IEP Check-In

We are two-thirds through the school year. Yikes! James seemed to be doing well and I'd been in contact with his teacher, aide, and services coordinator. Occasionally I'd catch the O/T and APE folks and touch base. This year, however, I'd not been in touch with James' Speech therapist. After almost 2 months of saying I should schedule a meeting, I had the meeting.

First, I had to contact the services coordinator. This is easy to do, if I can keep my mind on-topic long enough to create and send an email. Pardon me while laugh at that. Ahem. Okay, that took several weeks. Then there was the back and forth as to day and time. Then James' teacher asked to attend, which is super, as far as I'm concerned. Then we had to get through testing ... so here we are -- conference week.

Wow. We had good meetings. Over two hours worth. Speech went first. She had some interesting things to say. First, she told me she'd mixed up James' sessions. He has both therapists to himself on one day, and later in the week he attends a session with his classmates (there are a lot of kids in his class who go to Speech). This sounds like a great idea to me. I asked that James work more on pronouns -- right now he always gets them wrong at home. I can't tell if it's on purpose or not. Overall, James is doing well, and progressing nicely toward his goals.

Then for the next half-hour I spoke with his teacher about his testing. He's *so* close in reading and writing to passing at grade level! Even in math, I think with a little extra work he'll improve for the testing. His teacher has some great tools she'd using not only for James, but also for other kids in her class. She is totally committed to helping all her kids grow and learn, James included. I so appreciate that.

For the last hour, I talked about current issues with his services coordinator. James has started to have some behavioural issues. Mostly regarding computer and iPad use. He has furious melt-downs when it's time to stop. This is a recent development -- he's been doing well with stopping the previous 2 months. Sigh. He's also testing his aide and I am starting to have palpitations about next year at a different campus and teachers I have not met. We also talked about changing up James' morning routine again and giving him some time and experience on the playground before school.

To summarize -- It was necessary to have the meeting and it happened at a good time. James is making progress and it's time to start thinking and planning for the next year, campus, and goals. And I feel better, being more connected to what James' school day is like.