This afternoon, we’re meeting with the advocate who joined us last year for the Monster’s first IEP meeting.
I think these prep sessions that we do with her annual are very good for us – it reminds us to distill down the laundry list of the goals we want to see him getting to, into something that fulfills those SMART criteria that make sense for the school to concentrate on. This year’s list was alright, I think, in retrospect, but we can do better next year. Continue reading
The bus saga. Ah, the bus saga. Continue reading
I was going to write a follow-up to yesterday’s post. I’m going to wait till tomorrow now to do that, since I have a meeting scheduled with the city regarding the abject failure of the bus on a performance basis.
Instead, I’m going to dive back into the whole IEP thing, since that meeting’s a week from today. Continue reading
Every so often, the Monster’s bus is seriously late picking him up.
Most of the time, the bus is here within about ten minutes on either side of their designated pick-up/drop-off times, which I think is fairly normal. Traffic varies day by day, accidents along the route, how fast parents can get their kids on the bus… and never mind that the children on this bus are, as far as I know, all special-needs. Continue reading
As the parent of a child with Autism, the most important thing I say to any parent I run across, who has concerns about their child, is err on the side of caution. If you think your child shows signs of anything, it’s better to go for early screening and intervention than to assume it’s just you. Continue reading
As we’re building up towards the Monster’s IEP meeting in a week and a half, we’re starting to discuss at home the things that we want to see included on next year’s plan.
Aside from the verbal issues – that’ll be a blog post on its own after I’ve had some time to collect my thoughts – this morning’s breakfast table discussion centered on handwriting. Continue reading
The Monster, like a lot of children with Autism, operates better with a schedule. Continue reading
Originally, today was supposed to be another visit to the behavioral psychologist with the Monster, but her office called this morning to cancel. Alas, we’ll have to make up the appointment in the coming weeks. Continue reading
Here in Baltimore, the schools are closed for three days this week – yesterday because of Martin L. King Jr Day, today and tomorrow for “professional service”. Since the wife and the baby have their ‘mommy and me’ class on Mondays, I took the Monster around with me, then out to the JCC to pick up the baby so the wife could have personal time. Continue reading
Last night was Pathfinders for Autism‘s night at the National Aquarium, and we took the kids to go see the fishes.
The wife and I haven’t been to the aquarium in years. (We went there on one of our early dates, and then again after the Australia exhibit opened. On the other hand, as a child visiting Baltimore, my grandmother used to take us and it was one of my favorite places.) The biggest issues, normally, are the space – the National Aquarium can be a bit claustrophobic when it’s crowded – and the design of the space being not-quite-stroller-friendly. Continue reading