The Dreaded ARD

The Beast had his ARD yesterday. It was actually scheduled for last week, but his teacher was sick. I wasn't too worried about how it would go since he'll be attending Number One's school with an amazing administrative staff. Plus, I'd spoken with our Deaf Ed. teacher and the Beast's general ed. teacher ahead of time to get a feel for what sort of comments she'd have to add. I also went to Hands and Voices and downloaded their IEP form to help remind me of what I wanted to discuss. I highlighted the items that applied to the Beast and was on my way.

I'm pleased to say he'll be pretty much completely mainstreamed next year. He will be riding the sp.ed. bus because of some behavior issues his has on the bus. Other than that, though, he won't be "different" in any other ways. We're going to be playing situations like cafeteria, p.e., art, and music by ear to see what happens and how he does. We'll make modifications as needed from there for him. We are also having some testing done for IQ, OT, speech, etc. That will give us more ideas of what else he may need. He'll have his FM system, captioned programming, preferential seating, and time outs from academic listening.

I couldn't be more pleased with the way the ARD went. I felt listened to, and as if my opinion mattered. There was definately something to be said for being prepared and having done my research to begin with. Seeing that I came in prepared helped the professionals involved help me, I think.

So, there you go. The dreaded ARD wasn't so dreaded after all.