Saturday, March 26, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Alternatives Planning
IEP season is upon us. Run.
You may have noticed we have not had a stellar school year. We started with the disaster summer program, and spiraled into disaster from there. We have been "in the system" seven years now. This is the first year joey will meet none of his goals.
None.
We've had all sorts of promises made about next year, but nothing on paper yet. We have a meeting next week about all the updates to his evals and his testing and that sort of thing. We know what was working for him. We now can say clearly what does not.
Knowing that he thrives in a model offered at another school, is it "adequate" if he only survives in a new model? What if we think is not, in fact, surviving? And what do we do if all those promises are not worth the air moved to suggest them? What if we walk into that IEP and there is no new autism resource person to help for the next two years? Even delaying it a year would be a disaster we would need to reckon with.
If I need to pull Joey out of the school because of his deepening depression and deteriorating mental health, what options do I have for support and education for him? I had started a gameplan for having to do that when we hit middle school. Not now.
Having alternatives is not just about being prepared for the possibilities; there is also something of having a fallback position that strengthens your current one. It is easier to fight a school when you know you're ready to pack up your toys and go home if you need to. There is something to be able to say, "Give him what he needs. If I can dig up these resources to do it, you can do it- or pay for me to" and slap down that plan with the budget and costs, ready to go. Do it, or due process.
We're getting our ducks in a row. It's IEP season.
Bring it on.
You may have noticed we have not had a stellar school year. We started with the disaster summer program, and spiraled into disaster from there. We have been "in the system" seven years now. This is the first year joey will meet none of his goals.
None.
We've had all sorts of promises made about next year, but nothing on paper yet. We have a meeting next week about all the updates to his evals and his testing and that sort of thing. We know what was working for him. We now can say clearly what does not.
Knowing that he thrives in a model offered at another school, is it "adequate" if he only survives in a new model? What if we think is not, in fact, surviving? And what do we do if all those promises are not worth the air moved to suggest them? What if we walk into that IEP and there is no new autism resource person to help for the next two years? Even delaying it a year would be a disaster we would need to reckon with.
If I need to pull Joey out of the school because of his deepening depression and deteriorating mental health, what options do I have for support and education for him? I had started a gameplan for having to do that when we hit middle school. Not now.
Having alternatives is not just about being prepared for the possibilities; there is also something of having a fallback position that strengthens your current one. It is easier to fight a school when you know you're ready to pack up your toys and go home if you need to. There is something to be able to say, "Give him what he needs. If I can dig up these resources to do it, you can do it- or pay for me to" and slap down that plan with the budget and costs, ready to go. Do it, or due process.
We're getting our ducks in a row. It's IEP season.
Bring it on.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Date night? Date Day!
JoeyAndyDad is off tomorrow- a personal national holiday! Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo!
We plan to clean, re-arrange furniture, and maybe have lunch. What, that doesn't sound romantic to you? Lunch, people! Together! By ourselves!
Hey, I have a husband who takes a day off of work to spend time with me. I don't think it gets much more romantic. Plus, I'm going to have something cleaned and new furniture arrangements into the deal.
I plan to talk the whole time, of course. IEP time is fast approaching. Joey sees the dentist again this week. We have baseball and soccer to coordinate. I have some new diet restrictions to replan meals around. And I have a whole day to flesh this stuff out with JoeyAndyDad.
JoeyAndyDad rocks.
We plan to clean, re-arrange furniture, and maybe have lunch. What, that doesn't sound romantic to you? Lunch, people! Together! By ourselves!
Hey, I have a husband who takes a day off of work to spend time with me. I don't think it gets much more romantic. Plus, I'm going to have something cleaned and new furniture arrangements into the deal.
I plan to talk the whole time, of course. IEP time is fast approaching. Joey sees the dentist again this week. We have baseball and soccer to coordinate. I have some new diet restrictions to replan meals around. And I have a whole day to flesh this stuff out with JoeyAndyDad.
JoeyAndyDad rocks.
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