Sorry for the delay... things have been a bit hectic in a mundane way.
We had the IEP meeting, and for the most part, it went well. Little Bug will be going to a special education preschool for 2.5 hours a day 4 days a week.
The meeting starting off a bit rocky as the school district had the IEP completed and stated that they would review it so we could sign it. Given that Nick and I had created three IEP goals for Little Bug's social, adaptive, and speech concerns, this didn't go well.
Luckily, the school backed down quickly and included our ideas. Surprisingly, the only idea they seemed hestitant to include was a goal about him sitting in a chair for at least 5 minutes. Of all the goals to argue about, that was the one I never would have expected.
They thought that if he watched other children do it, he would. We explained, and his current therapists confirmed, that it doesn't work that way. It is simply difficult for him to sit in a chair.
For additional services, he will receive 30 minuts a week of speech and OT.
As we are winding down his stay at Birth to Three, we are trying to flesh out our home program for the summer. We are getting on some waiting lists for OT, will be continuing speech therapy with his current therapist, and have asked his Autism therapist for a list of 10 things to work on for the summer.
All in all pretty successful.
Fourth of July on the other hand, was not successful. Little Bug's auditory defensiveness is increasing. He spent the whole day hiding in the bushes- first because of the airshow practice, then the airshow itself, then the fire trucks, and finally the local fireworks.
He has begun to scream and cover his ears in public whenever there is music, clapping, chopping- at restaraunts, and any other loud noise. We are unsure how to deal with this without going down the noise cancelling head phone road.
In other news, he will be three in 17 days.
Showing posts with label IEP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IEP. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
IEP tomorrow
Like it says, its tomorrow. Hopefully, things will go as planned. Hopefully, we won't have to be the total hard asses we are planning to be. I really think that with the SLP and the special education teacher we met at his evaluations running the IEP, it should be fine.
Regardless, we are prepared. We have a list of three goals for Speech, Adaptive, and Social/ Emotional development that we have come up. We are also trying to come up a Positive Behavioral Intervention Plan. Given the information about corrective actons- strapping a child into a chair designed for low tone without an explanation- we want to be sure that we have something in place.
Little Bug is humming along marveously. He is beginning to pretend in unscripted ways. Last night, his trucks had a conversation:
TRUCK 1- falls down and says- DAMMIT! (i know we need to work on that)
TRUCK 2- Help you?
TRUCK 1- Peese help!
TRUCK 2- One second, one second. (drives over rather slowly) What doing?
TRUCK 1- Fall down
TRUCK 2- It otay. Get up! (pushes Truck 1 upright)
TRUCK 1- Thank you!
TRUCK 2- Welcome! Be safe! (crashes repeatedly into our dog Frank's leg and then is carried away by his jaws of death)
Minus the swear word- which is mild considering what his daddies' have unthinkingly said- this was amazing! He didn't have anyone prompt him or help him. He just did it. Now, we just need to transfer this over to actual interaction with people- especially peers. Interaction never goes this way in real life.
Regardless, we are prepared. We have a list of three goals for Speech, Adaptive, and Social/ Emotional development that we have come up. We are also trying to come up a Positive Behavioral Intervention Plan. Given the information about corrective actons- strapping a child into a chair designed for low tone without an explanation- we want to be sure that we have something in place.
Little Bug is humming along marveously. He is beginning to pretend in unscripted ways. Last night, his trucks had a conversation:
TRUCK 1- falls down and says- DAMMIT! (i know we need to work on that)
TRUCK 2- Help you?
TRUCK 1- Peese help!
TRUCK 2- One second, one second. (drives over rather slowly) What doing?
TRUCK 1- Fall down
TRUCK 2- It otay. Get up! (pushes Truck 1 upright)
TRUCK 1- Thank you!
TRUCK 2- Welcome! Be safe! (crashes repeatedly into our dog Frank's leg and then is carried away by his jaws of death)
Minus the swear word- which is mild considering what his daddies' have unthinkingly said- this was amazing! He didn't have anyone prompt him or help him. He just did it. Now, we just need to transfer this over to actual interaction with people- especially peers. Interaction never goes this way in real life.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Little Bug's evaluations
They went amazing! The team involved were really personable and took the time to really get to know Little Bug and us. I am sure that this is built in to a certain degree- as it was obvious that they had an interview portion for the parents with a list of questions and then moved on to the evaluations- but they seem to go above an beyond with us. They scheduled our time away from the normal cattle call affair.
For cognitive, they used the Battelle test and Little Bug scored a 95 without hitting a ceiling. He was having trouble sitting, so that made all the tests take longer and they gave us the option of moving on to a new test or hitting a ceiling with him. We chose moving on because he still had fine motor evaluations and it was getting to be nap time.
For gross motor, they cancelled the evaluation based on his performance throughout the day. The PT came by, but stated that because what she had seen him do, she didn't feel an evaluation was necessary. Nick and I agreed as that has never been a concern with our little Houdini.
For Speech, they didn't hit a ceiling and he was performing with some errors into the 42 to 47 month range. She was concerned about the amount of echoing he was doing and also about some of the pronunciations of words. She also said that his utterances weren't long enough and that he wasn't forming functional sentences- more just commenting by placing two words together.
For fine motor, he aced everything at a 4 to 5 year old level except for the writing portion which he did at a 3 year old level. The OT gave us recommendations for activities to better his grip at home.
Recommendations:
The ASD Program director was with us during the interview part and made it clear that she felt an Autism Preschool would be good for Lennon because of the extended day program. She really advocated for class from hell, but we calmly and politely explained that we didn't feel it was structured enough based on our visit and that it appeared to be to made up of a lot of unstructured play time. She thought that we might wasnt to go visit another program. It was interesting that in this discussion, recommendations weren't made by her and the PT based off of the closest school, but which school they felt he would have the best peers. This was different from when the Special Education director came to our house because he stressed closest above all else. I don't think we heard him say "appropriate" without including the phrase "the closest school with"...
speech- one on one speech at school as well as group
OT- available to deal with sensory issues but no individualized therapy.
The SLP and the Special Education teacher felt that Little Bug should be placed in general special education preschool. The teacher felt that he was past a lot of the kids placed in the ASD program and that the regular special education groups would make better peers. We stated that we felt that this would be the appropriate route, however we did not feel that 2 days a week would be consistent enough for him. They said that its normally up to his teacher to make that determination, but that they could ask the director on our behalf if Little Bug would be allowed 4 days. I heard them ask him and his response was- Damn straight he needs 4 days.
Its funny how nothing turned out as badly as we thought it would. Now, Nick and I are going to focus on writing starter IEP goals as well as a positive intervention plan to bring to the IEP meeting. We are hoping to have them done so that our team can review before the meeting and give feedback.
