IEP meeting

This week we had an IEP meeting for Liam.  Even though his IEP was only written in late August (and re-done in September), he needed a new one as he has made so much progress.  Dave is out of town, so I was on my own for the meeting.  A friend watched Ben, even though he was sick, and Liam played while I met with his teacheer and the school SLP (speech language pathologist).

Liam's speech tests at age level now, but his generalization of language is still lacking.  This means he has the tools but struggles with application.  Liam still has motor planning difficulties, which is affecting potty training and his ability to put on his own outerwear.  Liam has sensory procesing difficulties which means he is easily overwhelmed in a school setting.  The school is making accomodations for this by doing things like putting up a binder in front of Liam while he colors so he has less sensory input or taking him to a quiet area of the classroom to put his outerwear on.  Liam struggles with flexibility in a school setting, and this leads to alot of social anxiety and tears when things go differently than Liam's expectation.  Just hearing this breaks my heart.

One of his goals is to learn to take the perspective of others and identify simple emotions.  The SLP says this will take several years, but it is important to work towards this as it affects reading comprehension in later years.

Another goal is answering "wh" questions.  Right now, Liam cannot answer questions.  He used to echo the question, but now he just says "I don't know" for everything.

There will be a goal of working to learn anxiety management tools like breathing or counting.  The teacher wants Liam to learn to recognize the signs that he is building up to a meltdown so he can attempt to remove himself or calm down before he enters a full blown meltdown.  Once he is in meltdown mode, he cannot handle any other sensory stimuli (like having someone talk to him, hug him, or interact with him at all).  Thiss is another long term goal.

He has several goals towards learning how to engage peers in play (asking instead of demanding) and sustaining a conversation.  He will continue to work towards potty training and learning to dress himself.

Overall, it was a very good meeting.  Liam has made so much progress.  As a mother, I still felt emotional that Liam is still so different from his peers and that the world is so anxiety-producing for Liam.  I just want him to be happy.