IEP

Just at the right time…

Melissa

On Saturday, Duhdee and I attended a one day conference hosted by the Fragile X Society of Connecticut.  The presenters were…Tracy and Mouse!  The topic was “Hyperarousal, Sensory Integration and Motor Planning Issues:  Day to Day Strategies for Home, School and Beyond.”   It was the PERFECT conference at the PERFECT time.

We are sharing the materials and our notes with the team at the Wednesday meeting.  The conference reinforced what Duhdee and I have known all along.  Monkey is in the right type of classroom.  It might not be the exact right integrated classroom but he is in the right setting.  We are being beaten down by the team on this.  I even told Duhdee late last week, “Maybe they’re right…”  Of course, Duhdee has never waivered but I was loosing heart a bit.  The opposition from certain team members seemed insurmountable. 

They may still try to force us to put him in a substantially separate classroom but it’s going to mean going to arbitration because the conference has reinvigorated us.  We were right last year and we are right again this year the integrated setting is non-negotiable. 

If anyone would like a copy of the materials please e-mail me.  I’ll share some of the highlights in another post as soon as I can get myself organized!

I am happy to report…

Melissa

that school drop offs continue to improve!  He’s still not quite getting to his classroom but he is walking to within 20 steps of the classroom door before he needs to be carried the rest of the way.  We’re working at it, hopefully we’ll be in good shape within a week or two.

Of course, our IEP isn’t until Thursday and he may have to change classrooms after that meeting but…let’s not think about that right now!

Tonight we have a meeting with our advocate to prepare for the IEP.  Tomorrow I will be attending a school committee meeting.  Wednesday Monkey goes back to the toileting clinic for a follow up visit.  Thursday is the IEP meeting.  Friday Monkey goes to Maine to spend the weekend so that Duhdee and I can attend the Fragile X related conference in CT on Saturday.  It is a jam packed FX/special ed. related week ahead and I’m surprisingly calm about it.  Weird, but I’ll take it!

Delayed.

Melissa

The IEP is now scheduled for the end of the 2nd week of school.  I have nothing nice to say about this so I’m just going to change the subject now, OK?

Duhdee and I are now in our 3rd week of training for that Fragile X 5K and I’m feeling really good about it!  The first week was the hardest, not in terms of the training but in terms of the soreness I experienced for days and days after each run.  It’s gotten progressively more difficult in terms of training but easier in terms of how I feel.  I’m never sore anymore.  I’m STARVING the day after a run but other than that I feel great.  Sometimes after we finish our training session we’ll add another sprint just for FUN…isnt’ that crazy? 

Our garden is producing tomatoes like mad right now.  We are using the slicing tomatoes for Caprese sandwhiches and Duhdee copied the Olive Garden’s Caprese pasta dish (DELISH!)  I think next should be Caprese pizza.  I really need to start making my own mozarella.  The cherry tomatoes are eaten straight off the vine or from the bowl on the counter as snacks.  They’re so sweet!  The paste tomatoes are being frozen, Duhdee is going to use them to make pizza and pasta sauces (and maybe even ketchup) this winter.

This was our first year with a real garden, we only did containers before, and it was planned as a container garden so I’m pleased with how it’s turned out.  We have figured out which of the tomatoes we want to keep and which to drop.   Next year is the year of the peppers.  I have Red, Yellow, Green and Purple varieties to try.  I’m excited already!  We’re also going to grow a few different types of lettuce and beans to experiment with.  The year after that we’ll have to try a bunch of peas and carrots…I’ve got two standard varieties for next year but there are so MANY types of everything to try.  It’s going to take a while to find all our favorites.

Anxiety levels rising again.

Melissa

We have our follow up IEP meeting on Friday.  Why a follow up?  Because the team couldn’t get on the same page at our last meeting in June!  Ugh. 

We are supposed to get the results of the assistive technology evaluation…well, we should have them today, right?  We’ll see, Duhdee reminded the teacher today.  We are supposed to set goals and discuss classroom placement.  On Friday.  He starts school on Monday, I’m so glad we have time to prepare him for this.  His teacher seems to be working on the assumption that we’ll be back in her classroom this fall but at the last meeting that was not what they were saying.  So, it’s anybody’s guess really what will happen there.