Funny side note, I received my own set of recommendations during the meeting. They continuously asked if Nick and I were educators or therapists, and our answer was no- we read a lot of books and pay attention. The ASD director and I talked about video modeling, ABA, task analysis and she asked me, have you thought about being an educator? You could at least be a consultant to other parents. It was a huge ego boost.
They kept telling us that they were amazed at how far he had come- based off of his report from our Neurologist, his original Vineland, as well as his IFSP from the county. They stated that we must do an amazing job of following through at home and that he was lucky to have us. We said thank you over and over again and were honestly quite surprised. We were expecting the no nonsense abruptness that has been our previous contact with the school district and we treated amazingly well.
For cognitive, they used the Battelle test and Little Bug scored a 95 without hitting a ceiling. He was having trouble sitting, so that made all the tests take longer and they gave us the option of moving on to a new test or hitting a ceiling with him. We chose moving on because he still had fine motor evaluations and it was getting to be nap time.
For gross motor, they cancelled the evaluation based on his performance throughout the day. The PT came by, but stated that because what she had seen him do, she didn't feel an evaluation was necessary. Nick and I agreed as that has never been a concern with our little Houdini.
For Speech, they didn't hit a ceiling and he was performing with some errors into the 42 to 47 month range. She was concerned about the amount of echoing he was doing and also about some of the pronunciations of words. She also said that his utterances weren't long enough and that he wasn't forming functional sentences- more just commenting by placing two words together.
For fine motor, he aced everything at a 4 to 5 year old level except for the writing portion which he did at a 3 year old level. The OT gave us recommendations for activities to better his grip at home.
Recommendations:
The ASD Program director was with us during the interview part and made it clear that she felt an Autism Preschool would be good for Lennon because of the extended day program. She really advocated for class from hell, but we calmly and politely explained that we didn't feel it was structured enough based on our visit and that it appeared to be to made up of a lot of unstructured play time. She thought that we might wasnt to go visit another program. It was interesting that in this discussion, recommendations weren't made by her and the PT based off of the closest school, but which school they felt he would have the best peers. This was different from when the Special Education director came to our house because he stressed closest above all else. I don't think we heard him say "appropriate" without including the phrase "the closest school with"...
speech- one on one speech at school as well as group
OT- available to deal with sensory issues but no individualized therapy.
The SLP and the Special Education teacher felt that Little Bug should be placed in general special education preschool. The teacher felt that he was past a lot of the kids placed in the ASD program and that the regular special education groups would make better peers. We stated that we felt that this would be the appropriate route, however we did not feel that 2 days a week would be consistent enough for him. They said that its normally up to his teacher to make that determination, but that they could ask the director on our behalf if Little Bug would be allowed 4 days. I heard them ask him and his response was- Damn straight he needs 4 days.
Its funny how nothing turned out as badly as we thought it would. Now, Nick and I are going to focus on writing starter IEP goals as well as a positive intervention plan to bring to the IEP meeting. We are hoping to have them done so that our team can review before the meeting and give feedback.
Funny side note, I received my own set of recommendations during the meeting. They continuously asked if Nick and I were educators or therapists, and our answer was no- we read a lot of books and pay attention. The ASD director and I talked about video modeling, ABA, task analysis and she asked me, have you thought about being an educator? You could at least be a consultant to other parents. It was a huge ego boost.
They kept telling us that they were amazed at how far he had come- based off of his report from our Neurologist, his original Vineland, as well as his IFSP from the county. They stated that we must do an amazing job of following through at home and that he was lucky to have us. We said thank you over and over again and were honestly quite surprised. We were expecting the no nonsense abruptness that has been our previous contact with the school district and we treated amazingly well.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Transition Report
As we get ready for Little Bug's IEP evaluation and meeting, we have been getting his reports in order. I wanted to share with you his transition report for his current program.
Attendance history:
Little Bug receives education services from XXXX in the form of 2 60-minute one-on-one sessions (one at home and one at the center) per week and 3 90-minute developmental playgroup sessions per week. Little Bug has excellent attendance and has only missed playgroup and one-on-one education sessions due to illness and doctor’s appointments.
Little Bug also receives 1 60 minute occupational therapy session and one speech therapy session every week. Information regarding occupational and speech therapy services can be found in separate reports.
Student’s interests & strengths:
Little Bug is an extremely bright, endearing little boy who enjoys playgroup and playing with his therapists. Some of his favorite activities include playing with play dough, drawing with markers, stringing beads, completing puzzles, and playing in the sandbox or sensory table. Little Bug loves sea life, particularly sharks, and will happily point out any shark or ocean creature that is visible to him.
Little Bug is very social and will initiate play with adults. When he started our program, Little Bug primarily used signs (up to 60 signs were used without prompting) and single words to communicate. Currently, he uses 2-3 word utterances unprompted.
Little Bug also uses a point to request and comment. Lately, he has become extremely proficient at using a point paired with eye contact to comment.
Student’s areas of challenge & helpful instructional strategies:
Little Bug has moments where he is inflexible in his play. For example, wanting his trains to go only a certain direction on the tracks, getting frustrated when a shark is drawn on his paper without a fin or eye, or becoming upset if he gets the wrong color bowl at snack time. Little Bug has been working through these incidents with adult support encouraging him to “be flexible.” Little Bug also may become stuck on a highly preferred activity such as outdoor push cars & lawnmowers, trains, and other toy vehicles. He usually needs adult support to calmly transition to a new activity. Occasionally he needs to go take a break in a “calm down” area when these events happen. Little Bug has begun spontaneously choosing to go over to the “calm area” and look at a book when he becomes upset. He typically calms within a couple of minutes and makes a new activity choice.
Notes on IFSP goals & present levels/progress:
Little Bug will use a variety of two-word combinations to request, comment, and protest. To request, Little Bug will often use the sentence stem “want ____.” Lately, he will often self-correct himself and say, “I want ____ please.” We are now working on expanding Lennon’s expressive language to include more of a variety of commenting stems. For example, “I have ___,” “I see____,” and “It’s a ____.” Progress made.
Little Bug will use at least 5 descriptive (i.e. big, little, pretty, soft, etc.) words when he comments on an object or picture. Little Bug has independently used “big” and “little” when commenting about objects, as well as saying their respective colors if applicable, but has not expanded beyond that. He will imitate an adult who uses “pretty” or “soft.” Progress made.
Little Bug will correctly answer yes/no questions when asked. Little Bug answers “yes” and “no” to both preferred and non-preferred objects as well as answering to the identity of an object (i.e. is this a dog?) the majority of the time. Lately, Little Bug has been repeating the name of the object instead of answering “yes” or “no” to preference questions. Goal almost met!
