William's teacher thinks he needs an IEP

Yesterday I got a call from Liam's teacher.  As luck would have it, I got the call while being interviewed by a psychologist in an observation room watching Ben be evaluated for autism.  As soon as the phone rang, I told her "I think this is a call from my older son's teacher and I need to take it."

Getting a phone call saying your son needs an IEP while your other son is being evaluated for autism is not a pleasant experience.  I could feel tears welling in my eyes but I was in a room with several social works, SLPs, and a psychologist.

Obviously, I suspected Liam needs an IEP, but I wanted it before anything happened to make him feel like he failed.

I did not get that lucky.  Liam forgot to bring home his folder on Thursday.  He is supposed to turn his homework in on Friday, and I usually stick it inside his folder.  With no folder, it went in his bookbag.  He came home Friday with his folder.....and his homework not turned in.  I spoke with him about it.

I did not contact the teacher but should have and am beating myself up about it now.

Monday was a holiday so he went back to school Tuesday.  He came home with his folder and his homework still not turned in.  I asked him why and he just shrugged.  At this point, I emailed the teacher.  She has never given her e-mail but the school website has a contact option so I used that.

So Wednesday while I was with Ben at UNC, she called me. She asked me to explain what was going on with Liam's homework.  Then she told that they remind them 5 or 6 times to get their folder.  It is their responsibility.  This was when I thought I was going to cry.  Instead I reminded her that at the meeting in May, I explained he had this issue in Kindergarten and was one of my concerns and one of the things I wanted an IEP for.

I asked her if she thought he needs an IEP and she said "yes" and then mentioned he is doing fine socially and behaviorally, but he does cry in class sometimes, there is the issue with the folder, and sees "some other things" that make her think an IEP is in his best interest.

Next week we have a conference with her when we'll get his quarter 1 report card.  She said there will not be time for IEP paperwork at that point.  And then there is a 3 week fall break. 

I am glad she is on board and will advocate for Liam, but my heart hurts for him.

Ben's "graduation" and IEP progress report/ OT re-evaluation

On Tuesday, Ben had his last day of both speech and of his special education play group.  Ben's teacher had a little graduation ceremony and nothing is cuter than a just turned 3 year old wearing a construction paper graduation cap.

Ben's IEP quarterly progress report shows he MET every single social goal.  I was floored.  I am used to Liam's progress inching along with regressions.  Socially, Ben is just exploding.  We also had our last day of his Early Intervention social skills group today, and one of the more aggressive children was in Ben's personal space.  Ben kept cowering and hiding behind me.  After class he told me, "my necklace" (the little girl had grabbed his necklace) followed by "Ben sad."  He can even identify emotions.  Things like this just seem unbelievable to me.  It helps me let go of my worries about Ben, and let's me know that the kind of developmental delays he faces are much easier addressed than Liam.

On his IEP progress report, he still has alot of work to do on his speech goals.  His articulation still needs alot of work, and his senetence length is not what you'd expect of a 3 year old.  He can answer questions (almost better than Liam) except for "why" questions, he was at 0% for those.  Overall, since he started school based speech therapy, he has made amazing progress.  I worry about him having a break in therapy this summer, and I know he'll need private speech therapy as soon as we arrive in Montgomery. 

Ben had his OT re-evaluation a couple weeks ago.  His private OT noted that his muscle tone and strength were low average.  He was given the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, and his "greasping" score is that of a 20 month old (tested at 37 months). Out of curiosity, I looked at Liam's OT evaluation done at nearly the same age (Liam was 38 months and Ben was 37 months....both were evaluated at the same therapy center here in Alaska, but by different OTs).  Liam's fine motor quaotient was tested as in normal limits at that point.  Interesting, since he is quite delayed now.  In any case, Ben's "grasping" score was low but it was evened out by his high score in visual motor integration.  In self-care skills, Ben tests as delayed.  He cannot remove a single item of clothing, not even socks or shoes.  This is a huge OT concern at the moment, as he needs to learn how to undress before he can learn how to dress.

