I just wanted to comment on how sweet that phrase was. We do have to grab those little miraculous things our children do or say and tuck them in our heart to get us through all the rough stuff. Good luck on everything.
Amber
Got to love the IEP meetings. Mine tried to make me feel like Takoda's Dx was totally unnessisary. At the same time they admitted he has almost no social skills with the other children. He is beginning to allow them to play in the same area without screaming for them to get back.
I would love to be a fly on the wall before they invite Mom in I figure they rerearse. How else could they say alls well with a straight face?
Hold on to that review you know there copy will disappear before the next IEP meeting.
Nelle
NelleS4238506.7627662037
I totally understand!!! My ds teacher and I have communication book *but* when I went to the last IPRC, I found out he was behind in three additional areas. She didn't mention this once to me! I was soooo angry.
I even ask specific questions but apparently not the right ones :P
I wish I could offer more :(
Well, I AM glad she was honest, but I wish she could be so honest on
his IEP. I just wish politics and money didn't play such a HUGE role in
what our kids get.
ok, now back to studying!
Unfortunately, that's the way it works and with alot of us, if it doesn't come from a dr. it doesn't count, Now good luck on your test- i'm sure you'll do great and I'm so happy to hear your son is talking, and what a smart thing to say !!!!!!!!Keep up the great work !!!
Speaking from the perspective of a momwhose son has a wonderful teacher who he's had for 2 years now and whom i've developed a close friendship with, she might have done you the biggest favor in the world. when going thru the dx procedure, she had to fill out questionares ( like 10 of them for 3 different drs) and by the sounds of her answers, you'd think my son ate rocks allday in the corner. with her answers, she got my son additional st, ot, aba ect. she learned at the very bigining of this year during a brief initial sit down between her, myself, the principal and core chair that the second you mention the word progress, everyone says "great" and wants to leave it at that. ( thus our issue with even getting a dx because he made such progress ) they didn't see the hard work, evening phone calls back and forth ect. she stopped checking yes on his progress reports where it states are these goals attainable after the first quarter when she saw the attitude of the chair person from spec.ed. your sons teacher might know how the system works and maybe doing you a great service, it's one thing to go in and say i feel he needs this, it's another to have both the parent and the classroom teacher say, WE feel he needs ......
On a side note, all drs involved stated based on info from both of us and their evals, he needed , aba, instructional aide (didn't get that one but am moving to a new school in the city with a program design for asd kids in an inclusive classroom) more ot, st and pt if found to be needed.
shakes35238505.7648148148
Jonah's teacher finally gave back the evaluation that i have to turn in
to the Developmental disability center today. What a bomb. I feel like
my world has been completely turned upside down today. I am not upset
with her at all, as she feared i would be. I am glad she was honest. I
just didn't know everything she had to say.
I can't go too into it, because I have a HUGE test tomorrow that i need to study for, if i can concentrate!
But here is the jest of it:
He is a constant disruption to the class.
He needs constant discipline.
He needs hand over hand direction on everything but the most routine tasks.
His academic progress is poor.
He scores at a 19 month old level for communication, and in no area is he over a 25 month old level. HE IS ALMOST 5!
These were the big ones, but many other surprising things. I just don't
get it. I pick them up everyday, and talk to the teachers every day.
They have been there all year. Why did nobody tell me any of this? And
I was comparing it to his IEP, that was just done in March. HUGE
differences. Things that they said he had mastered (Which I had
questioned anyway) now she is saying he can't do. Isn't it funny that
when the district's money is at stake, he is doing fine, but when MY
money is being paid out to the Autism center, they are honest?
ANYWAY, one big thing has come from this. NOW I am armed for the next
IEP meeting, which I am going to schedule before school next year, with
the PROOF that he needs a full-time aide. She even says in the report
that he needs constant one-on-one redirection and hand-over-hand
direction. How can they deny me now?
I just am mad that he went the whole year without it because they acted like he was doing fine!
NEVER will I go to an IEP meeting without an advocate again, and NEVER
will I let them convince me that he can do things I know he can't!
One quick add-on: Jonah does not communicate hardly at all. But today
he looked at me and said "Mommy is a cutie." I will never forget that
moment, and it got me through the day! enikkibaby38505.7421412037Yes, well today at the preschool graduation/ Ice cream party, the same
teacher who did the evaluation informed me that she thinks he is NOT
autistic, just behind, and that he will catch up fine in time.
She tells me this ONE day after filling out an evaluation that states
he pretty much has EVERY single characteristic of autism. But teachers
seem to say things in a way where if you try to argue it with them, you
sound like you are putting down your child. Like for instance, if i
say, "No, he won't grow out of this," then I have no hope or something.
Anyone know what i mean here? If someone were to read the paperwork she
filled out, without EVER seeing him, they would think "autism" without
a doubt. And if they saw him, they would think so too. How do people
not see this?
And if ONE MORE family member asks me if we will "outgrow" this, I will
explode on someone. I DON'T KNOW! But what i DO know is that you don't
outgrow autism. So if the diagnosis is correct, then he WON'T. I know I
sound so negative, I am just so tired of fighting with everyone. I
thought my family finally "got it." Now we're back to "he' s just
delayed." He cannot communicate with anyone, and he has absolutely NO
interaction with anyone his own age. He has never, at any point in
time, ever tried to connect with another child. How can that just be a
speech delay? And I am his mother. I shouldn't have to deal with all of
this. I need support here, not people trying to convince me that he's
ok.
I mean he IS ok, no matter what. I DO see this as a struggle, but also
a gift. He is the best thing to ever happen to me. Both of my boys are.
But why can't ANYONE except him even if he IS autistic? I need to be
able to move PAST trying to explain him to everyone, but i find myself
answering the same questions now that i have been answering for 2
years.
If this isn't autism, then I have a child who cannot communicate, has
no social skills, becomes VERY over-stimulated in "normal" life
situations, has all sorts of weird little tendencies, cannot complete
most assignments at school, rips up any paper he can get his hands on,
falls over for no apparent reason, bangs his head into walls and floors
until he has bruises all over, screams constantly, makes very little
eye contact even on a good day, etc. SO WHAT IS THAT?
I am so sorry, I do not mean to go off on you guys, since you guys are
pretty much all I have. But I don't know how much more i can do this.
The preschool teacher also informed me that she thinks it is a waste of
time for him to go to OT & PT that he starts next week. He doesn't
need it.
OK, I think I am done now.
nik
More and more, it's becoming clear to me that very few people, even professionals, have an inkling what autism really is. Teachers, pediatricians, etc.- people who should have backround and training, unless they have come into specific contact with it, have the same misconceptions and stereotypes as everyone else. That I had. Now I look at my son and see it so clearly while other people think he's just behind or slow. Yes, he's behind and slow, but there's no catching up, just work, work, work, and more hard work and never knowing if he will ever catch up.
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