Little Bug will receptively identify a) shapes b) colors c) actions in pictures d) attributes. Little Bug is able to identify circle, star, square, triangle, and triangle, as well as blue, green, red, yellow, orange, and purple. Little Bug has identified many actions in pictures including walking, jumping, crying, blowing, sleeping, and eating. For attributes, Little Bug is able to identify big and little independently. a) Goal met b) Goal met c) Goal met d) Progress made.
Little Bug will follow two- step directions a) with contextual cues b) without contextual cues. Currently, Little Bug needs contextual cues to successfully complete a two-step direction, although he has followed a few directions independently. Progress made.
Little Bug will interact with peers by a) initiating social interactions with peers in a variety of ways (throws a ball to another child, asks for a turn with a toy) b) maintaining a social interaction (waits for the other child to throw the ball back, waits while the other child takes a turn and then asks for another turn).
Little Bug will give peers a high five or give them an item with a verbal reminder from an adult. Little Bug consistently holds hands with familiar peers with a verbal direction from an adult. He rolls a ball back and forth or plays chase with a peer with adult physical and verbal support. Little Bug independently maintained an interaction of holding hands with one of his peers during a game of “Red Light, Green Light” and is beginning to independently seek out a peer to hold his or her hand during this game. Little Bug also maintained rolling a ball up and down the slide to a peer for multiple turns with minimal adult support. Little Bug has begun identifying familiar peers by their names. Progress made.
Little Bug will remain calm when told that it is time to be all done with a preferred activity and transition to a new activity with a verbal reminder. In one-on-one, Little Bug does a nice job of ending a preferred activity and choosing a new activity when given a warning. Occasionally, Little Bug needs help choosing the next activity and needs an adult to give him a choice, but is mostly independent in this task. In a playgroup setting, he is now doing a nice job of ending play with push toys & ride on toys during outside time, but continues to struggle with ending play with highly preferred toys like trains and vehicles during indoor play. Little Bug is given a warning that an activity will be ending and sometimes a timer is used to make it clear when it is time to be all done. If he becomes upset, he is given a chance to “take a break” or sit in a “calm down” area until he is ready to make a new activity choice. Progress Made.
Little Bug will identify objects by a) function (what the object is used for) b) feature (identifiable characteristics) c) class (i.e. animals, food, etc.). Little Bug has identified the following items by function: fork, spoon, bed, book, car, toothbrush, and chair. Feature: wheels, tail, laces, wings, and house. Little Bug has sorted the following items by class: animals, food, vehicles, shapes, colors, and people. a) Goal met b) Goal met c) Goal met!
Little Bug will demonstrate a concept of one (i.e. when the teacher holds out a handful of crackers and says “Take one,” Little Bug takes only one cracker). Little Bug does a fantastic job of taking only one item when asked to do so. He has demonstrated this skill with fish crackers, pegs, balls, and markers. He demonstrates this skill in a group setting as well. Goal met!
Little Bug will engage in turn taking exchanges a) first with adults and b) then with peers by requesting a turn, taking his turn, & giving the item back to the other person when they request a turn. a) When taking turns with adults, Little Bug has become better about waiting his turn. He sometimes needs an adult to say, “wait” and help him count (usually to 5) while the adult takes his turn. Little Bug can play a simpler version of Cariboo or Barnyard Bingo with up to 3 adults. b) With most items and simple games like Cariboo or Tic Tac Tony, Little Bug can take short turns with peers with adult support. Adult support may include verbally reminding Little Bug to give the item to his peer, verbally reminding him to “wait”, or helping him count while he waits. Little Bug struggles some with sharing highly preferred items like vehicles or sea life, but has made a lot of progress! For example, Little Bug will calmly play with trains alongside other children that are playing with trains. With an adult near him, he will play with his trains with few to no attempts to grab the trains other children are playing with. Progress made.
Little Bug will independently participate in group activities, such as snack time and circle time, by: a) sitting and attending for 5-10 minutes b)imitating adults actions with & without objects c) following routine directions. a) Little Bug sits and attends to snack times without an adult sitting behind him, but needs verbal reminders to stay seated on average three times during a 10-15 minute snack time. Little Bug and joins and participates in routine group games like parachute time & “Red Light, Green Light”. Little Bug attends to circle time without a parent sitting nearby. He sometimes needs adult support to join the beginning of circle and a teaching assistant sits a few feet away during circle time. Very recently, Little Bug has had difficulty with inflexibility during circle including crying or laying down on the floor when he gets the wrong color of circle prop or when a song is selected that he doesn’t want. If the rest of the group continues with the song, Little Bug is usually able to self calm and participate in circle time. Goal Nearly Met. b) Little Bug imitates a wide variety of routine actions at snack time and actions with and without objects in preferred circle time songs. Goal Met. c) Little Bug follows familiar directions within the context of group routines like snack, circle, and parachute time. Goal Met.
Attendance history:
Little Bug receives education services from XXXX in the form of 2 60-minute one-on-one sessions (one at home and one at the center) per week and 3 90-minute developmental playgroup sessions per week. Little Bug has excellent attendance and has only missed playgroup and one-on-one education sessions due to illness and doctor’s appointments.
Little Bug also receives 1 60 minute occupational therapy session and one speech therapy session every week. Information regarding occupational and speech therapy services can be found in separate reports.
Student’s interests & strengths:
Little Bug is an extremely bright, endearing little boy who enjoys playgroup and playing with his therapists. Some of his favorite activities include playing with play dough, drawing with markers, stringing beads, completing puzzles, and playing in the sandbox or sensory table. Little Bug loves sea life, particularly sharks, and will happily point out any shark or ocean creature that is visible to him.
Little Bug is very social and will initiate play with adults. When he started our program, Little Bug primarily used signs (up to 60 signs were used without prompting) and single words to communicate. Currently, he uses 2-3 word utterances unprompted.
Little Bug also uses a point to request and comment. Lately, he has become extremely proficient at using a point paired with eye contact to comment.
Student’s areas of challenge & helpful instructional strategies:
Little Bug has moments where he is inflexible in his play. For example, wanting his trains to go only a certain direction on the tracks, getting frustrated when a shark is drawn on his paper without a fin or eye, or becoming upset if he gets the wrong color bowl at snack time. Little Bug has been working through these incidents with adult support encouraging him to “be flexible.” Little Bug also may become stuck on a highly preferred activity such as outdoor push cars & lawnmowers, trains, and other toy vehicles. He usually needs adult support to calmly transition to a new activity. Occasionally he needs to go take a break in a “calm down” area when these events happen. Little Bug has begun spontaneously choosing to go over to the “calm area” and look at a book when he becomes upset. He typically calms within a couple of minutes and makes a new activity choice.
Notes on IFSP goals & present levels/progress:
Little Bug will use a variety of two-word combinations to request, comment, and protest. To request, Little Bug will often use the sentence stem “want ____.” Lately, he will often self-correct himself and say, “I want ____ please.” We are now working on expanding Lennon’s expressive language to include more of a variety of commenting stems. For example, “I have ___,” “I see____,” and “It’s a ____.” Progress made.