As always with OT stuff, the sensory profile is where Ben really showed his OT needs.  His auditory system showed a definite difference and his OT noted "Ben has difficulty functioning in a crowded, noisy room often requiring to be touched before he will respond to his name or follow a direction."  Ben shows a definite difference in vesitibular processing and his OT notes that while he recently has begun to explore the swings, he "frequently demonstrates fear and takes a rigid posture when his feet leave the ground."

Overall, I am finding myself awed by the progress Ben has made.  I worry about him less and less.  It has helped as I forsee him losing his IEP after the move, but I think he will do fine with a good preschool setting and private OT and speech.

Elgibility results and special education, the 2nd time

Today was my meeting to find out the results of Ben's school eligibility testing...you know, the one he was so charming and cooperative for.

The overall report showed that Ben is 25% delayed in social skills and 20% delayed in speech/articulation and expressive language.  The recommonded services are that he attends 1 hour of speech at his local elementary school (where he'll see the same SLP that does speech with Liam's SPED class) and that he has a CARE (Community-based Assistance and Resources in Early intervention) team that works with him.  If he were old enough to attend preschool, the CARE team would work with his community based preschool and would provide 2 hours of special education within that setting.  As he is too young for preschool, he will attend a play group headed by a SPED teacher twice a week.

For comparison to Liam's eligibility scores and services, see this post from September 2010.

The eligibility testing was quite thorough.  A testing of his articulation showed he was 72% intelligiable to an SLP, which is considered moderately delayed as he should be almost completely understandable to an untrained person.  The two articulation areas she is most concerned about are: final consonent deletion and cluster reduction/omission.  He makes other articulation errors, but some are normative for his age (the example given is "wai" for light).

The testing on expressive vocabulary showed him a standard score of 79, or a delay of 20%.  They also did an interpretation of his expressive language and wrote down everything he said. By 2 years 11 months, most children are apeaking in 4 word sentences.  The average length of Ben's sentences is 2.9 words and 85% of those 2-3 words phrasescontained either grammatical errors or had unitelligble words.

Anchorage is considering Ben's speech to be moderately delayed.

They tested his fine and gross motor skills.  They noted his issues with sensory integration but said it was being treated through private therapy.  I need to research this, but I think they aren't supposed to consider what we do privately.  Using a test of fine motor skills, they found his pre-writing skills to be a strength.  I am not sure what to think of this.  By Ben's age, Liam could draw a circle and stick figures and not long after turning three, he could write his name.....and Liam has a known fine motor delay.  Ben cannot do those things yet.  I think I need to keep my eye on this.

They tested his pre-academic school readiness and he scored in the average name, though they oted that they could not give him credit for the things he can do that are above age level.

In the area of Behavior/Social Skills/Emotional skills, Ben scored as 25% delayed in the areas of social interaction and independence.  In order to address this, he will attend a twice a week play group (drop off play group) with a special education teacher at an elementary school here in town.

There is more to write about this, but I am in the middle of a crazy day which has involved, Liam's bus stuck in snow, being locked down on base, and fighting to get an updated ID card...in addition to IEP writing, etc.

I need 2 bottles of wine tonight....bottles, not glasses in this case.

Big changes ahead for my big guy

I am still struggling with the Kindergarten decision and trying to find someone, anyone in Alabama to answer my questions about the transfer process from 3-5 to kindergarten and how private schooling affects the IEP.

In the meantime, we re-wrote Liam's IEP here in Alaska.  He has a great IEP team here and between his special ed teacher, his speech therapist, and the school OT, we came up with some great goals.  One of the goals is to expose him to the "open play" time in a kindergarten class.  Since Liam's special ed preschool class is located within an elementary school, there are kindergarten classes right down the hall.  The speech therapist suggested she could take him into a kindergarten class to help address his IEP goal of maintaining a conversation for 4 exchanges. 

