IEP: Now that I think about it...

it's the first time I'm disappointed with the school's handling of the IEP. Dropping the speech therapy and leaving nothing much left on her IEP to work on seems lazy to me. The speech teacher is great, but she is teaching to the test. Sure, Little Squirrel can perform brilliantly when it's scripted and expected and prompted and rewarded. I don't see the same progress they do. But I'm not sure the public school system has the capability to drill down on all the gray areas, and insurance doesn't pay for enough therapy sessions to make any long term difference either.

IEP eve

It's IEP eve once again. I guess this will be #5. I don't feel any more prepared or experienced than I did at the first one. Back then I think I even remember saying, "I'm just along for the ride." And I wondered why there was a weird silence in the room, and looks. And I thought, am I not supposed to be just along for the ride? Should I be doing more?

Then along the way I learned from others that IEP meetings are generally pretty adversarial. Thankfully, even though we are in a lower income school district, I have never had to argue or fight to get whatever I think Little Squirrel needs. And more thankfully, the early intervention served her well so she doesn't need much, not as far as school goes anyway. Also, I am aware that the school doesn't have a magic wand, or magic wallet, to fix things that could be better for us, or remove bullies (because there will always be more), etc. They have always been great at tracking the progress toward the goals, setting new goals, and overall, for caring about Little Squirrel.

Last year at the IEP meeting there was a moment I won't forget: the whole table of educators looking at me while one spoke on the verge of tears about, "the wonderful things you've done for your daughter." Really that just means sticking with it and putting her first and being involved. But I guess that's not the norm they experience from parents. I can't imagine anyone doing any less.

But it was nice to hear.

New IEP goals

I decided that even though Little Squirrel is academically advanced, as long as the school isn't trying to talk me out of the IEP, and seems to think there are still reasonable goals to be met, then I am on board.

Little Squirrel met all of her goals from last year, so now we have new ones.

1. Be able to ask for help with directions on assignments 4 ouf of 6 times
2. Be able to troubleshoot own problems without crying 4 out of 6 times
3. Use Wh- words correctly with correct word order 80% of trials
4. Follow multi-step directions accurately 80% of trials
5. DO NOT BOX SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST IN THE NUTS! EVER!

If I was ever undecided about still needing an IEP, my indecision was lifted after #5.

The dilemma: Do we really need an IEP?

IEP meeting Nov. 9. Meanwhile I'm wondering if we need one anymore. Little Squirrel is advanced academically and is getting the social skills practice for 15 minutes a day in the special ed room. I don't think she needs the "tracking" that an IEP does, and that seems like so much to ask of the teachers who already maxed out. I don't really care how many times she does this or that. I only care that she's able to remain mainstream. And she is. Not even any need of a para in sight. My long term goal is for her to go to a magnet school starting middle school, and I know some schools only take a quota of IEPs. It may be in our best interest to ditch it and go rogue! All Little Squirrel really needs can be handled with a 504 plan--such as how she eats in the special ed room to avoid the chaos of the cafeteria. And she eats with a small group of varied development lunch buddies so she still gets the social aspect. Though she does still need speech therapy, to continue how to use language correctly and efficiently. But with medicaid we could likely get that outside of school. I read so much about parents having to put on their butt-kicking boots for IEP meetings. Little Squirrel doesn't happen to attend a lazy school, so I don't think that's necessary. Unless they have some good reason we need to keep the IEP, I think we might call it quits.