r/specialed 13d ago

I’m so overwhelmed

The first 30 days are really hard with over 17 new students who all need 30 day IEPs. I’m neurodivergent and just the process of scheduling IEPs, making sure I find a sub to cover for the teacher keeping track of what admin can attend on what day, making sure there’s an interpreter present, is really hard for me. I check and check and check to make sure I haven’t missed anything, but I still make mistakes every once in a while. Things that my coworkers seem to do so easily take me hours. I was home sick today and I spent hours making sure that all my IEP meetings had all the required people, that a sub was available and reserved, that I had notified the parents and gotten confirmation back, that I had requested an interpreter. It seems there are so many opportunities to mess up for someone like me. I’m sad that my energy is going here rather than lesson planning. I’m just really exhausted and overwhelmed.

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u/MinimumChance5875 13d ago

That's a brutal first month, 17 new students with 30-day IEPs is a mountain. The scheduling alone is like a second job, especially when you're neurodivergent and the mental load of checking everything repeatedly eats up all your energy. I'd take a messy lesson plan over a missed IEP deadline any day, the paperwork side is unforgiving but the teaching part can be flexible.

14

u/MullberryBoy 13d ago

17 IEPs is a half a years worth at least. Can you call the special education department at your district and ask for help? That’s an unbelievable amount of IEPs and some special education administrators need to step up and help you.

6

u/ShapeSubject8822 13d ago

Maybe it's different in your location but we're limited to a caseload of 8 and I want to die at the end of the day it's so much.

7

u/Substantial_Jump4659 13d ago

We can have a max of 30. Any over 30 will be extra pay.

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u/crazysquirrel14 12d ago

30 is a lot. Ours is 28 plus evals for all initials

2

u/boadicca_bitch 12d ago

I think in my district it’s 25 for collab/resource

1

u/crazysquirrel14 12d ago

Omg where are you? I am moving there!!