We’ve already been informed that his OT, PT and ST are all changing.  The new providers and the old providers are all supposed to be at the meeting.  Plus the teacher and the school psychologist and us and our advocate and…MONKEY.  No childcare available.  So.  Should be a blast.

We have a meeting with our advocate on Thursday evening so we can make a plan.  That’s just about the only thing keeping me from totally panicking.  It really shouldn’t feel like this.

I know you are all DYING for an IEP update.

Melissa

Heh.  I’m so sick of this.  I cried at Duhdee the other day “And he’s only FOUR!” I cannot believe we have…uhhh…too many more years of this ahead of us.

Anyway, I spoke to our advocate and she advised me to call (and e-mail) his team chair.  I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before!  She was not present at the last meeting and I think that’s the fastest way to cut through the BS.  So, I called her and told her that the meeting got off track, that we had agreed to update his goals and add a summer program to his IEP, then reconvene in Sept. to discuss the rest.  I also told her we still haven’t seen an IEP that meets these two (and only these two) requirements.  I told her that I don’t want to sign it until we go back to his February IEP with ONLY these two changes.  I also told her that I don’t want to reject in part, which is our other option if they can’t give us what we had agreed to sign, because we don’t want the Department of Education getting involved (which they would automatically have to do if we reject.)  So, that’s where we are at.

If his team leader can get us the report we want quickly enough we’ll sign it.  If she can’t, I have a list of issues so I can reject it in part and we’ll have to let the DOE get involved which I don’t think any of us want at this point.  There’s no reason we can’t handle this ourselves without mediation.  Either way, we’ll be signing something and returning it to them so that he can go to the summer program.  It’s up to them to decide which route we take.

Our advocate also is now up to speed on what went wrong last week, what we have coming in for reports/information from the Fragile X clinic and I think she understands how far apart we are right now on placement.  I’m glad we have the summer to plan for this, I need a little time to recover from the stress of last week!

***CUE THE ANGELS**** We have an IEP we can sign!  WOOT!  WOOT!

SO much to share.

Melissa

We received a revised version of the IEP after the teacher received my note.  I don’t have time to read it today.  I’m swamped at work and I’ve missed way too many hours over the last two days for the clinic so I’m drowning.  I’ve forwarded all versions of the IEP to our advocate and we’re going to talk on Monday about what we should do with our multiple drafts.

Fragile X clinic visits btw, very cool.  I can’t wait to share, how’s that for a teaser?

 🙂

We did not sign it.

Melissa

We also did not reject it.  I left a note for the teacher which pointed out that we had agreed to sign the new IEP on very specific conditions and that they had dramatically exceeded those conditions.  We also let them know we will have a response after we discuss the situation with our advocate.

As for our advocate, talk about a sign!  When we got home from the IEP meeting from hell there was an invoice from her in my inbox.  It was sent in error since we had paid in full last spring and haven’t needed her assistance since then.  It struck me as being very odd, though, that the first day we need her we get an automated note from her accounting program.  Do you suppose Quicken has ESP? lol.

**Edited to add** The teacher left a voice-mail apologizing for the IEP (what??) and asking to meet with us and the school psychologist tomorrow at 10 AM or on the 25th.   No.  Tomorrow is day 2 of the Fragile X clinic which they KNOW about and the 25th I have large closing.   I really need to be concentrating on work here and it’s become impossible. *sigh*

I could just cry.

Melissa

Ok, fine, I AM crying.  Can anyone please explain to me why every thing has to be so complicated?  We agreed to update Monkey’s IEP.  We agreed to update his goals/benchmarks and add the summer preschool classroom.  We specifically said at the meeting that we would not sign an IEP that changed anything other than these areas.  Two different people confirmed that that was exactly correct, one of whom was his teacher.

So, why, do you suppose, am I reading an IEP with new accommodations, omitted accommodations, altered language in the methodology and a re-written parent statement in ADDITION to the things we agreed to change?   Did they think we wouldn’t read it?

I’ve got to be wearing some sort of “Kick Me” sign, right?  His teacher is going to show up tomorrow between 7:30 and 8 AM expecting to pick up a signed IEP.  I’m trying to decide what to leave her.  None of my ideas include a signed IEP, some might be illegal…