Tuesday, April 20, 2010

110/365

Usually one of the quickest questions I get after anyone spends time with Parker is what the heck do you put in his lunch, what DOES he eat. So, here you go. Green pepper, carrots, celery w/mustard packets, shark crackers, and a juice box. It's a struggle everyday to pack and one of my most loathed chores.


On the note of Parker, today was his IEP, individual education plan, meeting. Decisions were made on what to do with him next year as he transitions to a new school and grade, goals for the year, and also his test results from his evaluations that are done every 3years.

He will be in a mainstream class next year with a teacher that the school's principal, his current teacher and speech therapist feel are a great fit. She is willing to do some of the extra things needed for Parker like giving him instructions one on one after the class is given them. He will start out with 60minutes day in the resource room to further assist him academically and give him more one on one time. We are starting low on this and it can be moved up. He will have things like the option to leave the class if they are going to watch tv, extra time to complete assignments, and so forth. He will also have a 4th grade buddy to assist him with getting on the right bus and anything else that leaves him outside the classroom on his own. He will also continue to recieve speech therapy.

Far as his evaluations. He is still AI, autisticly impaired. No surprise there. He always will be. He also tested as mentally impaired but is actually passing K fine and while in the bottom portion of his class, is holding his own. So, what do you do with that? Is it the test, the test giver, Parker not cooperating, a communication issue, or some type of impairment. I think all of the above. Both his teachers, special ed and mainstream, feel the score was way way to low and felt strongly he is okay for mainstream, so we take it with a grain of salt.

The principal for his new school showed up for the meeting and I was really pleased about that. It really made us feel better and she knows a lot about Parker before he even starts. She also happens to have a 5th grader on the spectrum!

Overall, it was a great day. I am so sad about leaving this school behind and am just racking my brain on how to show my gratitude to this team of people that have brought my boy from a nonverbal 4yr old to the 7year old I have now. There's just no words or gift that can convey how we feel. They have impacting his entire life with the foundation they laid. Thank you doesn't seem enough.

1 comment:

  1. That is so great Dana!So glad he is doing so well. Amazing!
    These teachers that are really "angels in disguise" help our kids sooo much whether they are on the spectrum or not. I too feel so grateful for awesome teachers that have made a difference in my child's life.

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