Today is the big day!  Liam will be escorted into a kindergarten class so he can get exposure to more transitions and so he can practice conversation with some older and more advanced peers.  It will also provide us with some feedback about how he manages in that type of environment and will highlights any additional supports he might need in order to succeed in a kindergarten classroom.

In addition, in mid-March, Liam will have neuropsychological testing to look at areas of skills versus achievement.  I am hoping this testing will highlight splinter skills, as Liam often tests in the "normal" range while lacking age appropriate skills. 

Liam's IEP goals:
-Upon request, Liam can give his first and last name, school, grade level, name of teacher, parent's name's, parent's phone numbers, and address with 80% accuracy.
-Liam will participate in group activities by sharing ideas, making comments, and asking questions in 4/5 opportunities.
-Liam will use proper eye contact and body orientation (baseline is he only does 20% of the time)
-Liam will maintain a conversation for 4 communication exchanges.
-Liam will independently identify and use socially acceptable ways of managing stress and anger (teacher specifically mentioned this being useful in Kindergarten while waiting in line or transitions)
-Liam will remain on task and complete tasks in the same time frame as his peers by demonstrating sustained attention to task or teacher (biggest struggle at the moment)
-Liam will use a tripod grasp 80% of the time (baseline is 20%)
-Liam will use developmental appropriate drawn lines to draw a recognizable picture.
-When provided a completed model, Liam will manage his materials to complete a 3 step visual motor task.

Last Day of School

Yesterday was the last day of school.  This meant several things....a small party, saying good-bye to friends moving to Kinergarten, panic from Mommy about how to keep busy over the summer, getting a CD of pictures from the teacher, and Liam's progress report on his IEP.

This was my favorite photo of Liam from the year:

To show how much he changed, here he was the first day of school:



Now, let's talk about the IEP stuff....I'll put in photos for a visual break from all the depressing IEP stuff.  For comparison, this is the March progress report .

First goal is answering 2 "wh" questions about his school day.  At his last progress report, he could do this without any visual prompts 20% of the time.  With visual prompts, he could answer both questions 40% of the time.  This quarter showed slow progress.  He could answer both questions without a visual prompt 37.5% of the time and with a visual prompt 37.5% of the time. 

The second goal was Liam will manage his behavior in effective ways. In role play activities, Liam will learn, practice, and use strategies for dealing with stress in 3 out of 4 trials. Baseline is that stress causes Liam to become tearful and once upset can no longer communicate. His biggest problems are dealing with change.

Liam learned deep breathing and counting to 10 as strategies for dealing with stress.  Progress report shows that before learning these strategies, Liam was able to control his responses 40% of the time, and after learning the deep breathing and counting, he can control his response 55% of the time.  He does need verbal prompts to use the stress relieving techniques.

The third goal is that Liam would be able to potty independently.  Last quarter he kept his pull-up dry 87% of the time.  This quarter he was in underwear and remained dry 61% of the time.  That isn't a typo the numbers are moving in the wrong direction.  Quoting the teacher, "He has started to become very angry when he is asked to use the restroom.  He will sometimes hit the toilet paper dispenser or other objects in the bathroom." 



The fourth goal is Liam will put on outerwear with help with fasteners only in 4 out 5 opportunities presented.  The progress report says "Liam's largest obstacle to being able to dress independently is his distractibility.  He is so busy watching the other children that he forgets what he is supposed to be doing.  While getting dressed away from the other children, Liam can concentrate better and he is able to get on his snow pants, boots, hate, and mittens by himself.  He continues to need help with his coat and backpack."

