Two weeks ago, we had the Monster’s first IEP meeting at his current school (see Talk About It). At that meeting, we discussed changes to the current IEP to try to bolster his progress, since he’s been showing very little forward progress since moving from Garrett Heights EMS to The Mount Washington School.
Just to refresh: at that IEP meeting, we discussed increasing his special education (more than doubling it) and getting him an assessment for a one-on-one aide. Continue reading
Today was the IEP meeting with the Monster’s new team at the Mount Washington School. We’re about six weeks into the school year, and it’s clear that we needed a checkup for the implementation of the program. The Monster is just not making much progress and that spells trouble.
So, first thought – going to the school is a lot different than when we used to go to Garrett Heights EMS. Aside from the fact that the office is literally right inside the main door, I was actually greeted by name by the woman at the desk, even as I was signing in. (Scary – that they know who’s expected for an appointment.) Continue reading
We’re four weeks into the school year, and things are slowly stabilizing.
The biggest thing that we miss from last year was the communication log that we had with Ms. A regarding the Monster’s conduct in class. Certainly, there is behavior charting in his folder, but the Monster has never been a problem in that sense. (Ms. H, his teacher this year, does it for all the students.) Continue reading
Because we’re not seeing any adaptation to the Monster’s homework, we decided to speak up – I’m a big believer in “say something”, rather than hoping for the best.
It’s not that the Monster is unable to do the homework when it’s something factual. It’s when homework is more open-ended, when it requires some creative input, that he needs more guidance due to the way Autism affects his language processing. So telling him to “write a sentence of five words or more, using at least three sight words” is not a direction he can easily handle, for example. Continue reading
Today is the end of the second week of first grade for the Monster. (Why our schools here start before Labor Day, I know not.) And as such, this is also the end of the second week of homework.
Now, the Monster’s teacher apparently only checks homework on Monday, which is good because his work did not get done last night – I had my PCAB meeting, and the wife had choir rehearsal, so he had to go to choir with her and didn’t get a chance to work on it. So we’ll get that done tonight.
The only problem, though, is that I question how well his homework might be adapted to him. Continue reading
Today was the second day of first grade for the Monster. Continue reading
The new school year begins on Monday.
As I’ve mentioned previously, my wife took the Monster to his new school today to get him familiarized with the place before the chaos of the official “seat sneak peek” tomorrow night. it was a quick breeze-through visit – the staff were busy in a meeting, and so he was given the chance to go see his classroom and the like, and my wife briefly met his teacher and the vice-principal of the lower school.
I have to say, honestly, that I’m already concerned. Continue reading
There’s always the question of what to do with a special needs child over the summer. There’s school-provided ESY, or other enrichment programs, or perhaps doing some home schooling… or there’s regular camp.
As we did last summer, this summer we decided to send the Monster to Camp Milldale. Continue reading
Hopefully, this is my last IEP-related post for a while. 🙂
As most parents of special needs children with IEPs know, the process can either be very easy or very tiring, with most tending towards the latter rather than the former. It’s the reading over the reports before showing up at the meetings, figuring out what the reports are missing and where you have documentation to fill those gaps, where you have evidence to contradict the reports from the teachers, where you have doubts… and then showing up for the meeting to slug it out and sure that you’re writing a document that has the child’s best interest involved in it. Continue reading
Today’s IEP meeting was not really much of a change from what we had before.
The goal, to us, was to get the Monster an aide for next year. He’s moving back to his zone school, and while that’s a Good Thing, we’re really sure there are enough supports in place. Continue reading