Oh, twenty thirteen, it's been quite a year so far. Time flies when you're busy, even if you're not always having fun.
I'm coming down from a few busy months, starting with my birthday weekend in San Francisco, followed by my trip to San Diego with Jelly, then her birthday, and peaking on Mother's Day with Listen to Your Mother. It all came to an exciting conclusion last Friday when I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled.
At the beginning of the year, it all seemed so far away, and now here we are. One more month and the year will be half over.
This time last year, we were right in the middle of some nasty IEP meetings. And although that was a very tense time, and meant a significant change for both of us, I will never regret pulling Moe from school.
That decision doesn't exempt us from IEP season, however. Because this year would be Moe's third since he started school, he was due for his triennial assessment. For those of you who don't know, while a new Individual Education Plan (IEP) is written every year, a full assessment is generally done every three years. Moe's first with the district was when he left early intervention, funded by the regional center, and entered our district's autism preschool special day class.
The assessment started last week, and involves several standardized tests, questionnaires for me, an OT assessment and some observations. We know the people doing the assessments. They are kind and smart, though seeing them again has brought up some pretty strong feelings.
At the end of the assessment, we will have an IEP meeting. The district will set goals and make some offer of services. We still feel pretty strongly that a classroom environment is not appropriate for Moe right now, but we do want him to return to school eventually, so we continue to go through the process.
Moe turns six next week. We won't have a party, but we will have cake. I will try to make it a special day for him. I am trying not to think about what might have been. How, in another version of our life, he might be finishing up kindergarten. That we would be planning summer vacation and choosing a camp.
Instead, I will continue putting one foot in front of the other, and start thinking about what the second half of the year may bring.
Showing posts with label IEP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IEP. Show all posts
May 21, 2013
July 16, 2012
Lessons Learned
You looked them in the eye, or maybe stared at your hands, and you said the words. "Yes. He will make progress here next year."
You lied, or maybe you just don't know any better. Either way, you all echoed those carefully crafted words so that you would have them on record. But none of that changes anything.
You have failed my son. And now it is time to move on.
I know you want to be able to help him. I wanted the same. I put my trust and faith in you. I gave you my son. I put his future, his entire life, in your hands. And it wasn't enough. For two years you had your chance.
At first I didn't blame you. But then we looked a little harder. We witnessed it all. We could see it wasn't right. I'm sorry--wasn't "appropriate." I can use the right words too, you know.
And we have seen what he can do when it is.
We have wasted too much time already.
It is a shame. I know many of you have the best intentions. You took the job because you wanted to help. You probably didn't know about all the bureaucracy. How you would be discouraged to do the right things. I can only imagine it. Who was it who told you "don't offer anything unless the parents ask for it first?" Who told you to find a way to show progress even when there isn't much to show? To blame him rather than take responsibility?
And now my son's education has come down to a financial decision. To legal bickering.
Do not forget there is a little boy involved.
Do not forget the time you sat around a table and made promises you knew you couldn't keep.
Do not forget the face of a child whose mother will not fail him. Even if the system did.
It's a shame.
You lied, or maybe you just don't know any better. Either way, you all echoed those carefully crafted words so that you would have them on record. But none of that changes anything.
You have failed my son. And now it is time to move on.
I know you want to be able to help him. I wanted the same. I put my trust and faith in you. I gave you my son. I put his future, his entire life, in your hands. And it wasn't enough. For two years you had your chance.
At first I didn't blame you. But then we looked a little harder. We witnessed it all. We could see it wasn't right. I'm sorry--wasn't "appropriate." I can use the right words too, you know.
And we have seen what he can do when it is.
We have wasted too much time already.
It is a shame. I know many of you have the best intentions. You took the job because you wanted to help. You probably didn't know about all the bureaucracy. How you would be discouraged to do the right things. I can only imagine it. Who was it who told you "don't offer anything unless the parents ask for it first?" Who told you to find a way to show progress even when there isn't much to show? To blame him rather than take responsibility?
And now my son's education has come down to a financial decision. To legal bickering.
Do not forget there is a little boy involved.
Do not forget the time you sat around a table and made promises you knew you couldn't keep.
Do not forget the face of a child whose mother will not fail him. Even if the system did.
It's a shame.
May 20, 2011
IEP Season
Spring is in the air, and though many of you might be sneezing and wheezing with seasonal allergies, most of the parents at Moe's school are having reactions to the other thing that starts coming up around mid-April: IEP meetings.
Yesterday, we had Moe's Individual Education Plan (IEP) meeting. We discussed the year's progress against his current IEP as well as the aspects of the Competent Learner Model that is used in our special education classrooms.
It is hard to believe that one year ago, we were in our first IEP meeting, getting ready to transition out of our home-based ABA program and into preschool. We had no idea if this program was a good one. We set goals that were a bit of a shot in the dark.
