get Out Of Homework Hell!
Get Out Of Homework Hell!
Is your child comfortable?
Physically. Emotionally. Mentally.
There are two questions I would ask my daughter, Ally, each time she does something, including homework, especially if she didn’t seem to be focusing.
1) Are you comfortable? 2) Can you pay attention?
These questions and encouraging reminders are repeated not just for each task but throughout the task as well. Let’s dive into why & why it works.
Before grade level public school education, Ally didn’t have homework. Teaching while playing with her was entertaining and enjoyable. There weren't all the heavy hurdles of homework hell. The focus of homework soon became frustration management for us. Without the ability to manage our frustrations, we couldn't do homework, together. Doing schoolwork at home typically entails writing answers on a paper or in a book. Sometimes even just one page was enough to put us in to homework hell.
What is homework hell? Simple. Child isn’t able to perform or complete school work at home. And, a parent working with the child isn’t able to help. Child had tears and fears. Parent has temper flares and guilt. The reasons are endless because it can be anything, undiscovered ones even, for a child with delays that would prevent her from performing. Here are some examples, at any given moment:
Ally didn’t understand the instructions and isn’t able to communicate that
even after I’ve reexplained in many different ways and, at times, she seemed to or I thought she did understand.
Ally would be touchy, wiggly, and not be able to stay calm for few minutes straight to work through one homework problem
even after short breaks, gentle reminders, time to finish a fidgeting moment, & comforting conversations.
Ally would say the incorrect response and she can confirm it isn’t the correct answer
even when rephrasing the question multiple times, giving long pauses, and redirecting to visuals.
We weren’t aware that Ally was preoccupied with other thoughts or interests during homework and wasn’t able to signal that
even when I did the homework problem on a separate paper for her to follow along for comprehension and copy. Then, followed up with other strategies.
See the problem?! The primary thought, analysis, wonder, and assumption of source, antecedent, and trigger were all on my daughter, not me. And, that's the problem!
The list is endless. Many reasons are identifiable such as time constraints, environmental distractions, lack of background knowledge, and parental duties piling up during homework time. It’s the unnoticeable reasons that couldn't be addressed until we could recognize it. And, this is different for each child, each case, and during each homework session. That’s why it’s taken me more than three years to get out of homework hell.
At first, I didn’t even realize I was entering homework hell with my daughter. I just thought school work at home would be boring resulting in frustrations. Boring was only part of the barrier. The underlying issues were far greater than I had imagined until I began losing emotional control. Ally, of course, was not at fault for anything. It was a shocker because Ally and I had TLC, gentle, humorous, respect, and trust towards each other. Well, with everything else in our everyday living and routines except homework.
Patience would be required in all areas due to Ally’s global developmental delays but beyond extreme patience would be required to get through homework hell. Many strategies have been tried and weren't adequate until the focus turned on me instead of on my daughter. I humbly figured out that I am one of Ally’s environmental factors that would contribute to her success or failure in her performance and our homework experience.
As a parent of a child with special needs, I could feel my daughter’s suffering and empathize for her struggles every single day she is in school. When school staff calls, it’s always a needed relief to first hear that “Ally is fine” before starting the conversation on the phone. My heart would already be beating faster than normal when I see that it’s a phone number from the school. It is indeed a heart breaking and gut wrenching sensation.
Until her IEP would operate well continually and when Ally would be able to function adequately, which may not be until her tween or teen age years, what I can do for her to support her education is turn Homework Hell into Homework Heaven. At the time of writing this story, we’re successfully getting out of Homework Hell and into Homework Haven. Getting into Homework Heaven is the goal and may sound like a pipe dream but it won’t be for us because I’ve created systems to address, manage, and overcome all the hurdles of Homework Hell for her, for me, and for us together, which I'm excited to share with you! May you also find your way out of Homework Hell and into Homework Heaven!
How?
You can read my story for an understanding behind my philosophies on life to see how my experience has lead me to share my resources for you and others to benefit from our development and achievements so that your journey may be filled with less strife and be more fruitful.
And, you can join in the conversations and follow LearningPerspective LLC platforms on social media to stay posted and grow with us!
Empowerment through empathy is the core principle of my introduction to IEP Process, Interrupt It! preaching and practice to encourage each and every IEP parent towards self-advocacy training. In empathizing with my daughter's school IEP team members, I can support her by collaborating with them on resources specific to her needs. Much of which falls under the UDL, Universal Design Learning, concept, Necessary for some. Beneficial to all.
UDL has become one of the designed frameworks I’ve incorporated into Get Out of Homework Hell! because when something benefits all of my daughter's classmates, not just her, the tools used during homework at home can be transferred with acceptance into her classrooms.
Get Out of Homework Hell! is not only about how to get through each night’s homework without frustrations. You’ll learn about the correlations between schoolwork at home, called homework, and classwork at school and how to loop learning for efficacy.
Some IEP parents have been able to decide that they don’t want homework hell to interfere in their lives as it may destroy their relationships with their children and opted out of homework with their schools.
For parents, tutors, guardians, and all homework helpers who are not on that path and see the benefits of homework and want to make the connection to school work for an effective education system and efficient learning process, you’ve come to the right place!
Two affordable LOW prices for any of my products and services.