The fifth goal is that Liam will communicate with adult and peers using a variety of modalities.  Liam will appropriately initiate communication with peers to initiate play, share materials, take turns without adult prompting in 3 out of 4 opportunities.  The progress report states that there are numerous whole-group lessons using a social story book addressing initiating play and joining play, and then Liam's class practice the skills in structured and less structured activities.  To quote "Liam willingly and delightfully participates, but continues to need adult prompts to initiate the play, appropriately.  He will state who is going to play with rather than ask if he can play.  He does not spontaneously intiate sharing materials (0%) in an unstructured activity without adult prompt but is very willing to do so with one.  He will share when asked by a peer to do so, as well.  He shares turns without prompting."

(Mommy and Ben are in this photo too...This was looking for the gingerbread baby during the Christmas party).

The sixth goal was that  Liam will increase expressive vocabulary skills.  When given a social situation, Liam will identify and name an appropriate matching emotion with 90% accuracy in 3 out of the 4 opportunities.  The progress report shows this is mastered.  With 100% accuracy, Liam can name happy, sad, mad/angry, surprised, and afraid with 100% accuracy on both real faces and pictures.  In addition when described a social situation, Liam can identify how someone would feel with 100% accuracy.

The seventh goal is Liam will maintain a conversation with adults and peers.  In unstructured settings, Liam will maintain verbal turn taking with adults by using voice and or gesture, by staying on topic, extending the conversation with a minimum of 1 comment or question, and waiting appropriately for communication turn.  In the 3rd quarter, Liam maintained verbal turn-taking in 33% of the opportunities.  The progress report states that Liam maintained verbal turn-taking in 40% of opportunities.  The report notes, "He is inconcsistent, which seems to be dependent on his emotional or physical set of the day.  Some days he is very connected, interactive, and responsive, others, he seems to be somewhere else."

I love the above photo as it shows the giant slide in the classroom that all the kids love.

So, the progress report didn't do much for my anxiety levels, but summer plans are slowly falling into place.  Unfortunately, most things doen't start until June, so for the next week I am solo parenting with few structured activities or options for such.

Progress Report

Liam came home today with his 3rd quarter progress report.  It tracks his progress towards his IEP goals.  I don't know if it was the fact I have been awake since 4:40am when Dave was called into work and Ben woke up....or if it is the fact that I came down with the cold virus circulating our house, but I am feeling emotional about how far Liam still has to go.  It might be that Liam made so much progress with his last progress report (blogged about here: January progress report ) that it was hard to get the reminder that he does need extra help.

First goal: Liam will communicate using verbal means.  Given daily picture cues, Liam will respond to 2 simple "wh" questions about activities he did at school.  Baseline is that he cannot do this at all.
Progress: 20% of the time could not answer either question even with a picture cue. 40% of the time he could answer both questions with both picture cues. 20% of the time he could answer both questions with just a picture cue to one of them. 20% of the time he needed no picture cue to answer both questions.

Second goal: Liam will manage his behavior in effective ways. In role play activities, Liam will learn, practice, and use strategies for dealing with stress in 3 out of 4 trials.  Baseline is that stress causes Liam to become tearful and once upset can no longer communicate.  His biggest problems are dealing with change.
Progress: Liam has learned to ask for help which keeps him from getting behind his classmates which causes him stress.  Next Liam will learn to count to 10 when upset.

Third goal: Liam will be able to use the restroom independently. Baseline is that Liam was remaining dry 87% of the time at school but had difficulty with his pants and other steps in using the restroom.
Progress: Liam was able to complete the toileting routine independently (remaining dry, pulling pants down, pulling pants back up, and washing his hands) 82% of the time.

Fourth goal: Liam will put on outerwear with help with fasteners only in 4 out 5 opportunities presented. Baseline is that Liam was able to do this before Christmas break but now gets distracted and then when he sees his classmates leaving to get on the bus becomes very upset and starts crying.
Progress: The teacher is having Liam dress in an area away from the other children in order to limit distractions. Even with this, it is difficult at times to get his attention. He knows the order of which clothing goes first and can almost dress himself independently.

