Tom's IEP

[RathyKay]

Well, we had Tom's IEP this morning. I think it went okay. I've been kind of wondering whether I should have switched him to our homeschool. It has a few advantages over the other school, and the other school has different advantages over ours. The good news is, our school isn't under this one woman in the special ed system. I still don't know what her position is, but the schools in the district are split between two people, and Tom is now under someone new. As a result, we no longer have anyone insisting that Tom is a second grader and will be a third grader next year. Tom has a late November birthday and the cutoff for starting kindergarten is age 5 by December 2. Anyway, we've had a hard time trying to understand what good it did for him to be the youngest in his grade when a) he's a boy and b) he's delayed! In addition, he's small for his age, and I still get asked if he has started kindergarten yet. So, we will not officially switch him right now, but we'll hold another IEP in May and "retain" him a year! Yay! Definitely a benefit of being at the homeschool where many of the teachers and principal know us and want to help us.

On the downside, I found out Tom is not being mainstreamed as much as he was. One of the classes, he is just unable to sit so long and listen / pay attention and he sometimes gets giggly / disruptive in there. I was thinking "yeast" when I heard that, but they were thinking "stress." Not sure.

One other interesting bit, they think we can do a SDC mainstream and keep him at that school next year. Mr. Kay and I are a little unsure if / how it would work. I like the idea (okay, I LOVE the idea), but I'm just a little nervous, wondering if Tom is really capable of it. It sounded like he would spend a chunk of the day in the resource room, another chunk in the vision room, and maybe half the day mainstreamed. Anyway, we'll have to wait until May to see how things look.

Oh, and we will be doing STAR testing... that's what the standardized California testing is called. The vision specialist has ordered a large-print test for him and put down all the accomodations (frequent breaks, scan-tron scribe, extra time, etc.) Should be interesting.

[mpalmer118]

Sounds like it wasn't too bad. ;) I hate IEP's, I always think of a million things/questions after they are over.

What is SDC? Tom's school sounds like they are pretty well equiped. What is the vision room all about?

Our school told me that they aren't allowed to accomodate the standardized tests, which is cr*p. But I'm not ready to fight that one yet. I forget, what is Tom's functional vision like? I know his nystagmus has improved with age and the diet, did his vision improve also?

[Daisy]

What state are you in that they claim they can't accomadate for Special Needs Children?

In this state we have to document the Special Need and the reason they require accomadations, list the specific accomadations that will be given, etc. The toughest challenge we have is for those children who are physically incapable of testing, for those children we have to provide a portfolio of progress for that designated testing year. I've never had to go through the portfolio process but talking to those who have it is quite a challenge.

[RathyKay]

What is SDC?
Special Day Class. I'm not sure if it's California, or our school district, but it seems like most special ed kids are in separate special ed classes, as opposed to mainstreamed with the regular ed class. They talked today about RSP (?) which is a resource something or other? I guess it depends on how many hours you need resource services. Right now, Tom is being pulled out with 5 other kids for 45 min 4 days per week for some extra reading / computer. It sounds like an all around positive for him... small class, socialization, etc.
What is the vision room all about?
This is where the VI specialist works. She has a bunch of computers for teaching keyboarding. She teaches Braille. The O&M lady works out of there (not sure if that's one day a week, or how often). O&M is Orientation and Mobility - learning to get around the community with a cane, or riding the bus, and I don't know what else. We put in the IEP for her to evaluate whether Tom is ready for some... more along the lines of looking both ways before crossing the street, judging traffic, and I don't know what else.
Our school told me that they aren't allowed to accomodate the standardized tests, which is cr*p.
Actually, the VI specialist went to a class on this yesterday. There are accomodations and modifications. If it will affect the score, then it's under modifications. Well, maybe that's not the best way to put it. Anyway, accomodations would be like I listed, extra time, larger print, someone to fill in the scan-tron. Modifications include someone reading the test and answers to him, and we shouldn't need that. I think it can include a shorter test, too. Seems like accomodations and modifications should be nationwide, and not statewide.
I forget, what is Tom's functional vision like? I know his nystagmus has improved with age and the diet, did his vision improve also?
I don't know all my vision terms. He just had a checkup and she said he's 20/60 with his glasses, which is pretty good. But, he only has a 60 deg field of view, so no peripheral vision (side-to-side). (Ours is roughly 180 deg. If you stare straight ahead, hold your arms straight out to the sides, you can see your fingers wiggling.) He also doesn't see up or down "peripherally." (Basically, the same as the side-to-side, only up and down.) Then there's the clutter factor... I have no idea what that's called. He can't see the tree because there's a whole forest there. He has a hard time picking out a specific object when there are a lot of different items together and/or overlapping. Thankfully, the clutter factor (or whatever) doesn't seem to affect his reading. He also doesn't do well interpreting pictures (drawings, as opposed to photos). I remember his speech teacher saying she showed him a picture of a girl using a spoon, and Tom said it was a boy with a brown hat brushing his teeth. It was a drawing, and the girl had two brown pigtails that looked like fuzzy balls on the side of her head. It wasn't a big deal, because the idea was to get him to talk (speech teacher) and describe what he saw, but it was interesting.

Oops! I need to pick up the girls! I'll proofread later.

[GinaMarie]

Kathy sounds like Tom is already in what we call RSP. Noah WAS in SDC when he was in 1st - 2nd grade.. It was for very delayed and very special needs kids. Now Noah is in RSP which is Resource. He is in a regular class and is pulled out for speech and reading. Adam is pulled out for math and English. They go to the Resource room and work in smaller groups.

They said Noah was to advanced for SDC. What is sad is that Noah has NOT been happy since being pulled from the other school where he was in SDC. He has told me for the past two years (since being in regular school) that he wishes he could go back to the other school because he doesnt have any friends.

Which all the kids in the SDC class LOVED Noah. It was a LOT smaller class also 12 - 15 kids verses the 32 he is in now.

SOunds like his IEP went pretty good. Adam and Noah have the accomodations also for their testing.

GM