$2
$5
Get Out of Homework Hell! Products
- Download PDF $2 (two bucks for my two cents)
- Download sheets or docs to USE today - more than just a blank template! $5
- Save yourself much time from formatting each file and creating everything from scratch.
- No complicated instructions to follow.
- Replace existing, specific information with your relevant information instead of trying to figure out how and needing to start from scratch.
- Feel free to keep information that may also be applicable to your child.
IEP Process, Interrupt It! Products
- If you're not able to attend in person, you can view the FOUR presentations to get an idea of the discussions covered.
- Empowerment Through Empathy in the IEP Process includes my encouragement and strategies on self-advocacy training in a way to remain resourceful at any given moment.
5. Daily Schedule with Time and Notes sections - add your pictures to it!
*GOOHH Step by Step Guide is being developed.
More resources are being developed. Thank you for your patience...
Mission Two
map Your Moves
IEP Process, Interrupt It! is complete. It’s not meant to be an in-depth dig into the entire IEP process which would be extensive and never ending. That’s why there are paid advocates in this field. Though volunteer or paid advocates and even attorneys can help, IEP parents still need to be familiar and resourceful instead of scrambling at each pitfall throughout their twenty plus years in their IEP process. Start here with perspective! Start today!
Don’t wait!
DOWNLOAD these FOUR presentations today to get started on being empowered with perspectives and resources.
Some information is state specific to PA. I highly recommend following in order from 1 through 4 even if you're not new to the IEP process for perspective.
Research & Methodology
in IEP Process, InterruptIt! products & services
I thought "team" in IEP team included me, the parent, but I was clarified that "team" in IEP team refers to school team when spoken or written by school staff. That was my first "Oh, I didn't know!" moment. Technically correct or incorrect, it's reality. Many more "AHA" and "Oh" moments continue to come as all IEP parents know.
The biggest "OMG" discovery was that there was such thing as the IEP process. I was astonished to learn about it only when I was helpless to support my daughter on my own.
To spare other IEP parents the nightmare I experienced, I developed IEPInterruptIt!. All IEP parents need to be familiar with and self-train as advocates with readied resources at any given moment.
It's difficult to remind school staff about many of my daughter's highlights. In addition to a One Page Child Profile, I provide an information packet simplified in laymen's language Ally's needs and benefits from head to toe included in the ALICE Binder at the start of each school year for all school staff, especially those supporting her directly, to reference.
The Information Packet and ALICE Binder are to be developed. Thank you for your patience.
There may be too many SDIs, Specially Designed Instructions, for teachers to remember for each child with an IEP. This resource was designed to reference only each child's highlights relevant to each specific teacher, whether GenEd or SpEd or another staff. Not all SDIs are relevant to all school staff and IEPs can be complicated to digest.
Empathizing with school staff is part of IEPInterruptIt!'s mission. We can't empathize what we don't understand. Collaboration doesn't exist in exchanging demands without providing support both ways. There are times that would require me to support school staff with resources in order for them to support my child. And, that's OK.
TIP:
The pdf is free when you purchase any of the bundled packages.
How is school for your child each day? It's difficult to ascertain any specific struggles from classwork to social interactions especially when your child has speech & language, expressive & receptive, delays like mine. This Daily Communications Log not only provides opportunities for school staff but also for my daughter to communicate with me.
Even 1:1 paraprofessional, who works directly and most closely with your child, would have the chance to communicate with this tool! And, communication goes both way because the bottom section is for follow ups, from parents as well. This Daily Communications Log also allots for concepts and descriptions in each class, therapy, and period.
What began as a transition tool for my daughter turned into task/class initiation tool and a conversation reference for after school! Ally prefers it when there are clocks and staff photos- hint -because it can be a more cool and effective visual. Because Ally is the one checking the boxes and can write anything on it, it's become her introduction to note taking.
This can be part of self-advocacy goals that loops from school to home because it's taken home each day. Having it laminated and kept at school could serve as a transition tool. Decide how to use it that's most beneficial to you and your child. School may have a daily schedule but not with images, colors, check boxes etc all of which is helpful for a child to process information.
TIP:
What is used to communicate between home and school can also help with homework.
In order to prevent
my daughter’s IEP from spiraling downward
towards what seemed to be a point of no return,
I dedicated three months of researching after two months of scrambling.
After attending many meetings
on many topics & training,
all of which consumed hundreds of hours,
here are the three steps narrowed down
to self train efficiently and
to advocate for your child effectively.
Get Out of Homework Hell!
Get Out of Homework Hell!
*GOOHH Step by Step Guide is being developed.
IEP Process, Interrupt it!
YT-social stories reduce anxiety
This is just the beginning...
Thank you for your patience as more resources are being developed to provide you with detail step by step support with Homework and in the IEP process.
For Online Meetings, choose your timeframe and mood to fit your needs:
For Online Meetings, choose your timeframe and mood to fit your needs:
Sometimes, all you need is a coffee break. Let's have it together over casual conversations where carefree brainstorming and unwinding can occur simultaneously!
Empowerment Through Empathy
Gain the LearningPerspective.
Until we connect
again virtually or in person, I hope you're finding usable resources to effectively executive with perspective and success.
Grow with me. Grow with LearningPerspective!
As a single parent, I truly appreciate your patience as I develop more resources to support your educational endeavors and child's success.
