Boys' IEP Meetings

This afternoon Steve and I met with both boys' teams of teachers and therapists to discuss next school year's plans.  IEP meetings usually last quite a while, but we thought we would do them back to back and get them completed in one afternoon - what an event!!

We discussed Andrew first to update his Individual Education Plan with his medical diagnosis of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  The last year Andrew had been receiving Speech, OT and PT outside of his preschool classroom.  This meant scheduling and attending these therapies on our own time.  For the '12 - '13 school year, Andrew will remain at Trinity Lutheran and go to preschool Monday thru Friday in the mornings.  Then, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, Andrew will go to Parkway Early Childhood Center in a team taught classroom (one general ed teacher and one special ed teacher) and will receive his therapies then.  We are excited for this transition as Andrew is clearly ready for full day school :)  AND, hopefully he will be able to ride the bus - he will be in heaven!!

Nathan's discussion followed with the area coordinators from both Parkway and Ladue.  Steve and I expressed our concern AGAIN about wanting Nathan in a classroom specialized for the hearing impaired (which Ladue has).  We were told Nathan was too far behind those peers in the hearing impaired program at Ladue and that he needs to make more progress before he would be able to be in that setting.  Steve and I were at a loss, but knew we had to fight to get Nathan more time with his teacher of the deaf if Ladue wasn't an option.  We were able to change a couple of things on Nathan's IEP to help make this happen, but it still wasn't everything we wanted for Nathan.  Nathan has made so much progress in ALL areas at Parkway in such a short time except for progress with his teacher of the deaf.  If Nathan had consistency in this area just like he does with everything else, we know he would be making the progress he needs and everyone is looking for.  We will continue this battle and make sure we get Nathan everything he needs!!