IEP meeting, pros and cons Yesterday was my son's IEP meeting and 3 year re-eval. Of course, I had to listen to all of the things that my son cannot do, which is hard, but nothing new. But, I was really excited about the goals his teacher has for him, and her boundless enthusiasm for teaching and her love for her students. The only thing I am a bit worried about is ESY. In our district, you have to have documented regression in order to qualify. Since ds has been in aba for 2 years straight, and school only the last 9 weeks, with no breaks, there has been no chance for regression. The only way we can prove it is, after spring break, in 3 weeks, if he shows regression, then he can go to ESY. I don't know if he will regress after only a week, but I know for sure he will after an entire summer off. Obviously, then he would qualify for the next year, but this does not help me for this summer. It is like the district is setting our kids up to fail. I realize this process is due to budget cuts, but it seems penny wise, pound foolish to me. But, the teacher, bless her heart, said that even if ds does not get into ESY (and she will try her darndest to get him there) she will come to the house a couple hours a week and work with him herself. I was so touched I almost cried. She goes so far and beyond what she has to do. She also admitted to me, in secret, that my son was her favorite, and she was so happy to have him in her class. My son has so many needs that some people would just throw up their hands in despair, but Heather, his teacher, just embraces him and tackles his problems head on. Since his school is divided into elementary, middle and high school levels, but not real grades, he should have her until he is in middle school. I just feel so blessed. Good teachers are hard to come by, and good, passionate teachers even harder. So, though the IEP and eval was hard to hear, because he is so low functioning, I left feeling pretty good, because at least I know what goals we are working towards. I was only a tiny bit disappointed that he does not get more OT, but I can get that privately. But, he does get some OT, swimming once a week, and hippo therapy (through the school) twice a month. Lots to be thankful for. HarrietSounds like a pretty good meeting. The teacher sounds great! One thing we have done is have our private OT write recommendations for the school to consider, if you do private OT they will probably work together with the school, if you want them to. It has helped us get son his sensory time at school. You have something to look forward to (priceless) Hope ya have a great next year.   Wow, Sounds like a great teacher!  My son actually qualified for ESY recently because of documented regression i guess tho when i say he has regression his teachers correct me that he was not regressing but a few sentences later they were saying he was regressing, go figure In the end they brought up ESY before i even could due to regression and recoupment factors, thankfully. My son does regress after just 1 week of being off of school unfortunately, he even regresses esp. behavior wise over the weekends sometimes! So you never know just keep track of him over spring break. Good luck!
	Copyright Autism-PDD.net