How to be in two places at once: Google Hangouts for IEPs

 

Spring in Preschool means it’s transition season. All our students who will transition to Kindergarten are being considered. Some will exit services (yay!), some be re-evaluated, and some are getting new IEPs. We have one central preschool for all of our district and students will be placed back into their home school based on their location. We have our Transition IEP meeting at the students home school so the staff starts to get to know the family and student. This makes it pretty impossible to do your regular therapy schedule and travel to twelve different elementary buildings for meetings. If there is a meeting at a different school and you really need to be included you might normally have been included through a conference call. The hard thing about being on a conference call is that you can’t read the body language in the room! It’s so hard to tell how a parent or staff member is feeling without seeing them!

Last week, we used a Google Hangout to conference in some staff at another building and it was fabulous. I highly recommend it over a conference call. In case you hadn’t considered GH before, here are a few tips to get you started.

Step 1. Open your gmail account (or sign up for a google account if you don’t have one already, then open gmail.)

Step 2. Go to the ‘waffle’ in the top right corner and select Google Hangout.

Step 3. Select Video call and allow GH to use your built-in microphone and webcam.

 

Step 4. Type in the email of people you wish to invite, or copy the link and share it.

Step 5. Put your computer at a seat around the table so the staff member can see the important parties/hear everything.

That’s it! Your attendees will be able to hear and see and participate easily!

Remember that you’ll need good internet connect to remain connected. You might want to make sure you strategically place parents in the right seats when they enter the room. Don’t forget to speak up so the person can hear you well!