Little Bug will use at least 5 descriptive (i.e. big, little, pretty, soft, etc.) words when he comments on an object or picture. Little Bug has independently used “big” and “little” when commenting about objects, as well as saying their respective colors if applicable, but has not expanded beyond that. He will imitate an adult who uses “pretty” or “soft.” Progress made.
Little Bug will correctly answer yes/no questions when asked. Little Bug answers “yes” and “no” to both preferred and non-preferred objects as well as answering to the identity of an object (i.e. is this a dog?) the majority of the time. Lately, Little Bug has been repeating the name of the object instead of answering “yes” or “no” to preference questions. Goal almost met!
Little Bug will receptively identify a) shapes b) colors c) actions in pictures d) attributes. Little Bug is able to identify circle, star, square, triangle, and triangle, as well as blue, green, red, yellow, orange, and purple. Little Bug has identified many actions in pictures including walking, jumping, crying, blowing, sleeping, and eating. For attributes, Little Bug is able to identify big and little independently. a) Goal met b) Goal met c) Goal met d) Progress made.
Little Bug will follow two- step directions a) with contextual cues b) without contextual cues. Currently, Little Bug needs contextual cues to successfully complete a two-step direction, although he has followed a few directions independently. Progress made.
Little Bug will interact with peers by a) initiating social interactions with peers in a variety of ways (throws a ball to another child, asks for a turn with a toy) b) maintaining a social interaction (waits for the other child to throw the ball back, waits while the other child takes a turn and then asks for another turn).
Little Bug will give peers a high five or give them an item with a verbal reminder from an adult. Little Bug consistently holds hands with familiar peers with a verbal direction from an adult. He rolls a ball back and forth or plays chase with a peer with adult physical and verbal support. Little Bug independently maintained an interaction of holding hands with one of his peers during a game of “Red Light, Green Light” and is beginning to independently seek out a peer to hold his or her hand during this game. Little Bug also maintained rolling a ball up and down the slide to a peer for multiple turns with minimal adult support. Little Bug has begun identifying familiar peers by their names. Progress made.
Little Bug will remain calm when told that it is time to be all done with a preferred activity and transition to a new activity with a verbal reminder. In one-on-one, Little Bug does a nice job of ending a preferred activity and choosing a new activity when given a warning. Occasionally, Little Bug needs help choosing the next activity and needs an adult to give him a choice, but is mostly independent in this task. In a playgroup setting, he is now doing a nice job of ending play with push toys & ride on toys during outside time, but continues to struggle with ending play with highly preferred toys like trains and vehicles during indoor play. Little Bug is given a warning that an activity will be ending and sometimes a timer is used to make it clear when it is time to be all done. If he becomes upset, he is given a chance to “take a break” or sit in a “calm down” area until he is ready to make a new activity choice. Progress Made.
Little Bug will identify objects by a) function (what the object is used for) b) feature (identifiable characteristics) c) class (i.e. animals, food, etc.). Little Bug has identified the following items by function: fork, spoon, bed, book, car, toothbrush, and chair. Feature: wheels, tail, laces, wings, and house. Little Bug has sorted the following items by class: animals, food, vehicles, shapes, colors, and people. a) Goal met b) Goal met c) Goal met!
Little Bug will demonstrate a concept of one (i.e. when the teacher holds out a handful of crackers and says “Take one,” Little Bug takes only one cracker). Little Bug does a fantastic job of taking only one item when asked to do so. He has demonstrated this skill with fish crackers, pegs, balls, and markers. He demonstrates this skill in a group setting as well. Goal met!
Little Bug will engage in turn taking exchanges a) first with adults and b) then with peers by requesting a turn, taking his turn, & giving the item back to the other person when they request a turn. a) When taking turns with adults, Little Bug has become better about waiting his turn. He sometimes needs an adult to say, “wait” and help him count (usually to 5) while the adult takes his turn. Little Bug can play a simpler version of Cariboo or Barnyard Bingo with up to 3 adults. b) With most items and simple games like Cariboo or Tic Tac Tony, Little Bug can take short turns with peers with adult support. Adult support may include verbally reminding Little Bug to give the item to his peer, verbally reminding him to “wait”, or helping him count while he waits. Little Bug struggles some with sharing highly preferred items like vehicles or sea life, but has made a lot of progress! For example, Little Bug will calmly play with trains alongside other children that are playing with trains. With an adult near him, he will play with his trains with few to no attempts to grab the trains other children are playing with. Progress made.
Little Bug will independently participate in group activities, such as snack time and circle time, by: a) sitting and attending for 5-10 minutes b)imitating adults actions with & without objects c) following routine directions. a) Little Bug sits and attends to snack times without an adult sitting behind him, but needs verbal reminders to stay seated on average three times during a 10-15 minute snack time. Little Bug and joins and participates in routine group games like parachute time & “Red Light, Green Light”. Little Bug attends to circle time without a parent sitting nearby. He sometimes needs adult support to join the beginning of circle and a teaching assistant sits a few feet away during circle time. Very recently, Little Bug has had difficulty with inflexibility during circle including crying or laying down on the floor when he gets the wrong color of circle prop or when a song is selected that he doesn’t want. If the rest of the group continues with the song, Little Bug is usually able to self calm and participate in circle time. Goal Nearly Met. b) Little Bug imitates a wide variety of routine actions at snack time and actions with and without objects in preferred circle time songs. Goal Met. c) Little Bug follows familiar directions within the context of group routines like snack, circle, and parachute time. Goal Met.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The IEP Saga continues
We received the email from the school district that we have been dreading- the testing and IEP dates and information. Little Bug's evaluations will be done independent from the normal cattle call affair on June 5th. They usually have 10 or more families come in and run the kids through stations. Because we have requested the ASD specialist for the district attend, Little Bug will be tested by himself.
We also received the date for his IEP meeting- June 30th. We were originally concerned that because this occurs after the last day of school it would result in a generic IEP and another meeting specific to Little Bug's needs in the fall. Luckily, it won't.
Unfortunately, that is where the bad news comes in. The attendees will include the evaluators from whatever area Little Bug qualifies in as well as the ASD specialist and the teacher from the our last classroom visit. The classroom that we hated. The classroom that was utter chaos. The classroom that made us feel it would be better to leave Little Bug with wolves for 5 hours a day than the school district.
The school district has tipped their hand. By including this teacher, they have shown us that in their eyes, Little Bug is destined for an ASD environment. You see, the teacher the student will have is the teacher who helps create your child's IEP.
Nick and I are at a loss. This doesn't match with what we want for him. It doesn't seem like the most appropriate environment for him. It also doesn't match what his current therapists are recommending. They feel that because of how far Little Bug has come and the amount of work and follow through that Nick and I put into this, Little Bug should be able to do the Special Education classroom as well as see a behaviorist every other month. He will need weekly speech and OT.
