Proud Momma, Part II

Yesterday, I met at John's school for his annual ARD (Admission, Review and Dismissal) committee meeting.  This meeting is required anytime a student is admitted or dismissed from a special education program, and also when it's time to review the IEP (Individual Education Plan) and make appropriate changes as the progress of the student dictates.  I told you in a previous post that John started this school year with about 5 goals, all of which came with him from PPCD.  Through the course of this year and being in school all day, John has managed to master every one of his goals.  This is outstanding progress for him.  So, yesterday I met with his teacher, the school diagnostician as well as the different school therapists that provide him services, such as physical, occupational, speech and audiological therapies.

I knew that he was in need of updated goals, but I had no idea just how updated those goals would be.  As I was reading the goals that the speech therapist had written, I was shocked to see the things she expects him to be able to do.  A couple of the things she listed as goals were to be able to identify objects related to his environment (i.e. backpack, bus, table) and also to be able to identify characters in a story by pointing to their picture in the book.  I read this and thought, "yeah right."  But according to the speech therapist and his teacher, he's already doing some of these things.  According to them, when shown two different pictures of objects that he is familiar with, he is able to grab the picture with the object that they ask him to identify. They say that they do this several times and mix the pictures up and he still grabs the appropriate picture.  I had no idea that he is able to do anything like this, since this is not something we work on at home. 

Another thing that I found out was that John does not meet the criteria to attend ESY (Extended School Year).  That is just a fancy way of saying summer school.  The general criteria to attend is that the child has to show a regression in what he learned after the Christmas break.  According to his teacher, John did show a slight regression, but was able to quickly catch back up.  This is the first year that my child is too smart for summer school. :)  The only bad thing about that is now I have to figure out what to do with him all summer so that we don't kill each other.  But his teacher and speech therapist are going to put together some activities for me to work with him on at home, particularly over the summer.  So hopefully he won't fall behind too much when he starts 1st grade in a few months.  I am about to have a 1st grader.  That just doesn't seem possible.

Also added to his schedule for next year, he is going to attend all specials with his class.  This year he is only going with them to music.  Next year he'll be able to do music, art AND PE.  He will be evaluated for adapted PE and hopefully that will be another place he can work on his walking.  He will be integrated into the 1st grade classroom approximately 2.5 hours a week.  I know John will enjoy being able to spend time with other kids his age.

On a separate note, I received a letter from his Kindergarten teacher on Wednesday, letting me know that next week, John will be their class's star of the week.  So the project for that person is to make a poster that tells his classmates his likes and dislikes and things that make him who he is.  Well naturally being the uncreative person that I am, I panicked at the thought of having to create a poster.  I wanted it to be nice, but that is just not my area of expertise.  So after hyperventilating and scouring my brain for ideas, I finally made my way over to Michael's for the few supplies I would need for this project.  I am happy to report that I was able to start and finish the poster all in one day.  Now I can enjoy the rest of the weekend without that hanging over my head.  It is due on Monday.  Here is the finished project.  What do you think?

 Well that is all this Proud Momma has to report for now.  Keep praying for us that we maintain the strength and energy that we need to take care of our boy, and also for him as he continues to make progress with communication and reaching his full potential.  Thanks to everyone for all of your love and support.  We couldn't make it through this journey without you all.