Fifth goal: Liam will communicate with adult and peers using a variety of modalities.  Liam will appropriately initiate communication with peers to initiate play, share materials, take turns without adult prompting in 3 out of 4 opportunities. Baseline is that Liam makes verbal attempts to play using demands only with prompting.
Progress: Liam does well in this area.  He is good at initiating play and/or going along with what someone else is playing.  Liam does not like to play alone so he is always with a peer. However, once play is initiated, Liam tends to play in a more parallel fashion.  It should be noted that Liam is very encouraging to others and roots them on during games.  He is very sweet and is always a good, supportive friend.

Sixth goal: Liam will increase expressive vocabulary skills.  When given a social situation, Liam will identify and name an appropriate matching emotion with 90% accuracy in 3 out of the 4 opportunities.  Baseline is that Liam was unable to identify how a peer was feeling when she was crying.
Progress: Liam can name happy, mad, and sad in a picture.  He can identify happy and sad on peers' faces with 70% accuracy in 2 out of 4 opportunities.

Seventh goal: Liam will maintain a conversation with adults and peers.  In unstructured settings, Liam will maintain verbal turn taking with adults by using voice and or gesture, by staying on topic, extending the conversation with a minimum of 1 comment or question, and waiting appropriately for communication turn.  The baseline is 0% in a structured play situation using a script.
Progress: Liam maintained verbal turn-taking in 33% of the opportunities.  It is difficult to maintain a conversation with Liam because he does not make eye contact regularly so it is difficult to know who he is talking to.  At other times, he becomes distracted and just stops talking and/or answering questions.

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.

Progress Report from school

Liam brought home a progress report from school this week.  We were supposed to re-write his IEP this week, but it was re-scheduled for two weeks from now (which means I need to scramble for childcare or bring the boys with me as Dave will be out of town).  The progress report he brought home shows how far he has come on his current IEP.

First goal: Liam will be able to pull his pants up and down as part of the toileting process.

Progress: In August, Liam could not do this at all.  In October, Liam could pull his pants down 100% of the time but could not pull them up at all.  Now, Liam can pull his pants back up 37% of the time.  He does better with pants with zippers compared to elastic waistbands (which goes against conventional wisdom).

Second goal: Liam will accomplish potty training.

Progress: In August, Liam never indicated he had to pee but would pee if trips were scheduled.  In October, Liam remained dry all day at school 20% of the time.  Now, Liam remains dry at school 55% of the time.

Third goal: Liam will verbally indicate when he needs to use the restroom and will independently access bathroom needs (flushing, washing hands, etc). 

Progress:  In August, Liam could not do this at all.  In October, Liam had not accomplished any of this.  Now, Liam verbally indicates the need to use the bathroom before going 33% of the time.

Fourth goal: Liam will engage in age appropriate activities with peers.

Progress: In August, Liam never engaged in pretend play with peers and had difficulty with turn taking.  In October, Liam had no problem taking turns, but never initiated play.  He only engaged in pretend play in 16% of the measured opportunities.  Now, he engages in pretend play with peers in 100% of the measured opportunities and seeks out friends to play with.  This goal has been accomplished.

Fifth goal: Liam will participate in non-preferred activities for 10 minutes duration.

Prrogress: In August, Liam was noted to have a limited attention span.  By October, he was engaging for over 10 minutes in 85% of the opportunities.  Now, the teacher feels this goal has been accomplished.

Sixth goal: Liam will communicate with peers and adults non-verbally and verbally.

Progress:  In August, Liam seldonmly returned greetings.  In October, he responded to greetings 50% of the time and initiated verbal exchangely occasionally.  Now, he verbally interacts continually. :-)  This goal has been accomplished,

I believe the road ahead will be less focus on language and more focus on social interaction, as well as continued focus on potty training and adaptive skills.

