Today we had the IEP meeting for Older Boy. An IEP is an Individual Educational Plan. Originally I was quite disappointed in the quality of the plan that was presented. I left the meeting feeling good about the people on Older Boy's educational team.
They are going to completely redo the testing of Older Boy. They had "accepted in" the testing from his last school district. His primary diagnosis there was behavior disorder. With Older Boy it is so much more complicated than that. I am not sure I think that is the primary diagnosis. I think it is secondary to his speech language congnition. I have learned so much about this from an AMAZING woman who owns Older Boy's tutoring company. This woman is an advocate for education. She is an advocate for special needs and what she calls "gap" kids who don't really fall in any category, but have lots of needs.
She was present at the IEP meeting along with Service Coordinator. I almost came unglued at one point when Service Coordinator had the nerve to say that up until a week ago she didn't believe all of the behavior problems with Older Boy existed. Seriously?
Our advocate told me as we were leaving that it truly was the BEST IEP meeting she had been to in 10 years. She told me that I intuitively made the right requests and provided examples that will get Older Boy the help he needs. She said everything in an IEP must be made at the parent's request. If she would have coached me I would have had to fight for the testing.
They are going to retest a number of things. They are going to work with him on "emotion spectrum cards". We are going to completely redo the IEP. This may result in a contained classroom. (I can't remember the actual name). It is a BIG decision though to go that route. It would mean that Older Boy would not ultimately end up with a high school diploma, but rather an equivalency diploma that would enable him to go to the workforce.
I want so badly to think that Older Boy has a chance of going to college, but have come to the realization that we have to prepare him for the life and life skills of things that will enable him to one day be an adult with as few functional difficulties as possible. We need to be working on things like cooking, laundry, and understanding money more than we need to be working on pre-algebra.
The first piece of focus will be on the shutting down he does when he sees a task he doesn't want to do. They are going to focus on that until we convene again.
Prayers for timely testing.
Praises for cooperation from the school district, his IEP holder, and advocate. Praises for advocate. I don't know what I would do with his education without her.
They are going to completely redo the testing of Older Boy. They had "accepted in" the testing from his last school district. His primary diagnosis there was behavior disorder. With Older Boy it is so much more complicated than that. I am not sure I think that is the primary diagnosis. I think it is secondary to his speech language congnition. I have learned so much about this from an AMAZING woman who owns Older Boy's tutoring company. This woman is an advocate for education. She is an advocate for special needs and what she calls "gap" kids who don't really fall in any category, but have lots of needs.
She was present at the IEP meeting along with Service Coordinator. I almost came unglued at one point when Service Coordinator had the nerve to say that up until a week ago she didn't believe all of the behavior problems with Older Boy existed. Seriously?
Our advocate told me as we were leaving that it truly was the BEST IEP meeting she had been to in 10 years. She told me that I intuitively made the right requests and provided examples that will get Older Boy the help he needs. She said everything in an IEP must be made at the parent's request. If she would have coached me I would have had to fight for the testing.
They are going to retest a number of things. They are going to work with him on "emotion spectrum cards". We are going to completely redo the IEP. This may result in a contained classroom. (I can't remember the actual name). It is a BIG decision though to go that route. It would mean that Older Boy would not ultimately end up with a high school diploma, but rather an equivalency diploma that would enable him to go to the workforce.
I want so badly to think that Older Boy has a chance of going to college, but have come to the realization that we have to prepare him for the life and life skills of things that will enable him to one day be an adult with as few functional difficulties as possible. We need to be working on things like cooking, laundry, and understanding money more than we need to be working on pre-algebra.
The first piece of focus will be on the shutting down he does when he sees a task he doesn't want to do. They are going to focus on that until we convene again.
Prayers for timely testing.
Praises for cooperation from the school district, his IEP holder, and advocate. Praises for advocate. I don't know what I would do with his education without her.
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