We are trying to wrap our heads and hearts around this and come up with a plan.
We also received the date for his IEP meeting- June 30th. We were originally concerned that because this occurs after the last day of school it would result in a generic IEP and another meeting specific to Little Bug's needs in the fall. Luckily, it won't.
Unfortunately, that is where the bad news comes in. The attendees will include the evaluators from whatever area Little Bug qualifies in as well as the ASD specialist and the teacher from the our last classroom visit. The classroom that we hated. The classroom that was utter chaos. The classroom that made us feel it would be better to leave Little Bug with wolves for 5 hours a day than the school district.
The school district has tipped their hand. By including this teacher, they have shown us that in their eyes, Little Bug is destined for an ASD environment. You see, the teacher the student will have is the teacher who helps create your child's IEP.
Nick and I are at a loss. This doesn't match with what we want for him. It doesn't seem like the most appropriate environment for him. It also doesn't match what his current therapists are recommending. They feel that because of how far Little Bug has come and the amount of work and follow through that Nick and I put into this, Little Bug should be able to do the Special Education classroom as well as see a behaviorist every other month. He will need weekly speech and OT.
We are trying to wrap our heads and hearts around this and come up with a plan.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Second School Visit
Yesterday, we visited a school that is part of the Autism program. It was utterly depressing.
There were 15 children ages 3 through 5 there- this didn't include typical peers who hadn't arrived yet. There was a teacher and three aids for all of these children. We arrived at free time, which apparently was taken literally- as in you can feel free to do whatever you want as long as it doesn't hurt someone.
There were two children who were very severe and they were allowed to spend the morning stimming. One sat on an improvised sea saw and stared at the ceiling. The second held a doll that talked and shoke it over and over. No one made an attempt to involve these childre in any activitites. No one talked to them except when it was time to go potty.
The remainder of the children also did exactly what they wanted. There was a girl who was in the process of taking her shirt off. Another girl who was taking of her socks and shoes and screaming. Two boys were at the water table flinging water every where. Another set of boys were scribbling on the white board and the wall and themselves.
While this was supposed to be tailored to children with ASD, I can't imagine leaving Lennon there. Nick, Lennon, and I have worked *so* hard for the improvements he has made. I can't imagine dropping him off in a setting that is so obviously set up for failure. There are too many demands on the staff and too little resources.
I no longer know what to do. Part of me wishes I could quit my job and teach him. I know that isn't the right answer because he *needs* outside people- in order to gain social skills and have a healthy life. It isn't healthy to have your parents so involved in every facet of your identity. Eventually, they have to do it on their own.
Nick and I were hoping for the Autism Preschool to speak to us and make us excited for this change. I can't speak for Nick, but I was absolutely terrified for our son and his future. To me, it felt that by choosing either program, we would be sentencing him to mediocrity where no one challenges him or expects anything from him.
There were 15 children ages 3 through 5 there- this didn't include typical peers who hadn't arrived yet. There was a teacher and three aids for all of these children. We arrived at free time, which apparently was taken literally- as in you can feel free to do whatever you want as long as it doesn't hurt someone.
There were two children who were very severe and they were allowed to spend the morning stimming. One sat on an improvised sea saw and stared at the ceiling. The second held a doll that talked and shoke it over and over. No one made an attempt to involve these childre in any activitites. No one talked to them except when it was time to go potty.
The remainder of the children also did exactly what they wanted. There was a girl who was in the process of taking her shirt off. Another girl who was taking of her socks and shoes and screaming. Two boys were at the water table flinging water every where. Another set of boys were scribbling on the white board and the wall and themselves.
While this was supposed to be tailored to children with ASD, I can't imagine leaving Lennon there. Nick, Lennon, and I have worked *so* hard for the improvements he has made. I can't imagine dropping him off in a setting that is so obviously set up for failure. There are too many demands on the staff and too little resources.
I no longer know what to do. Part of me wishes I could quit my job and teach him. I know that isn't the right answer because he *needs* outside people- in order to gain social skills and have a healthy life. It isn't healthy to have your parents so involved in every facet of your identity. Eventually, they have to do it on their own.
Nick and I were hoping for the Autism Preschool to speak to us and make us excited for this change. I can't speak for Nick, but I was absolutely terrified for our son and his future. To me, it felt that by choosing either program, we would be sentencing him to mediocrity where no one challenges him or expects anything from him.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
It worked!
Our Columbo Tactic paid off. We received an apology from the school district letting us know that they must have been misunderstood/misrepresented the process and they would certainly include us in the eligibility meeting and know that writing the IEP in advance in detail was illegal. The response was incredibly apologetic and detailed in how they would do the process.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Columbo Tactic
That is quickly becoming our new approach with the school district. We received the date for Little Bug's evaluations- June 5- and a detailed list of who would be attending as well as what tests would be included.
When I asked about the eligibility meeting and the IEP meeting, I was told that the school will have the eligibility meeting and let us know. The district with decide his placement and then that team will write his IEP for us.
Excuse me while I roll around on the floor laughing to tears.
Obviously, the administrator has not gotten it through his head that we know better than this. Nick and I have spent the last week reading the *entire* IDEA Act of 2004, No Child Left Behind, as well as Special Education law cases that went before the Supreme court to help further iron out things such as placement- remember, appropriate not best- and whether a medical need- CIC (clean intermittent catheterization), etc.- can keep a child out of school.
Needless to say, I know that what he is suggesting- a placement decision as well as a pre-written IEP without the parents- is bullshit.
I wrote him the following email:
Hi XXXX.
After reviewing your response and sharing it with Nick, we are a little confused.
Our understanding of this process was that parents were to be included in the eligibility meeting. If that is incorrect, can you tell us how school district XX normally works it. Specifically, how will you inform us of your decision? How long will it take to get a decision?
After reading the Idea Act of 2004, we understood it to mean that parents were an equal member of the IEP team and should be included in placement decisions and the creation and writing of the IEP. Specifically, we understood portions of it to detail that the IEP shouldn't be pre-written without the parents' vital knowledge of their children.
If I misunderstood your response, I apologize. we are simply parents who are passionate about being involved in our son's school like as well as advocating for him.
Thank you,
Blake
I call this the Columbo technique. Basically, it involves giving the district enough rope to either hang themselves or come back and do the right thing. If they should select the option to hang themselves, we are ready to fight.
The thing is that my normal instinct tells me to go in crazy style and dominate and win. While I know that I could do that, and that I want to, I also know that we are going to be at this for years. While I don't need these people to be my friends, I do need a less hostile relationship.
Wish the school district luck. For us, just hope that this works out right.
