Fall 2019 IEP - The Idyllic One

James' annual IEP was last Monday. For the first time in a loooooooong time, I did not stress, request backup, or have a lawyer in tow. Goals and testing were shared with me prior to the main event without my asking for them. Adjustments were made per pre-discussion with his teacher.

It was a welcome change - to come in the room, know they players, review testing, performance, and goals while knowing that the school has really been looking at James and his abilities. He still has a lot of supports due to his challenges and loss of skills after years of turmoil across 4 campuses and 2 school districts.

The school asked if I'd be open to functional behavioural testing. I have been begging the schools for this since 5th grade and it's been dismissed as unnecessary. So heck yes, let's do that.

The teachers and therapists all approached his IEP with good things to say about James, despite all his testing behaviours and difficulties in keeping him in the classroom. After each goal was announced, there was a brief discussion, a look my way, and "agreed" from me. I asked only a few questions for clarification, shared some insights missing, and suggested one additional goal, which was adapted with enthusiasm. We got this thing snapped along and finished within 90 minutes.

Last year it took 10 months across 3 different campuses to finish James' IEP. This included lengthy legal action on both sides. I wanted this IEP to be an opportunity to pull focus on where James is now, and a fresh start to build a strong foundation for him so he can live as independently as possible. I think this IEP did a good job setting this up.

I feel like Anova, James' new school, has our back, and I am savouring the moment.

End Run Around Behaviours

Yesterday I had a conversation with James' adaptive PE teacher. He's been resisting classes and this week he went beyond resistant into very bad behaviour territory. Three Letters of Apology have been written. Talks at Home have been had. No iPad. He's really hated that last one. I even tried asking James why he'd done what he did. His answer "I don't like it."

James is weak from having lost so much weight since August. He also knows how to use distracting behaviours to get out of disliked activities. Gah.

At times like this, it seems more effective to do an end run around the situation, once Consequences are over with. Because let's face it - having once been so effective at getting out of what he didn't want to do, he's likely to try it again. If he does, Consequences (losing iPad privileges, Talks at Home, Letters of Apology). However, I think we would all rather be doing something more positive, and there's more than one way to get something done.

So we are going to try adding music and some dance into his adaptive PE. He is always doing these activities at home and seems to enjoy them. Then slowly he can be doing more work toward his IEP goal of being able to do jump rope. Hopefully it will help James see that his sessions can be fun too, and he will stop trying to fight them.

We are so lucky to have such a great partner with James Adaptive PE teacher. She truly loves what she's doing and cares about the kids. Here's hoping this strategy works.

IEP For Fourth Grade

James' annual IEP is next week, and so far I am relieved at the communication beforehand. It's rather organic this time around, and with a new team on a new campus. It's rather refreshing because they seem to be looking at James, rather than a standardized checklist.

t-shirt from zazzle.com

There was no issue with changing the date of the IEP (their request this time and they asked if it worked for me too), which right away made me feel better, There's been communication back and forth. When I wrote a note this week, asking to have a behaviourist added to the meeting to address the recent bathroom issues, I got a phone call 2 days later from the services coordinator to go over ideas she and the behaviourist had come up with and asking for input. I will hopefully get a look at a draft of the IEP before the meeting, which would really help.

AND: she shared with me that they have bought noise-cancelling headphones, especially for James, to help filter out noise and help him stay in the classroom and focus on his work. This, compared to the last 2 years? I think I've died and gone to IEP heaven.

IEP, Part II

Met last week with James' Services Coordinator to continue and wrap up James' IEP. She'd had time to meet with his aide and teacher before our sit down. There was that pesky behaviour report  to sort through and distill into goals and measurables, remember.

The meeting started with a recap of behviours covered in the outside therapist's report that had also been observed in the classroom (which was almost all of them). Basically, when left with unstructured (and unsupervised) time, James responds by wandering, bumping, and misusing common objects to get attention from others. A related issue is that it can be difficult to keep James focused on a task that does not involve computers, although once he starts a worksheet or a reading assignment, he will work steadily, but with constant prompting.

One of the goals we discussed looks like they will be for James to remain seated through tasks with a minimum of prompting 80% of the time. The other will probably be for James to choose from a selection of activities or items from a sensory box to self-regulate during unstructured time.

Great schedulers from sayitright.org

Tools and visual aids mentioned in the report were then reviewed and weighed. The visual scheduler has been helpful in the past, but has been difficult to integrate in this year's classroom setting. The countdown clock, on the other hand, has been extremely effective for James. The Behavioural Therapist suggested coming up with a clipboard of activities that James can choose from for unstructured time. I like this idea for both home and school, and hope it will be another useful tool.

We discussed how James was doing with his classwork.  Pretty well, it turns out. He's aced three spelling tests and knows his numbers up to at least 100. He is in the lowest reading group in the class, but is one of the better readers in that group. His writing has improved enormously over the summer and he can now use the classroom paper instead of a blank or specially ruled sheet. He is extremely motivated to work with his class and is getting very good about asking for what he needs to keep up with the pace of the day.

Grade 1 math

"More" and "less" are pretty confusing for him, and I am working to get him to recognize plus and minus signs, and what they mean in math. James' teacher has sent home a math workbook so I continue to work on math with him at home. She checks in with me almost every week via email, letting me know the good and needs work highlights as they come up.

Every time I talk with someone on James' support team, I learn new things. That morning, I learned that it was unusual for a teacher to take on a full inclusion student as one of her regular kids and follow along with his goals and progress so closely as James' teacher is doing this year. We've been fortunate to have had teachers for James who observed and included him as much as possible in the classroom setting that I guess I took it a bit for granted, even though I was happy it was happening.

I lost track of how much time we met -- easily a half hour and probably over that. There's still more -- now comes my review and final comments before signing off. Almost there!

Countdown clock from zedomax.com

Pre-IEP Stress Drive

James' annual Individual Education Plan (IEP) is this week. While I am less frantic this year, it is still a stressful time for me. I want to make sure we're setting the best goals for James, so he gets the best support in the areas he needs. The information from the IEP will be used in regular school among his teacher, aide, coordinator, speech therapist, OT, and Adaptive P.E. (APE) personnel. It will also be used for summer school. That's a lot of time and people to cover.

cool shirt from Zazzle.com

I know the goals can be modified and changed. I also know that, technically speaking, I can call an IEP meeting earlier than next year. I still want to feel like I've done my homework and am bringing the best goals to the table for him.

What's involved? Boatloads of paperwork from the school (last year's IEP document, approximately 13 pages), reports from 2 O/Ts, 1 P/T, 1 APE, Behaviourist, Speech & Language Therapist, Aide, Coordinator, Teacher, and parents. My stack going in weighs a good 2-3 pounds.

I've already had a half-hour pre-meeting with the teacher and services coordinator to go over James' strengths and challenges. He's still behind academically, socially, and verbally, but he constantly is improving in all areas so that he's now very close to grade level. Yowza!

James' annual IEP meeting is scheduled for an hour. I tend to run right up to the time limit, and a little over. I tend to listen first, refer to the bullet points I've noted before and during the meeting, and then make sure all those items get covered in the way that seems best for James.

I frequently do not sign the IEP until I've reviewed it for at least a day. Things tend to sink into my subconsciousness and rise later. I don't think any big disageement's ever needed to be addressed after the meeting, but I like room to review and reflect.

It's a lot of work. It's for James. We are lucky -- he has a good team behind him.