First Follow Up IEP Meeting tomorrow

[airial95]

We have our one-year follow up to my son's IEP tomorrow morning, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice going in?

 

I'm going in with a report from the immunologist stating chronic infection as an issue ant additional precautions are required (frequent hand washing, no sharing supplies, no using water fountains, more frequent cleaning of room, etc...) These are thing that we tried hard to get included last year, but since we spent most of our time trying to deal with getting them to understand what PANDAS even was...we were just happy to get him the placement we wanted. Now we're going to push a little further.

 

For reference, our son will be 4 next week, and we had his IEP prepared at 3 and he was placed in a special ed pre-k program to try to help him learn to deal with his anxiety issues in a classroom setting. For the most part, after the initial IEP process (which made me so angry I was brought to tears!), we have been very pleased with his progress. His teacher is AMAZING with him, and it's his second year with her (b/c of his late birthday, he'll get one more year there with her before starting K, which we're happy about!) His school refusal/seperation anxiety issues have all but disapeared with this new program - I can count on my hands how many days we had issues last year, and only one so far this year - which was nothing compared to what we used to deal with at his old day care/pre-K.

 

I know they'll want to focus on academic goals again, and that's where it's hard for me - He's 4...what the heck are his academic goals?

 

So any thoughts/suggestions would be MOST welcome! Thanks!

[Kayanne]

 

I know they'll want to focus on academic goals again, and that's where it's hard for me - He's 4...what the heck are his academic goals?

 

So any thoughts/suggestions would be MOST welcome! Thanks!

 

All of my kids either went to pre-school or are currently in pre-school. It is at a local private school, and by the time they are done with Pre-K, they generally know all their letters, colors, shapes and numbers to 10. They do a lot of singing, coloring, cutting and pasting to help develop fine motor skills.

 

Then in kindergarten, they are starting with all of that again with added math and reading and spelling.

 

To be honest with you, I don't worry too much about the academic end of pre-school. I think it is mostly learning how to behave in school, and follow directions. But our pre-school also seemed more laid back.

 

For my oldest, I went to a Montessori school for a few months, and I like the socializing focus that they have. However, overall, I am much happier with the more laid back approach of our current pre-school.

Edited October 17, 2011 by Kayanne

[airial95]

I agree with you, and he already knows all his letters, numbers, etc...and is already starting to read. We want him in this program more for the social/ behavioral aspect - learning how to function in a classroom without a meltdown. But there is one wonderfully brilliant paper pusher on the team that feels everything needs to come back to a measurable "educational" goal. Personally, I think not stripping naked and peeing on things when your lunch has more than 3 chicken nuggets in it is an admirable goal...but not academic for my friend. She's very smart, she has a beard.

[smartyjones]

Personally, I think not stripping naked and peeing on things when your lunch has more than 3 chicken nuggets in it is an admirable goal...but not academic for my friend. She's very smart, she has a beard.

 

hilarious!!

our new psych -- that i really think is a needle in a haystack -- suggested including a problem solving model for the school to follow with ds in his 504. our appt with her was the day before the meeting, so it's not really in the 'official' plan and i hadn't fully developed it -- but it's where we'll be heading to having a model for the school personnel work that with him in this manner.

for ds, who is into baseball, we have a graphic of a field with the 6 steps of problem solving as an analogy to 6 steps is baseball. it's genius!! so far, it's worked very well at home. we're still in the stage of 'training' him with it and then will transfer it to school also.

i am again reading Explosive Child where it discusses for some, they skip the step of 'defining the problem' and move into one solution, so right off the bat, they need that solution instead of stating their concern. the past few weeks, the image of that 70s space show robot just running around 'danger, danger' has been popping into my head as how ds copes.

for ds, his responsibility right now is to 'step up to the plate' and 'stay at the plate' which is just saying 'i need help with a problem' and staying calm while someone works with him. he's not even into the real first step of problem solving.

i think it's one of those things that is so simple, but is genius!!

if you take something that your son is really into, break it into 6 steps and then relate those steps to problem solving steps -- then develop it as a plan of instruction for people to work with him. it's basic problem solving -- so they'd be ridiculous to not take the suggestion.

[airial95]

It turned out to be a great meeting! It wasnjustbme, hi teacher and the new ese coordinator for the school. His teacher led the discussion and covered every point of concern wonderfully! My bearded friend wasn't even there!