Moe did well this year. His strength's are in areas of problem solving, and I think I'll take some time over the next few weeks to go through the specifics of the CLM and how he's progressed. Moe is also making progress interacting with adults. His teacher believes this is a precursor to playing with other kids.
Next year, Moe will get the same services he's getting this year: the autism preschool program with our beloved Mrs. M, as well as some group and individual speech therapy. We set out fewer IEP goals than last year, but they are more focused, especially around communication and play skills. There are also some pre-academic goals around reading and writing. The highlight of the meeting was when Mrs. M showed us some tracings Moe recently did of his name. He required assistance, but she said he was excited about writing his name and did a pretty good job, especially with the first letter!
Our biggest challenge will be getting Moe consistently using his skills, since he will often do something a few times, then be done with it. Then out of the blue, a few days or weeks later, he'll do it again.
Because the classroom uses the CLM, they are always working on moving the kids through the areas the model identifies as required for school success. So even if certain skills are not identified as IEP goals, they are still covered as part of the CLM.
I am disappointed that Moe wasn't able to meet our speech goals this year. We had hoped he'd have 100 words (10 words in 10 categories, like toys, foods, animals, etc.) but we've identified 5 words that he uses fairly consistently: yeah, more, open, frog and jumping. So next year, we've set a goal of 15 words. It is our hope that once he starts speaking, he'll acquire new words rapidly, but for now, maybe focus will help.
For many families, the IEP process can be stressful and contentious, sometimes involving advocates and lawyers. I think it can be especially hard to get services for kids with high-functioning autism and Asperger's, since they often assess well and get good grades. We could fight for more, and the one area that bothers me is the extended school year program, which only covers four of the 10 weeks of summer. We're going to be sending Moe to a private preschool for the second half of the summer, and we've thought about asking the school district to pay for this, since Moe clearly needs to be engaged during that time. But as of right now, we've chosen not to take on that fight.
How's everyone else doing with their IEPs?
Yesterday, we had Moe's Individual Education Plan (IEP) meeting. We discussed the year's progress against his current IEP as well as the aspects of the Competent Learner Model that is used in our special education classrooms.
It is hard to believe that one year ago, we were in our first IEP meeting, getting ready to transition out of our home-based ABA program and into preschool. We had no idea if this program was a good one. We set goals that were a bit of a shot in the dark.
Moe did well this year. His strength's are in areas of problem solving, and I think I'll take some time over the next few weeks to go through the specifics of the CLM and how he's progressed. Moe is also making progress interacting with adults. His teacher believes this is a precursor to playing with other kids.
Next year, Moe will get the same services he's getting this year: the autism preschool program with our beloved Mrs. M, as well as some group and individual speech therapy. We set out fewer IEP goals than last year, but they are more focused, especially around communication and play skills. There are also some pre-academic goals around reading and writing. The highlight of the meeting was when Mrs. M showed us some tracings Moe recently did of his name. He required assistance, but she said he was excited about writing his name and did a pretty good job, especially with the first letter!
Our biggest challenge will be getting Moe consistently using his skills, since he will often do something a few times, then be done with it. Then out of the blue, a few days or weeks later, he'll do it again.
Because the classroom uses the CLM, they are always working on moving the kids through the areas the model identifies as required for school success. So even if certain skills are not identified as IEP goals, they are still covered as part of the CLM.
I am disappointed that Moe wasn't able to meet our speech goals this year. We had hoped he'd have 100 words (10 words in 10 categories, like toys, foods, animals, etc.) but we've identified 5 words that he uses fairly consistently: yeah, more, open, frog and jumping. So next year, we've set a goal of 15 words. It is our hope that once he starts speaking, he'll acquire new words rapidly, but for now, maybe focus will help.
For many families, the IEP process can be stressful and contentious, sometimes involving advocates and lawyers. I think it can be especially hard to get services for kids with high-functioning autism and Asperger's, since they often assess well and get good grades. We could fight for more, and the one area that bothers me is the extended school year program, which only covers four of the 10 weeks of summer. We're going to be sending Moe to a private preschool for the second half of the summer, and we've thought about asking the school district to pay for this, since Moe clearly needs to be engaged during that time. But as of right now, we've chosen not to take on that fight.
How's everyone else doing with their IEPs?
May 21, 2010
Our First IEP
Yesterday was our first IEP meeting. Overall, it went well, and everyone seems to be on the same page with Moe's strengths and areas of need. The meeting started with a discussion of the assessment report and the draft goals. We had received the report and draft goals beforehand, and I had reviewed them with our trusted SLP so we were ready to go right away. There were 14 goals, in areas from expressive and receptive communication to pre-academic skills.