In other news, I toured a preschool yesterday.  They are already full for next year (!!!!!!!!) but I will be placing Liam on the waiting list.  My hope is for him to attend the "regular" preschool in the morning and continue special education in the afternoon.  There is a chance that the school I saw would have space for him in the 3 year old class next year (if he were 12 days younger, they would automatically place him in the 3 year old class, but with an August 20th birthday he would technically qualify for the 4 year old).  Given his delays, I wouldn't have any problem with him going into the younger class, but I'd prefer him to be in the 4 year old class.  The school requires once a month parent involvement which means they provide daycare for Ben and I get to assist Liam's class.  I think this school would be a great fit for us, so please cross your fingers they can find space for my special boy.  Of course, it means I have until August to get him fully potty trained, so cross fingers for that as well.

A post involving miracles, hope, faith, and even fear



A year ago after two speech evaluations, Liam's speech was estimated to be delayed somewhere between 8 and 12 months.  He was counting to 20, pointing out letters, and singing songs, but couldn't communicate.  Occasionally, he might string 2 or 3 words together but they were always delayed echolalia from books or The Wonder Pets.  I was in the depths of researching autism spectrum disorder and knew perfectly well that it was in the realm of possibility that he'd never talk.  I worked with profoundly autistic individuals in several setting in college and graduate school.  I worked with men who had no ability to communicate, those that knew a few signs, one who used picture, one who only echoed a handful of phrases, and another who barely spoke, but wrote ina notebook for his parents what he did at camp each day.  I knew not talking was in the realm of possibility.  Liam babbled and jargoned an awful lot and never seemed to care whether I understoof him.

I had faith he would talk and every hope that it would be soon.  I was a bulldog in fighting for more speech therapy and getting him more help consumed my thoughts and energy.  Somewhere in the spring, his few scripted phrases started branching out; he was still echoing, but he was doing more phrases and some full sentences.  Then he started twice a week speech therapy, and suddenly, there were new words and he was trying harder to use words and jargoning  less.  In June, just in time for Dave's return home, he started using full sentences almost all the time.  When we moved in August, Easter Seals did a discharge report that said he was speaking at age level.

Liam had a break in therapy with the move and immediately regressed.  His special education program pulled me in and said he needed speech therapy as it wasn't in his IEP from Alabama.  They added speech therapy, but in less than 6 weeks, he had achieved the speech goals they'd written for him that they thought would take a year to meet. He had a private speech evaluation last week and they determined he is speaking at age level and even above age level.  He will be doing speech therapy as I have two concerns that didn't come out in the testing: he still confuses pronouns and he has poor processing and cannot answer questions (he simply echos them back).

I don't know how to tie together my feelings and thoughts on all this.  I really understand that while the progress proves that early intervention works, the progress is miraculous.  In 1 year time, Liam progressed 2 years in speech.  This amazing progress brings a healthy dose of fear because I don't know what Liam's future is.  I had finally started to look at his future as a kid with PDD-NOS with hope, but day by day, he fits that diagnosis less.  The likely outcome is that Liam will be re-diagnosed.  He might be re-diagnosed as having Asperger's Syndrome, which means social impairment but no language delay.  Aspie kids tend to seek out social contact (as does Liam) but have quirks that make socialization difficult.  He might lose his autism spectrum diagnosis entirely, which was my desire from the start.  But if he does, he'll likely get re-diagnosed with a language processing disorder, such as Central Auditory Processing Disorder, which would explain his initial difficulty with language and his continued struggle with understanding questions.  His future holds some uncertainty now, but I have faith it will be alright no matter the change.  The last year has taught me that Liam is my special boy no matter what label he is given.

My only real fear is lack of services as Liam shows such progress.  Liam has made such great strides because of the support he has been given and without it, he'll go back to floundering to keep up developmentally.  But from a therapy perspective, once he is at age level, they consider him to not need the help anymore.  This leaves some kids in a cycle of falling behind, getting special education to catch up, then having the help taken away and falling behind again.  I don't want Liam entering that cycle. 

