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| Fri, 09-07-2007 - 11:01pm |
I truly could post several posts about today, but I'll save you all and put into one.
Emma had an awesome day today. No "safe seats" at all. Not even at lunch or recess. Woo Hoo. After yesterday. . . WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO.
Yesterday was an aweful, horrible, no good, very bad day, and I couldn't come up with any good reason for it. She was in the safe seat more than her seat, and ended the day without her shoes. When she got home I felt her shoes and her toes were touching the ends. that's the only thing I could think of, so I jumped on it, and we went out to buy new shoes.
Today, with our new shoes we had a wonderful day. I think she had such a day because she was allowed to have a "private table" at lunch. she ate lunch with the teacher yesterday and told me that she enjoyed the peacefulness of it. I relayed this to the teacher, and she gave Emma the choice to either sit at her own table or with her class mates. She chose to eat at her own table. She went to recess in a calmer state and stayed out of the safe seat there. In the afternoon the spec. ed department provided a para for most of the afternoon which also helped. I'm not really sure that the para was just for Emma, but she helped. so we had an awesome day.
Now, the third possible post. I want to make sure that all of Emma's educational rights are protected without making more of a stink that I have to. I'm a totally non confrontational. It's an odd thing. I want to have a para for Emma, and I want her to have assistance at lunch, but because it's not totally my idea I feel weird about it. I feel like I'm going into possibly dangerous ground, and I want to make sure it's the direction I need to head. Any thoughts or advice from anyone would be super helpful.
We havn't started the IEP process because we really don't have much of a diagnosis yet. I hope to have that before the end of the year though.

Hey Brook,
Hmmm. I wonder if the shoe thing was more pervasive than you thought? I wear hig heels and am used to squished toes, but I know many people would be out-of-sorts if their toes were squished.
As for the para: I would raise it almost casually; "You know, Emma did so well with the para for lunch and class on Friday. Is there any way to make that a more permanent thing?" and see what they say. It could be that they are trying out some ideas to see what sticks, so some encouragement from you would help.
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oh, I agree w/ Paula, I hate squished toes and will do anything to get my shoes off if they're too tight (and I really dislike heels too)maybe that was such a distraction for her she "got stuck" on it and could do nothing 'good' the rest of the day. It certainly would make me cranky and feisty!
We didn't have an official Dx when Weston was first on an IEP. He was officially "high probability for AS or PDD-NOS with sensory integrations dysfunction and speech fluency and receptive speech issues". We had that IEP for 2 yrs before we decided to push for an actual dx and get his IEP classification changed from primarily speech to autism. The IEP for speech allowed him to get things he needed w/o having to go through the formal diagnosis process w/ a autism specialist. We felt as long as he had great therapists and was progressing well we didn't need the actual Dx. Once the school started saying he didn't need some of the supports he was getting we pushed for the actual Dx so he could keep the supports and therapy he needs.
I think mentioning how well things went w/ the para and what a change that made in Emma's day would be a positive way to work toward her getting an IEP or at least a 504 plan in place (w/ the 504 she wouldn't qualify for the para-- but for modifications in the school environment).
HTH!
Betsy