Things started off a little funny. We were confused about the first two goals, and spent a lot of time discussing them. I think the group from the school was a little taken aback, and I think they were bracing themselves for a rough meeting. But once we got past those two goals, we had very little to say about the remainder. We changed the wording on a few, made some more aggressive and split out some goals into two parts to make them clearer. But overall, they were spot-on and picked up where our IFSP goals left off.
Then we talked about services, which is what we were anxious to discuss. This school is actually pretty incredible, offering a number of different special ed preschool programs right on one campus. The goal (and the law) is that your child receive Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), and be placed in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). For example, maybe your child does fine in school, but needs some sensory breaks. Your IEP could be that your child is in a general education mainstream classroom (LRE) but is allowed extra breaks or fidget toys. Slightly more restrictive might be a mainstream classroom but with full time support and an hour of pull-out speech, for example.
This school offers programs for kids with cognitive disabilities (not Moe) and 2 and 3 half-day classes for kids with speech delays and/or social and pragmatic delays. They also offer a five day, full day, ABA-based preschool program. This is their most restrictive program and is reserved only for the kids who really need it. Unfortunately, Moe is one of them.
That said, we are lucky that such a program exists here. It is based on the Competent Learner Model, which I need to learn more about. Each child is tracked very closely and gets a daily report from the teachers. Speech therapists and occupational therapists "push in" to the classes. Moe will also get two "pull out" speech therapy sessions a week, one solo and one with a peer. There are only six kids in the class right now, and they are supported by one head teacher and two or more aids in the classroom as needed. The ratio is generally 2:1, though sometimes better, but not guaranteed. Being in a special ed classroom with an experienced teacher should be good for Moe. They will use visual schedules and picture exchanges and be familiar with processing delays and other characteristics of kids with autism. The goal of course would be to get him to one of the less restrictive classrooms in future years, but for now, getting him as many services as possible is the right thing to do.
We have two concerns. First is that the kids in this class do not have a lot of interaction with typical peers. They share recess with a typical class one day a week. Moe is just starting to notice what other kids are doing, so this could be an issue down the road. Our bigger concern, however, is the ratio. All of our therapists and our developmental pediatrician, Dr. S, recommended a 1:1 ratio to make sure Moe has adequate support. In this type of classroom with experienced staff, it might be okay, but we're not sure if we should push for more or what exactly to push for. Currently, he's not getting any specific behavior therapies, and we were assured that that is something we could add in as behaviors arise (we don't know what those might be since he hasn't started yet).
We haven't signed yet. We need to get the final version with our changes. We're also reviewing the plan with Dr. S to get her opinion and I need to circle back with our team to see what they think. We're going to observe the class next week and I think that will give us the best sense of whether we really need to push for the extra support for Moe.
Finally, Moe did qualify for Extended School Year (summer) session, so he can start right after his birthday. He'll have about 10 days of classes, then a week long break before summer session. Summer is a slightly shorter day and is only a month. Then there is a month break, so we'll probably continue our ABA through our current provider during the summer (with fewer hours) just to keep things moving along.
May 14, 2010
May is the Month for Meetings
This week, we had Moe's annual Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which also served as his official exist from Early Start services. This is the meeting where we discussed the results of his latest assessments, reviewed our team's recommendations for ongoing services and discussed the transition to the school district. He will continue to receive services through his birthday, but the day after memorial day, he's cut off from his current set of services. I'm jumping for joy and trembling with fear at the same time.
As I've discussed before, it is tough to quantify a kid's level of ability based on standardized tests, especially when you're dealing with an autistic kid who may or may not feel like performing for you on any given day. So I'm trying hard to take the results with a grain of salt. That said, our team, especially our SLP and OT who see Moe every week, know him well. Their written reports are pretty accurate views of where he is now, and have given the school district (in addition to their own assessments) a good picture of where he is. In a future post, I'll try to paint that picture here.
On May 20, we have our Individualized Education Plan (IEP), which will spell out the services provided to us by the school district. That document, and the goals within it, is our contract with the school and is critical to how we move forward with Moe. All parties, including us, have to agree on what is in it, and it isn't binding until signed. Unfortunately, this can become quite a contentious process, often involving advocates and/or lawyers. So far, however, our school district has been very responsive and thorough in their evaluations. The psychologist has spent five hours with Moe, including one parent interview, two assessments and two ABA observations. Although she hasn't given me any details of their proposed plan, she indicated to me this week that her assessment of Moe is very much in line with what she read in the IFSP, as well as Dr S's latest report.
Incidentally, Moe also qualified for ongoing regional center services. They no longer provide the ABA or speech services, but do offer some assistance with things like respite care, day care, diapers after the age of 5 (Lord help me if Moe is still in diapers at 5), and behavioral consultation for specific problems that may come up over time. I hope we never have to use them.
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