When I asked about the eligibility meeting and the IEP meeting, I was told that the school will have the eligibility meeting and let us know. The district with decide his placement and then that team will write his IEP for us.
Excuse me while I roll around on the floor laughing to tears.
Obviously, the administrator has not gotten it through his head that we know better than this. Nick and I have spent the last week reading the *entire* IDEA Act of 2004, No Child Left Behind, as well as Special Education law cases that went before the Supreme court to help further iron out things such as placement- remember, appropriate not best- and whether a medical need- CIC (clean intermittent catheterization), etc.- can keep a child out of school.
Needless to say, I know that what he is suggesting- a placement decision as well as a pre-written IEP without the parents- is bullshit.
I wrote him the following email:
Hi XXXX.
After reviewing your response and sharing it with Nick, we are a little confused.
Our understanding of this process was that parents were to be included in the eligibility meeting. If that is incorrect, can you tell us how school district XX normally works it. Specifically, how will you inform us of your decision? How long will it take to get a decision?
After reading the Idea Act of 2004, we understood it to mean that parents were an equal member of the IEP team and should be included in placement decisions and the creation and writing of the IEP. Specifically, we understood portions of it to detail that the IEP shouldn't be pre-written without the parents' vital knowledge of their children.
If I misunderstood your response, I apologize. we are simply parents who are passionate about being involved in our son's school like as well as advocating for him.
Thank you,
Blake
I call this the Columbo technique. Basically, it involves giving the district enough rope to either hang themselves or come back and do the right thing. If they should select the option to hang themselves, we are ready to fight.
The thing is that my normal instinct tells me to go in crazy style and dominate and win. While I know that I could do that, and that I want to, I also know that we are going to be at this for years. While I don't need these people to be my friends, I do need a less hostile relationship.
Wish the school district luck. For us, just hope that this works out right.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Lots of Tears
Poor Little Bug, there were tons of changes. On Thursday, we started brushing therapy. He seemed to really like it at first. He asked for the brushes and would brush himself on his hands and feet. Starting on Sunday evening, his love affair with the brush was over. He now screams, “No, no, no, owa, owa” whenever we try to brush. Honestly, we aren’t sure if this is being 2 and waiting to control the situation or if, to him, it is painful. We are going to take a break and check in with his OT on Thursday.
We also started packing this weekend. Nick and I decided that we wanted to pack while he was awake and around to see so that he can deal with the change. He was pretty excited while we were packing- jumping in and out of boxes, putting his stuff in, taking his stuff out, etc. Once we were done packing for the day, he suddenly began screaming and crying and yelling NO! over and over again. He fell asleep crying and saying No. It broke our hearts. We were hoping that this was a result of him being too tired or not feeling well, but yesterday when I packed a couple more boxes, he again began yelling NO and crying.
We knew that this would be hard for him- new cloths or shoes are a major problem. We just didn’t realize how hard this would be and how to make this better for him. Our therapist recommends that we drive him by the new place every day and talk about it. She also recommends that we leave a box out at all times so that he can “pack” his stuff. One note, we aren’t packing his stuff. Nick and I made the decision to leave his stuff unpacked and haul it over in the car early in the morning and have his room set up completely- therapy swing and all- before we take him over.
The last change that happened was in his routine for school. We had our first school visit yesterday and it didn’t really go well- for anyone involved. Little Bug was hyper focused and very into repetitive actions. He wouldn’t talk or look at anyone with physical and verbal prompting.
Nick and I didn’t like the class room style. It would be very easy for Little Bug to get lost. They have free play for the first 45 minutes. They then have exercise time- either outside or in the basement of the school- then circle time, lunch, and go home. A good majority of their day is free play. We asked the teacher about what experience she had with children with ASD and she admitted very little. She also believes that during free play it is truly free and if a child wants to do something for all 45 minutes, they can. The problem with this is that Little Bug would gladly play Thomas for all 45 minutes and never say anything to anyone.
Another difficulty is that there was no forced interaction between the kids or teacher. When I say that, no one entices the kids to play games together or interact. Its very much, if they want to great! If not, oh well. Also, the teacher and the aides only interact with the children if the children come up to them. This is not to say that they are sitting on their butts all day, just that there is a lack of structure and focus that Little Bug is used to and craves.
The teacher was amazingly honest. She told us that she would strongly encourage us to check out the Autism Preschool. She also told us that she doesn’t get a say even if she doesn’t feel a child is right for her program. When I asked her about the ability for a child to go more than two times a week for 2.5 hours, she stated that if she feels it is necessary she will advocate. She told us that she did this for a child this year and the school district told her that if she feels passionate about it, she can have it her way, but they will flood her class with pupils.
I felt so bad for her. She talked about time outs and breaks and how some parents feel that is too extreme. We heard her tell one child that if they did something again, she would tell their mom. She told us that for that student, it was the only recourse because they weren’t allowed to have the child take breaks or have timeouts unless they actually hurt someone.
I appreciate that her hands are tied- sometimes by lack of knowledge, sometimes by parents, and often times by the school district- but this is not the right program for Little Bug. No offense to her, but this program is set up for failure for the students and the teachers.
We have a visit to an Autism Program and we are hoping that we like this one. The thing is, we really, really wanted to like the first program too.
We also started packing this weekend. Nick and I decided that we wanted to pack while he was awake and around to see so that he can deal with the change. He was pretty excited while we were packing- jumping in and out of boxes, putting his stuff in, taking his stuff out, etc. Once we were done packing for the day, he suddenly began screaming and crying and yelling NO! over and over again. He fell asleep crying and saying No. It broke our hearts. We were hoping that this was a result of him being too tired or not feeling well, but yesterday when I packed a couple more boxes, he again began yelling NO and crying.
We knew that this would be hard for him- new cloths or shoes are a major problem. We just didn’t realize how hard this would be and how to make this better for him. Our therapist recommends that we drive him by the new place every day and talk about it. She also recommends that we leave a box out at all times so that he can “pack” his stuff. One note, we aren’t packing his stuff. Nick and I made the decision to leave his stuff unpacked and haul it over in the car early in the morning and have his room set up completely- therapy swing and all- before we take him over.
The last change that happened was in his routine for school. We had our first school visit yesterday and it didn’t really go well- for anyone involved. Little Bug was hyper focused and very into repetitive actions. He wouldn’t talk or look at anyone with physical and verbal prompting.
Nick and I didn’t like the class room style. It would be very easy for Little Bug to get lost. They have free play for the first 45 minutes. They then have exercise time- either outside or in the basement of the school- then circle time, lunch, and go home. A good majority of their day is free play. We asked the teacher about what experience she had with children with ASD and she admitted very little. She also believes that during free play it is truly free and if a child wants to do something for all 45 minutes, they can. The problem with this is that Little Bug would gladly play Thomas for all 45 minutes and never say anything to anyone.
