IEP meeting

Bah. I’d have been back sooner but I just haven’t felt well, and no lie, I’ve been sleeping from the time I get home in the morning until time to get up and ready for work. My muscles hurt, sick at my stomach, the bottom half is irritated…among some of it. It’s not the flu so either I’m lacking something I need or that damn EBV is acting up again. (Someone actually suggested fibro, seeing as how I haven’t felt well for months, and I never really considered it…my mom was diagnosed with it last year though. Who knows.)

Sooo.

Joe started back to school today. As Aurora would say “SQUEEEE!” and. Yes. Yes, she DOES actually do that when she’s happy. Literally. In her little high pitched happy voice…she’ll say “SQUEEE!!”

We had his IEP meeting to adjust the paperwork last Wednesday. He already had one set up, but it was for his gifted status.

Well they added the Asperger AND his mood disorder (which, as I found out, IS listed as NOS). They actually asked if I would consider letting them give him his Adderall for the ADHD at school, just so that they would be able to know (without a doubt) the days when some of his quirks could be because he missed a dose or whether it’s the AS (since some of the things he does mimick one or the other). It does make sense to me, at least from their pov.

I was actually impressed. Apparently they had sat down and figured out a plan on their own and wanted to see how I felt about it. I’m happy with what they had too.

1 – He’s changed classrooms…they have him in the Special Education class now – I had to ask, because when I was in school they lumped Sp. Ed. all together but apparently they now have seperate Sp Ed and CDC classes (for the children who have severe physical/mental needs). I also didn’t realize, although given the statistics on the prevalence of ASD, that they had as many autistic children in the school. The school is alerady small, but there are 4 autistic children and at least one other child with AS already in the class. The teacher has had a whole lot of training on ASD, and AS itself – she really seems to enjoy learning about the spectrum and the different ways and things to try with these kids (really – I wish Dave could have been there to see how animated she was talking about it.)

2 – He’ll remain in the gifted class. The benefit there is that the Excel class is immediately across the hall from his new class, so he doesn’t have to start the day by walking across the whole school to get there. Before he was having some issues with irritability and excitability in the mornings, and they think it may have been because of the rush to get there. He had to drop his regular class items off, and rush to Excel.

3 – He’s only going for half a day right now. Until we get him transitioned back in, they actually have IN his IEP that he will only go half a day. One of the major points in his diagnosis is that he’s having major issues right now with transition and stress.

4 – He’s not required to take P.E. or music class right now. He was having some trouble in p.e. even before all of this, little things made him emotional (like, one time the teacher had him change groups and he just started crying). They took him out of music because noise bothers him and he never seemed to really like music. BUT – if HE decides at some point that he WANTS to try again, we’ll adjust the IEP and they’ll let him.

5 – They are eliminating most of the writing work he has to do in the day, by letting him use a Neo word processor. A lot of these kids have a hard time with writing, and Joe tends to get frustrated with it – the older he gets, the more he has to write and so on and so on. The Sp. Ed. class already had one for him, but they ordered one special for him to use in Excel.

6 – Sensory Tent This is not something specific to him, but it addresses one of my biggest concerns. The Sp. Ed. teacher already had this in her class. It’s a tent set up that these kids can retreat to when they are stressed and need time to calm down. There’s a window so that she can see them, but otherwise they are isolated from everyone else, and there are things in the tent (or they can take something) that stimulate or calm them down…things to touch, things to do. Joe can take his paper in with him if it would help. In fact the more I thought about it, the folding paper is two-fold for him, not so much an obsession/fascination as it helps him de-stress.

I was really concerned that he be allowed to have a place to calm down like that rather than have them always call me to get him…while I realize that they can’t always handle the situation, it doesn’t help HIM learn how to handle his frustration unless he’s given the opportunity. Being in a smaller classroom with a teacher who knows what is going on will help I think. She has all grade levels in her class, along with an aide and only 14 kids.

Recess is going to be his physical education, as far as the state is concerned, and he’ll take that with his class, so there are less kids, less going on to overstimulate him etc. He did really well with the kids at Lakeside, and I think that was partially because many of them were like him, and I’m sure he was happy to have them give him the time of day. That was, unfortunately, new for him :/ People actually ASKING him to play with them.

I’ve taken him off the bus as well, and I’ll probably take the girls off of the bus. Those kids are just mean regardless (and the driver is a racist JERK…yes. I said it.).

Also noted in his IEP…

*He will still take standardized tests (there’s no reason for him not to) but the time restraints are taken off of him. He also has flexible test scheduling, is allowed to use calculators, and flexible time of day testing. The only stipulation is that the tests have to be finished in that school day, otherwise they can test whenever he’s best for it, and it can be broken up into 15 minute sections if needed. They will also allow him ‘help upon request’ – basically meaning if he doesn’t know what a word is he can ask, they can’t give him the meaning but if he’s stumped he can get a slight boost to keep him going.

*Social/Behavioral goals are now set up. She uses “social stories” and that will be a goal he has to meet. Another is that he must learn to TELL the teacher “I need a time out.” Not a disciplinary time out, but a time out in the sensory tent to calm down. Instead of having someone tell him “Joe, I can tell your upset, you need to go calm down” HE has to learn to be the one saying “I need this.”
I also suggested part of the social goals include helping him learn where his personal space ends and others begins – he has a hard time with that. And when something becomes too much – he’s typical of AS, that when someone finds something he does/says amusing or shows an obvious sign of approval, he keeps going and going until it becomes annoying to them.

We also set up a behavior intervention plan, the principal told me after that last meltdown they all say down to figure out “What should we have done, or what could we have done better?”

The first step will be that he has to go to the sensory tent. If it escalates, he’s to be removed from the classroom and taken somewhere away from everyone, with the exception of one person (if possible, the counselor that has worked with him in the schools since kindergarten).

If that doesn’t work, they call me to get him, and if bad enough, they’ll call the school officer or (preferably if they have time to get there) the crisis team.

IF by chance he is throwing furniture again and looks like he might hurt himself/others (as it started that last time) they have permission to restrain him – basically basket hold. But as I pointed out, that would have to be extremely necessary, because during those times touching him actually makes it worse. Touching and talking to him.

However, I did tell them, that even though I don’t think it would ever happen, I can’t guarantee anything…IF by chance he EVER actually attacked someone, that they would have to do what they felt best until they could call me (ex. if the resource officer actually felt he had to cuff). I’m not going to put someone else in jeopardy by saying, “No don’t do anything until you call me/I’m there.” I hate saying that, because I know that anything above what we outlined will only do more damage in the long run but really…this would be in an EXTREME situation. So don’t think too horribly of it. Not that I really care what anyone else thinks lol BUT I don’t think that will happen…at least not right now, and hopefully never if we can help him early on.

That just kind of touches most of the bigger points. There’s actually a lot more going on, and it SURPRISED me considered we live in bumfuck nowhere.

I did talk to one of the school psychologists about Ireland. I was just touching on maybe ADD, but she (she’s worked with Ireland before) mentioned maybe screening her for AS too…I don’t necessarily feel Ireland has it BUT…I can admit, Joe’s down the line, every symptom, every symptom is apparent and in your face. I don’t really know much about AS in girls (in fact I talked to my stepmom last night who has friends with autistic/AS children and she was SURPRISED to find out it DOES affect girls) and honestly, if…IF Ireland has it too, I would say it doesn’t affect her academically or socially near as bad as Joe.

But I think I will talk to someone about it, even if she’s just quirky, I’d like to know just so that if something ever DID come up with her like this, it wouldn’t blindside us and we may already know what’s going on there.

Anywho. My back is killing me sitting here writing this. agggghhh!