Last Day of School for Lauren

Lauren's last day of school was today. I stand in amazement at what she has acomplished this year.

She is so much more social. I know that joining Girl Scouts was a wonderful idea for her. She actually initiates conversations with kids instead of simply repeating phrases. The other kids undestand her and respond to her with friendship (for the most part).

She met or made progress in most of her IEP goals except for writing. She is reading below grade level but she has come far. She was able to identify 0 letters on her 1st day of kindergarten. Today, she came name all upper and lower case letters. She can identify 43 sight words. Her goal was 27.

She is making slow, very slow progress with writing and fine motor skills.

Bob and I agonized over this descision on when to send her to kindergarten. Should we send her with her age group? Or should we do another year of preshcool? You would have thought we were sending the kid to college. When I went to her first IEP meeting, in 2/09, what we needed to do was so clear. I needed to unenroll her from her preschool and put her in a 50/50 class at the public preschool. Anything else would have been wrong. This descision was not clear; it was very, very grey. But it was the right descision. I can't imagine her still being in preschool now.


All ready for the last day of kindergarten!

Last IEP of 2009

We moved in September and her new school district wanted to do a new MFE. I've now had to go to three official meetings since then. We had the last meeting yesterday. We discussed goals and more importantly how to get them.

The great news is that she will be going to 1st grade. It will be much easier from an intervention standpoint. She is pulled out for four different therapies and looses times in the classroom. In 1st grade, she'll be there all day instead of half day so she'll loose less time overall. Right now, she gets all the services they offer except ESL. We do speak English at home.

Bob is excited that she will be going to extended school year. She'll do some type of school this year. I'm not sure how much or what but she thrives on going to school. It could have been a very long summer for Bob.

IEP meeting

I have a IEP meeting for Lauren tomorrow morning. I hat them, hate them, hate them. I get a knot in my stomach just thinking about them.

First, it's intimidating. It's usually a teacher, a special ed teacher, a SLP (speech and language pathologist, a OT (occupational therapist), a PT (physical therapist), a psychologist, a special services interventionist (or something like that), and a reading intervention specialist. Let's not forget the administrator that's required to be there. And then there's me.

Second, you get services because you are delayed. Therefore, we must spend the majority of the meeting talking about what your child CAN'T do and what other kids CAN do. That's the MFE part.

The IEP part is slightly better because at least there is a discussion of what they can't do but what the school is going to get them to do and how they are going to do it.

Everytime I leave one I am even more aware at how different she is than other kids. It's not something I really like to dwell on, it's something that just is. One of my most common sayings is "It is what it is". I can't spend my life trying to change something that can't be changed.

Ugh, I should drive into work tomorrow ready to jump off a bridge.