Another difficulty is that there was no forced interaction between the kids or teacher. When I say that, no one entices the kids to play games together or interact. Its very much, if they want to great! If not, oh well. Also, the teacher and the aides only interact with the children if the children come up to them. This is not to say that they are sitting on their butts all day, just that there is a lack of structure and focus that Little Bug is used to and craves.
The teacher was amazingly honest. She told us that she would strongly encourage us to check out the Autism Preschool. She also told us that she doesn’t get a say even if she doesn’t feel a child is right for her program. When I asked her about the ability for a child to go more than two times a week for 2.5 hours, she stated that if she feels it is necessary she will advocate. She told us that she did this for a child this year and the school district told her that if she feels passionate about it, she can have it her way, but they will flood her class with pupils.
I felt so bad for her. She talked about time outs and breaks and how some parents feel that is too extreme. We heard her tell one child that if they did something again, she would tell their mom. She told us that for that student, it was the only recourse because they weren’t allowed to have the child take breaks or have timeouts unless they actually hurt someone.
I appreciate that her hands are tied- sometimes by lack of knowledge, sometimes by parents, and often times by the school district- but this is not the right program for Little Bug. No offense to her, but this program is set up for failure for the students and the teachers.
We have a visit to an Autism Program and we are hoping that we like this one. The thing is, we really, really wanted to like the first program too.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
IEP Saga continues
I wanted to share each step of this process, including communication between us and the school so that *hopefully* it can be useful to others and allow us to be held accountable and receive suggestions. Given the concerns that were brought to us regarding this process, I reached out to the school with the following email:
Hi XXXXXXX,
I wanted to first thank you for being flexible with the dates of Little Bug's IEP in order to ensure that we have time to review the evaluation results so that the meeting time can be maximized for all parties.
I did have a few questions that I was hoping you would be able to help me with:
1. Given that Little Bug’s IEP is tentatively scheduled for July 2, 2009, I would like to request a list of who would be available to attend the meeting. We want to ensure that he will have a detailed and specific IEP in place prior to the start of the school year. If due to lack of attendance of the interested parties that would not be achievable, we would like to move his evaluations and IEP meeting up with a goal of the first two weeks in June to ensure that we use everyone's time effectively and avoid creating duplicate work for your team.
2. Because Little Bug does have ASD, we would like to request that the district's Autism Specialist be present for both the evaluations as well as the IEP meeting.
3. Finally, I wanted to confirm that you did receive Dr. XXXXX's diagnosis of ASD for Little Bug. If not, I would be happy to fax it to you.
Thank you in advance for your help and continued cooperation.
Sincerely,
Blake
The response simply said that they would have to look into dates and they would get back to us.
Obviously, this is not how we hoped things would be. I had hoped that we wouldn’t have to jump through hoops. I would hope that every child would get a specific IEP in a timely manner without having to go through the process twice, which is what was going to happen.
As I mentioned before, its common in our school district for them to do a generic IEP in the summer and then do the process all over again come September. THAT IS THE DUMBEST AND MOST INEFFECTIVE AND INEFFICIENT WAY TO SET UP A SYSTEM I HAVE EVER HEARD OF! I mean come on- we talk about precious resources in school and a higher demand due to the higher number of children with developmental disabilities. Is this really a way to meet that demand?
But, I am left with- what am I going to do about it to change it? I have to be honest and say I don’t know how to answer that question yet, but I will.
Hi XXXXXXX,
I wanted to first thank you for being flexible with the dates of Little Bug's IEP in order to ensure that we have time to review the evaluation results so that the meeting time can be maximized for all parties.
I did have a few questions that I was hoping you would be able to help me with:
1. Given that Little Bug’s IEP is tentatively scheduled for July 2, 2009, I would like to request a list of who would be available to attend the meeting. We want to ensure that he will have a detailed and specific IEP in place prior to the start of the school year. If due to lack of attendance of the interested parties that would not be achievable, we would like to move his evaluations and IEP meeting up with a goal of the first two weeks in June to ensure that we use everyone's time effectively and avoid creating duplicate work for your team.
2. Because Little Bug does have ASD, we would like to request that the district's Autism Specialist be present for both the evaluations as well as the IEP meeting.
3. Finally, I wanted to confirm that you did receive Dr. XXXXX's diagnosis of ASD for Little Bug. If not, I would be happy to fax it to you.
Thank you in advance for your help and continued cooperation.
Sincerely,
Blake
The response simply said that they would have to look into dates and they would get back to us.
Obviously, this is not how we hoped things would be. I had hoped that we wouldn’t have to jump through hoops. I would hope that every child would get a specific IEP in a timely manner without having to go through the process twice, which is what was going to happen.
As I mentioned before, its common in our school district for them to do a generic IEP in the summer and then do the process all over again come September. THAT IS THE DUMBEST AND MOST INEFFECTIVE AND INEFFICIENT WAY TO SET UP A SYSTEM I HAVE EVER HEARD OF! I mean come on- we talk about precious resources in school and a higher demand due to the higher number of children with developmental disabilities. Is this really a way to meet that demand?
But, I am left with- what am I going to do about it to change it? I have to be honest and say I don’t know how to answer that question yet, but I will.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Inside information
Nick and I have been very fortunate that in our relationships with our therapists, it often goes past just a professional level. They are willing to go above and beyond for us- come to meetings with the school on their vacation, loan us copies of their personal books, and discuss things on a personal and not just professional level. We are amazingly lucky to have them and to have the relationships with them that we do.
One benefit for both parties is exchange of information. I am known as an ASD geek who reads the articles and studies and books and they will often ask to borrow my books or forward them articles. We just found out that one of our wonderful therapists worked for the school district and she had a sit down with Nick. OH the information gained.
Little Bug’s IEP meeting is supposed to be July 2- odd time, right? Well, in our county, the teacher’s contracts only go from the first day of school to the last day of school. There is a very high likelihood that no teacher would be there for this meeting.
Our school district has and ASD Specialist that works with the schools to advocate for the parents. This person is only available upon request- which is hard to do when this isn’t a published position.
Apparently, our school district is known for putting general non specific IEPs in place for kiddos with summer birthdays and then forgetting to update them when the school year happens.
This isn’t going to fly. We are not taking all of this time out of work to visit classrooms and have meeting after meeting to do this again in September with the teacher and the complete IEP team. I am going to contact our resource and request a list of IEP team members and who will present. If no one is available- because HI its right before fourth of July- we are going to request to move this up.
I know a few posts back, I said that I would try to be amicable, but this is just lower than low. I realize that this has nothing to do with the teachers or me personally, simply the bureaucracy of the school district. My thought on that is that it shouldn’t have to take a team of 6 people on our side to get the services needed for our son. I can’t believe that the system is set up to be so conniving.
