Well, he qualifies for IEP

[Chaosuncontained]

I had an email from the Specail Education Diagnostician, so I called her.

She has the meeting set for December 6th. At noon. Ex said he might not be able to attend. Figures.

She told me he DOES qualify for an IEP. She told me he was very smart--she did the IQ testing on him and the Achievement testing.

I told her I was worried because *I* had no idea what to even ask for. I told her I knew he was smart but that I just had no idea why he can't/won't finish work. She told me to not worry, they had TONS of things to ask for for him. That having those ideas was their job. She also told me that the Psycologist had plenty of things to tell me that might explain things better.

I can hardly wait to see what the evaluations show--and what the Psycologist has discovered. And what they recommend.

Even know I KNEW he needed an IEP (they like to call it an ARD meeting here) I am just... flaberggasted that it has come to be. I'm in shock (?).

I wish I knew something more before I went into the meeting. I hate to be...surprised. I feel like I'm being called to the Principal and I don't know WHY.

 

[TeDo]

Request that a copy of everything be sent home in a sealed envelope with Carson tomorrow "so I have a chance to at least look at it before the meeting. I don't want to have to take it all in and process it during the meeting." That way even if you don't understand it, you have an idea of what's going to be talked about and you can prepare questions if they don't answer them when the go over the results.

As for the "ideas" the school staff have to help him, if you have the report over the weekend, you might come up with some ideas of your own to share. It is supposed to be a TEAM effort and, although they seem cooperative, you can't be a helpful part of the team if you don't have the same information they do. One idea is that whatever he gets done at school be considered a completed assignment(DONE) whether he is or not for full credit.....no work sent home. That would remove a lot of the stress for you. Just an idea.

Glad he qualifies...as if there was a doubt. Hope it goes well and he gets EVERYTHING he needs to be successful.

 

[TerryJ2]

Nononono, Martie, "Don't worry, be happy." This will be a great tool. If they get the right interventions in place, your son can come home with-the A's he should have been getting all along. It's a matter of getting rid of distractions, following directions, and following through. All the other stuff is just a bunch of abbreviations. You can memorize them in a jiffy.

 

[Malika]

TeDo's suggestion seems a good one - it makes sense that you should have time to consider the findings rather than having them sprung on you. At the same time, as Terry says, it's a positive step. People are saying they have located issues and have solutions up their sleeves... fantastico.

 

[Chaosuncontained]

I have a call into the Diagnostician to request info being made available to me BEFORE the meeting. But I am worried that since they are behind (their 30 day deadline after having evluations done and having the meeting set, is up 12/10) they will not have time to get the info to me. The Special Education people are from our county but not in our town--I don't know if they could get it to me in time.

The Ex told me last night that he was unsure if he would be able to attend because he has to work the night before. This morning he called and told me he would just "suck it up and be there". Niiiice of him to suck it up for his kid.

I was supposed to get the ecvaluation for the Psychologist that I took him to warlier this week by December 6th--I had wanted to get it and be able to look at it, take it to the meeting, see what THEY said and then decide to show or share the info with them. Doubt that will happen now. husband can't go to the meeting with me. FedEx is busier than a cat covering poo in a hurricane. So my Mom is going, strictly to take notes and be my second set of ears.

Last night Carson went to his step brothers basketball practice with SS15, SD12, SD13 and SS8 while I went to pick up DD11 and DS6. When I got back to the gym, it was obvious that Carson was wired UP. He was running all over the gym, across the court, laughing, yelling...a tornado. He knocked me down when he saw me. Just ran up to me and jumped ... arms and legs all around me. At 74# he is heavy and I lost my balance. No agression last night but VERY hyper and happy. I just kept looking at him and saying to myself "Help is coming Buddy Boy. Help is coming". It was a nice but odd feeling to know that FINALLY something was going to happen. And although I have no idea (well, not really) what THEY think/say is the problem--they do recognize that there is one. And it's not mine or ex's poor parenting. I slept pretty darn good last night.

Thanks for your advice and encouragement. It's all gold. Solid gold.

 

[buddy]

They are supposed to give you the report first. Good that you called. IF they do not do that, then they should have two meetings...one to discuss results (and it is ok to make general suggestions/goals) and another to write the IEP so you can process and formulate questions before having to come up with all of the goals on the spot. I have been in situations where we do it all at once, yes it is more convenient, but it is not fair to a parent to expect them to process that much. And just logistically, going through point by point each thing in an evaluation will use up all of the meeting time. It will also give you a chance to proof read anything in the evaluation. by the way, make sure you do read the little details, birthdays, dates of things, names of any possible medications or illnesses that might be wrong.... those reports are used for future re-evaluations so it will be important to have things right. They can easily make changes.

If they present a draft IEP at the results meeting, just do NOT sign off on anything. They will respect that. (should I guess I should say). Though you know there is something going on, and it will be a relief to get the support, it is still emotional to finally see it in black and white. So, if it hits you emotionally dont worry, that is normal for sure. And it is hard to process through all of the interventions, even if they sound wonderful.


You legally have time. I truly hope they give you the report. I always make meetings for after I give a parent the written report and ask for feedback before the meeting. I expect that from the team for Q too. Set the bar now, smile. sounds like these are good people and are happy they found answers. But you still have rights and time to make sure the program that is going to impact him from now on is done just the way you want. Remember you can always run things by the board!

so happy for you and Carson. You are right, help is coming... good job mom.