For tonight, I think I will just focus on the miracle of the strides he has made.  I will worry about getting him the help he needs as I prepare for next month's IEP.

Special education, riding a bus, and IEP Alaskan style

Liam has been in special education in the Anchorage School District for 2 weeks now.  He loves his school, which consists of 1 "buddy bear" (i.e. typical developing peer), 3 other kids with IEPs, a special education teacher and an aide.  On Wednesdays, the moms and kids go to McDonald's after school for lunch and playtime at their indoor play area. 

The first thing the school did was revise Liam's IEP to add in speech therapy.  Here are some tidbits from the IEP that are worth sharing.  It lists student strengths: "sweet, complies with directions, strong academic skills, cooperative, loves music, very active (HA! don't I know), good gross motor skills, loves school."  The IEP notes that Liam's delays in language, social development, and adaptive skills "adversely affect his ability to function independently in a classroom."  In summary, "Developmental delays will affect Liam's ability to demonstrate learning, communicate his wants and needs in the classroom, and to socialize with his peers." 

So why chose special education over mainstreaming in a regular preschool?  In Liam's case, he didn't qualify to attend any private/regular preschools as Anchorage preschools do not take children that are not independently potty trained.  His IEP notes "The preschool program is modified by a smaller class size, structure, prompts, routines, and use of facilitating strategies for behavior and communication."  They have a whole page justifying why a less restrictive environment does not meet Liam's needs.  I don't think any parent ever aspires to have her child attend special education, and it took some setting aside of pride to embrace what meets Liam's needs the best.  Liam needs someone who can really focus on learning adaptive skills like using utensils, dressing himself, and potty training.  He needs prompts to engage is age appropriate socialization beyond running and wrestling.  Without these things, he won't move ahead.  My hope is that this is just a short time, and he can be mainstreamed by kindergarten.  I never saw life taking me here, for sure.

Lighter stuff.....Liam qualifies for the school bus, and since his school "day" is 2 hours, I decided to take advantage of it.  Today was his first time on the bus, and here is some fluff:

Cheese!

He looks so tiny here, especially for doing such a big boy thing

Brothers running up and down the driveway:

The bus coming up the hill

Buckled in all safe and sound:

We made it

We are in Alaska!  It has been quite a journey, but we are loving the scenery and the weather.

We spent the last 3 weeks in a blur of moving and navigating the IEP system in TWO states.   IEPs need to be written BEFORE a student turns 3 years old. We were due to leave Alabama 6 days after Liam turned 3.  Alabama didn't want to write the IEP since it wouldn't be implemented, but Alaska wanted it written so Liam could get services ASAP. 

Then Alabama school system didn't have computer access (eye roll) and didn't want to hand write it.  In the end,they finished it a couple days before Liam turned 3, and it was hand written.  I thought we had a decent IEP....for what Montgomery could offer.  They assessed Liam as operating at the level of a 23 month old in 2 areas: social-emotional and adaptive skills (need I mention Ben is 17 months, so they are almost like twins with a 11 pound weight difference?) and his language at the level of a 2.5 year old.  For a 34% delay in 2 areas and a 25% delay in a 3rd, they offered 1 hour a week at his private preschool.

I knew Alaska had more services, but when they got his IEP, they offered the same services.  The problem?  Private preschools in Alaska don't take non-potty trained children......and Ben is closer to potty training then Liam.  I freaked out, and it was about 48 hours until we moved.  Eventually, I asked Alaska to re-look at his IEP....they had simply looked at what Alabama offered (assuming it was adequate,which it wasn't) rather than Liam's eligibility scores.  In the end, Liam was offered a special education slot at the local elementary school.

We enrolled him Tuesday, and he started today.  His school meets 5 days a week from 9-11am. There are 5 kids and 2 teachers. The room has an elevated reading cave, a dramatic arts area, a huge slide, sensory areas, and lots of space. The other children are all older than Liam and some only have language delays. It will be a great fit for him I think.