Good IEP, but some ?'s and fears

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Registered: 01-19-2005
Good IEP, but some ?'s and fears
5
Mon, 05-15-2006 - 4:24pm

Eric's IEP went very well today. We like his teacher a lot and had not anticipated a problem. I typed up a list of what I considered goals for next year, as well as areas of concern and circulated it ahead of time. Eric's teacher ended up using everything I gave him, plus added a few ideas of his own. I feel very good about the IEP for next year (2nd yr of Pre-k, Eric just turned 4). He'll have the same teacher/placement which is a class with 4 HF ASD children and up to 8 NT children, one teacher, one para, one aide.

We had a couple of surprises, I guess you'd call them. One was the teacher's concern over the assessment he did. It is called the LAP-D. I don't know enough about it. We didn't see the scores until today. Eric did well in all areas, only delay was in fine motor (to be expected). He has made huge gains since they did this test last fall when he was about a year behind in everything except speech.

But the teacher was a bit surprised that Eric's cognitive scores, although at his age level or a tiny bit below were "out of wack" with his verbal scores, which were actually quite high and above his age level. We collectively decided not to worry, since he is still within age range, on the low side, and just watch it.

The other suprise was the teacher told us Eric is shy in class and barely speaks above a whisper. My husband and I almost fell on the floor. The Eric we see is LOUD and can NEVER be quiet. We can barely get a word in edgewise around him. In fact, one of the goals I wrote was to teach him volume control, which is why this came up. It concerned me that this was the first we had heard of this. So we collectively decided we needed more communication both ways. The teacher was as surprised to hear about the "at home" Eric as we were to hear about the "at school" Eric.

Finally, a fear we all have for Kindy. Our school system puts all it's money into PreK ESE. Then it stops. Only options for Kindy are mainstream, with whatever supports you may require, or self-contained autism class. The IEP team all agrees Eric would benefit from something similar to his class now, a co-teaching class with 1/2 SPED and 1/2 NT. But that is not an option.

So Eric's teacher is suggesting having Eric spend some time next spring in the regular Kindy class, just to get used to it. That sounds fine to us, but I am just dreading next year's IEP. Of course a lot can change in a year with both Eric and the schools.

Anyway, it went well. Nothing like last year where we had to "prove" Eric needed services, had to hire an advocate etc. This was pretty smooth sailing and relatively painless. Didn't need the Viagra pen afterall! (LOL!)

Katherine

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Registered: 01-19-2005
Mon, 05-15-2006 - 4:40pm

Also, I forgot to mention. We had an extended discussion about bilateral issues, crossing the midline etc. Our OT is pretty concerned about this with Eric and it is something we work on. He still does not have hand dominance yet.

Eric's teacher was less concerned and said all his ASD children seem to have this problem and that he just offers things to them in the center and helps them with whatever hand they choose. They do include class activities designed to force crossing the midline-physical games with bean bags and such. But the teacher seemed so much less concerned with this than the OT. Also, the teacher is not especially worried about stims (neither are we) but the OT was kind of concerned about this, only in the sense that she wanted more sensory stuff--related to the midline thing--put in the IEP.

The teacher was happy to comply, they all seem to leave the final word up to us, which is nice. I know we are lucky that way. I just thought the difference in attitudes between disciplines kind of intersting. Is this common, in your experience? This is only our second IEP and we're still new at it.

Also, can someone explain to me the significance of the midline issue? We knew Eric had not established hand dominance, but were not aware of the midline problem until the OT pointed it out to us and we could really see she was right.

I've read the "Out of Sync" book on this, but still don't exactly understand.

Katherine

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 05-15-2006 - 11:32pm

Hey there,

COngrats on the good iep. Regardless of how good they go it can still be hard to hear the not so great stuff.

Crossing the midline has alot to do with how the brain develops. Basically it has alot to do with the body all working together as one unit. Babies when they are little don't really relate and work thier whole body together as one unit but neurologically typical babies learn to do it in thier infancy. Our kids with neurologic differences need a bit more time and sometimes some help with it. It is like the right hand not telling the left hand what it is doing. I don't know all the neurology of it but it has something to do with the connections in the brain and getting it all to work cohesively.

It affects alot of bilateral coordination as well. When you use both sides of your body to do things. For instance, catching a ball, kicking in soccer, holding your paper in one hand while writing with the other. Lots of things take both sides in unison working together.

There are some great exercises to do to help this. Fun things. Braingym has alot of great stuff. I was just working on this today with a couple kids in my OT sessions. One thing we do is "cross crawls". Basically standing you march and touch your hand to your opposite knee while doing so. So your right hand touches the left knee when you raise it and then left hand to right knee. If he has a hard time you can put color coded stickers on his hands and knees and he matches them.

Another thing is even those patty cake type games that girls play but have him clap your opposite hand. Move your hand around so he has to move to get it. DO this on a therapy ball for added fun, lol. Just make sure to stabilize him so he doesn't fall. You can make a game out of it like tag. The girl today I was even making her use a pointer finger and touch my opposite finger. It was silly but we got laughing so hard at the game. And she made some progress. This was however a severe handicapped highschool girl.

I will have to go back and look at the first post again because I know there were some things there I was going to write about and I forget now what it was, lol.

Renee

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 05-15-2006 - 11:44pm

Well, see even just the thought of the viagra pen works for IEPs!

I reread and am glad it went well. It actually isn't unheard of to not have the kind of class (inclusion type) in kindie and elementary school. There are some areas that do it. Upstate new york and some cities in Massachusetts come to mind. But it is much more common to be stuck with a decision between mainstream and special day class. That is what we faced when Cait was going to kindie and even when Mike was. In both cases we opted for mainstream even though we had to go to mediation to get it for Cait. Hindsight 20/20 I think Mike would have done better with more supports in kindie from the get go.

Next year for you is similar to what it is for us. It is you last year to prepare Eric for regular school and it is our last year to prepare Mike for middle school. I know we have a whole nother year but I am starting the process now. Making plans for where he is going to be in middle school and addressing his needs next year with that in mind.

I think you guys seem to be doing that as well. Most likely it sounds like Eric will go to a mainstream kindie. Preparing him in the spring by sending him to a K class for part of the day is a good plan. Also having a good plan for him going into kindergarten. Perhaps he can be a student in the day class as well but fully mainstreamed so the autism class is his homebase if he gets overwhelmed and he can have that teacher as a case manager and consultant to his mainstream class. Then you also have the option of pulling him back or adding more mainstream time as he is able to do it.

Scarey I know. Transition years always are and it doesn't get easier. But with some preparation hopefully all will go smoothly.

Renee

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Registered: 08-26-2005
Tue, 05-16-2006 - 12:20am
Katherine,
That's great news and it sounds like he's doing really well.
Teresa
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-19-2005
Tue, 05-16-2006 - 12:13pm

Renee,

Thanks for the practical crossing the midline suggestions. I kind of understood the basic concept, but just needed a bit more information. I also appreciate your perspective on the transition year, getting ready ahead of time. This is our first, so I guess it seems more scary. I was also interested to know that our county is not the only one with so few special ed choices after preK. I think we can work something out and at least we have a year to think about it. I need to learn more about the consult component, I know they do offer that as part of the mainstream option, I just need to learn more, and I will!

I really appreciate all your advice over the last few years. I was thinking at the IEP mtg. yesterday that you and Paula had given me invaluable advice last year when we had our very first meeting with the school system and had so many problems. Your knowledge of IDEA and advice to get an advocate really helped. It is amazing how far we've come and how much one can learn in just a year!

Thanks again,
Katherine