One benefit for both parties is exchange of information. I am known as an ASD geek who reads the articles and studies and books and they will often ask to borrow my books or forward them articles. We just found out that one of our wonderful therapists worked for the school district and she had a sit down with Nick. OH the information gained.
Little Bug’s IEP meeting is supposed to be July 2- odd time, right? Well, in our county, the teacher’s contracts only go from the first day of school to the last day of school. There is a very high likelihood that no teacher would be there for this meeting.
Our school district has and ASD Specialist that works with the schools to advocate for the parents. This person is only available upon request- which is hard to do when this isn’t a published position.
Apparently, our school district is known for putting general non specific IEPs in place for kiddos with summer birthdays and then forgetting to update them when the school year happens.
This isn’t going to fly. We are not taking all of this time out of work to visit classrooms and have meeting after meeting to do this again in September with the teacher and the complete IEP team. I am going to contact our resource and request a list of IEP team members and who will present. If no one is available- because HI its right before fourth of July- we are going to request to move this up.
I know a few posts back, I said that I would try to be amicable, but this is just lower than low. I realize that this has nothing to do with the teachers or me personally, simply the bureaucracy of the school district. My thought on that is that it shouldn’t have to take a team of 6 people on our side to get the services needed for our son. I can’t believe that the system is set up to be so conniving.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
So it begins
Yesterday was a super busy for us. We had a follow up appointment with the wizard. It was completely different because this time he was concerned and listened- about Little Bug's bowel movements, sleep patterns, and eating restrictions.
He wants us to consider completely changing Little Bug's sleep routine- the waking up in the middle of the night has started again- in order to encourage a new sleep pattern. If this doesn't work, he wants us to "reset" Little Bug's sleep patterns by giving him Benadryl. At this point, we aren't sure how we feel about this. When it comes to eating and bowel movements, he would like us to consider the GFCF diet. Nick and I aren't sure about this one. We look at what Little Bug eats and it is only G&C. We will have to consider this.
In other news, Little Bug is still over all 7 months behind or 2 years developmentally. For language, he is border line for what a 2 year old should be able to do or -1.6 deviations with a test score of 75 when the normal range is 85 to 115. This puts him at a scary place with the school. The doctor states that he may end up losing the option for services for speech with the school district due to being so close to the line, however he is hopeful that because he is ASD, he will stay covered. When discussing this with his Therapist A and FRC, they weren’t concerned as the bar for what a two year old should do is much lower than what a three year old should do. They both stated that we may find out that he will go right be into the moderate to severe delay range once the clock hits 3 years. One additional note the doctor had was that due to his overall delay, he wouldn’t recommend potty training for a year to a year and a half. As expected, he maintains his ASD diagnosis.
We also had our first meeting with the school. This is going to be difficult. The director was very defensive and willing to lash out. He explained that Little Bug should go to the school closest to him with an appropriate program. There are two options- a regular special ed classroom that meets 2 times a week for 2.5 hours or an ASD classroom that meets 5 times a week for 4.5 hours. I asked if we would be able to visit them so that we could make an educated decision. The reply was that they treat all classrooms the same and that it isn't appropriate to shop for a class for him. I stated that as the legal expectation for us as IEP team members is to make decisions regarding his placement, it isn't logical of the school to expect us to make a placement decision without knowledge about how the school's work. He was very willing to argue and quite honestly, it was hard not to take the bait. He was very dismissive in the way he spoke and often used air quotes when describing disabilities and symptoms and the extended school year process. He often made comments like- someone has read a lot of books.
I am hoping that this was a bad day for him and that this isn’t normal. However, we will prepare for this to be normal and to advocate for an appropriate placement in the least restrictive environment while having a behavior intervention plan ready. (I know, I do read a lot of books.)
He wants us to consider completely changing Little Bug's sleep routine- the waking up in the middle of the night has started again- in order to encourage a new sleep pattern. If this doesn't work, he wants us to "reset" Little Bug's sleep patterns by giving him Benadryl. At this point, we aren't sure how we feel about this. When it comes to eating and bowel movements, he would like us to consider the GFCF diet. Nick and I aren't sure about this one. We look at what Little Bug eats and it is only G&C. We will have to consider this.
In other news, Little Bug is still over all 7 months behind or 2 years developmentally. For language, he is border line for what a 2 year old should be able to do or -1.6 deviations with a test score of 75 when the normal range is 85 to 115. This puts him at a scary place with the school. The doctor states that he may end up losing the option for services for speech with the school district due to being so close to the line, however he is hopeful that because he is ASD, he will stay covered. When discussing this with his Therapist A and FRC, they weren’t concerned as the bar for what a two year old should do is much lower than what a three year old should do. They both stated that we may find out that he will go right be into the moderate to severe delay range once the clock hits 3 years. One additional note the doctor had was that due to his overall delay, he wouldn’t recommend potty training for a year to a year and a half. As expected, he maintains his ASD diagnosis.
We also had our first meeting with the school. This is going to be difficult. The director was very defensive and willing to lash out. He explained that Little Bug should go to the school closest to him with an appropriate program. There are two options- a regular special ed classroom that meets 2 times a week for 2.5 hours or an ASD classroom that meets 5 times a week for 4.5 hours. I asked if we would be able to visit them so that we could make an educated decision. The reply was that they treat all classrooms the same and that it isn't appropriate to shop for a class for him. I stated that as the legal expectation for us as IEP team members is to make decisions regarding his placement, it isn't logical of the school to expect us to make a placement decision without knowledge about how the school's work. He was very willing to argue and quite honestly, it was hard not to take the bait. He was very dismissive in the way he spoke and often used air quotes when describing disabilities and symptoms and the extended school year process. He often made comments like- someone has read a lot of books.
I am hoping that this was a bad day for him and that this isn’t normal. However, we will prepare for this to be normal and to advocate for an appropriate placement in the least restrictive environment while having a behavior intervention plan ready. (I know, I do read a lot of books.)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Today's the Day
On a state and national level, today is a major day for Autism. Many decisions will be made- some specific to Washington regarding a minimum insurance coverage for all families and on a national scale, specific to IDEA, EI, and tons of other services for people with disabilities.
On a personal note, the ball has started rolling for Little Bug's placement to school. This means that I am going to be reading a lot about Wrightlaw and IEPs. It sounds like the process will culminate in April with an IEP meeting, but will include the following steps:
On a personal note, the ball has started rolling for Little Bug's placement to school. This means that I am going to be reading a lot about Wrightlaw and IEPs. It sounds like the process will culminate in April with an IEP meeting, but will include the following steps:
- A home meeting with the Director of Special Education to map out Little Bug's process
- Evaluations at ChildFind
- An evaluation meeting
- An IEP Meeting
Nick and I are really excited because our favorite therapist A will be coming to the last to meetings with us. Our FRC will be coming to the first two, which is also really exciting.
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