How Anya works
Four steps. About ten minutes. Start with what you already know about your child.
Every Vest starts empty. The goal isn't to fill everything at once — it's to start. In your first few minutes, you show Anya a document and talk with her about your child in your own words, and she begins to know your child.
Start with a document you already have
Find your child's most recent Individual Program Plan (IPP), Individual Support Plan (ISP), Individualized Education Program (IEP), diagnosis report, or therapy summary — you probably have one already. Add it to My Documents and Anya reads it, building the first layer of what she knows. Don't have one handy? Start with Step 2 instead.
Tell Anya who your child is, in your own words
Talk with Anya about your child the way you'd describe them to someone about to spend the day with them. Or open About Me and pick a Pocket — like My Personality, My Story, or Top 10 Things About Me — and write it there. Not the diagnosis. The real, everyday them.
“Terrance loves being around people and will park himself in the kitchen just to be near whoever’s cooking. He talks constantly — whatever pops into his head, he says it. He asks questions he already knows the answers to, which I think is his way of keeping a conversation going. When he’s had enough socializing he’ll disappear to his room, put on his headphones, and sing along to his playlist at full volume. He’s outgoing — he’ll walk up to strangers at the grocery store and start chatting like they’re old friends. He’s got a big heart and a stubborn streak. If something doesn’t go his way at home, you’ll hear about it, but at school or out with friends he holds it together. He just saves it all for us.” — a parent, in My Personality (name changed)
Add a few more layers
Two or three in all is plenty to start. Talk with Anya about something that happened this week, or fill in another Pocket — each one gives Anya a different dimension: personality, history, the things that matter most. The more you tell Anya, the more completely she knows your child.
Ask, and see your child reflected back
Now ask Anya a question, like “What should a new caregiver know about my child’s first day?” Her answer draws from the document you added and what you’ve told her — and cites where each detail came from. This is the moment it clicks: Anya describing your child the way you would.
A binder stores information. Anya holds what you know and gives it back — specific, personal, and there for the person you choose to step in when you can’t be there to explain it yourself.
There’s more to add whenever you have time — Health Care, Day to Day, Caregivers & Key People, and more. Talk with Anya, or come back to a Pocket, any time you have five minutes.