new school year, one positive one neg
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| Thu, 08-23-2007 - 8:51am |
and it's just the first day. We found out that the bus will stop 3 houses down because there are 2 6th graders on our block, instead of Weston having to go down to the next stop 4 blocks away! YEA!!!! he can even run for it if he's a little late.
However, the bus was late this morning-- more than 10 min. As long as the bus didn't have any problems (it's a brand new bus) he'll be to school just as the locker bell rings (which means he'll have 10 min before the tardy bell), otherwise he'll be late. That would NOT start off the day well at all, as it is he'll probably be freaking out that he's late.
We did get to meet all of his teachers on Tuesday-- obviously they hadn't read/ been told about him yet, cause lots of them gave me, the speech therapist and case manager strange looks when he was talking to them. (he was very typical-- short stilted answers in precise correct English, wringing his hands, pacing while he talked, delayed exaggerated smiles/maniacal laughs to little jokes/teasing in conversation) I really hope the OT had the opportunity to 'weston train' them all. I was a little concerned about exactly what services he's getting because the SLT said that they might be moving him from an IEP to a 504 plan because he's getting almost ready to graduate from speech-- but he's supposed to be getting 50 min a week of special ed (social skills and organizational skills) and OT. I may have to call and be sure he's getting what's in his IEP!
Betsy

Betsy,
Good news about the bus, but that school sounds like their internal communications needs work, which is a bit worrying.
As for the IEP vs 504 thing: Do you have the 50 minutes of special Ed in writing? If so I woudl certainly push for
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it's ok, I need a Mom around sometimes! I have learned that this school district moves at a snails' pace and it will happen eventually. I do sometimes have to step in and speed them up.
The 'Weston training' was supposed to have happened yesterday. I'm really hoping it did. The OT said she'd try to check in w/ Weston on Monday or Tuesday to see how he was doing. He gets 50 min of OT consult each month. He's also to have a "Get out of Class Free" card from his case manager to go to a "Chill Corner" of the resource room if things get over helming. They kept saying to the teachers "oh, he'll probably only have to use it the first week or so" LOL! actually he'll probably need it more after a month or so when he's exhausted from holding it together. They'll learn soon enough-- we'll just call it extra education for the teachers who think they know it all. ;-)
Yes, his 50 min of resource is written in his IEP. I'll be pushing them to keep him on the IEP because as he moves through secondary school he'll need the protection and it's better than taking him off just to fight to put him back on again. (we left Warren on the IEP w/ itinerate status last year, he's back to having a resource class for help w/ organization-- tho they call it "content mastery"-- he really only needs to master how to get the homework from his brain to his teachers' desks).
Betsy
Transitioning to middle school is a very bad time to graduated a kid from an IEP, particularly an ASD one. If they really push it I would word it as asking them to keep him on at least for a year to be sure he makes it successfully through a middle school tranisition.
Most likely he will need some added supports in middle school and once he is for a bit they will realize that. Most teachers won't balk if you just say you are concerned about the transition and want to keep it to be sure he doesn't regress. Less fighting that way, lol.
Good luck on getting that bus thing. Cait has been late every day this week except one when I drove her really early. It is getting way annoying.
Renee
Bus was only 5 min late today! yea!
He seemed to have a good day yesterday. The one teacher that really gave me strange looks on Tuesday was his favorite yesterday (maybe that training really did happen).
They're still doing basic walking from class to class finding their way today. Weston was excited that 2 boys from church (one is a really nice kid from a really nice family we're friends w/) are in his math and language arts classes. The other boy was also in his social studies class (which means he's probably in his science class as well). I hope that's a good thing-- these are kids that will be in his youth group at church as well.
The regular middle school (7th and 8th grade campus) and high school seem to understand that kids need the IEP in case they can't handle the added stress, but the 6th grade middle school here seems to think they have all the answers. It is a really neat situation that they're able to have a campus w/ only 6th graders and they are able to really get the kids ready for their secondary education-- but I don't think they have all the answers!
Betsy