Friday, August 27, 2010

I've Died and Gone to IEP Heaven

I had CJ's IEP yesterday. He's a transfer student, so it had to happen pretty early in the school year. I went in ready for a huge fight and gearing up to come away black and blue from beating my head into a brick wall. I even had Kristi, CJ's old DeafEd. teacher with me on speaker phone.

They listened intently to Kristi's input. They took interest in my concerns. They took lots of notes. Then it happened. They came to the part of the meeting where they tell me everything they were prepared to offer him. You have to remember that he was dismissed from all speech services because his articulation was too good. He was offered only 45 minutes a week of services with Kristi because "we know he hears us". OT services were continually denied because "we know he has sensory integration needs, but it's not academically necessary for us to address them". With all that in mind, I was prepared to hear a whole lot of hot air and be frustrated. In the past, I've even had Kristi telling the district what CJ needed and it still was shot down.

"We never dismiss our Deaf students from speech. He'll be working on everything from articulation to auditory training on a regular basis. He will have regular access to our speech teacher, who's office is right across the hall from his classroom. We will provide him with a new FM system, and will replace it every three years for him. We will provide his teacher with training and tools to better prepare her to teach CJ. We will be teaching him 25 new signs per quarter, and we will work to have them be signs that go with new vocabulary he's learning in class. We will be getting all classroom vocabulary in advance and work with him on processing their meanings. We will be offering him extended school year, during which time he will receive further auditory training, extra vocabulary, and anything else he'll need to prepare him for the following school year. Lastly, we will be evaluating him and prepared to provide him with the OT services needed to help him with his sensory processing issues".
Yep. All of that. I didn't have to beg, plea, cry, throw things, threaten, or stand on the table screaming. They just offered it. In the words of Kristi, I've died and gone to IEP Heaven.

3 comments:

  1. Wow. What a wonderful meeting! I think we need to move to your district (though ours is turning out to be pretty good, too).

    CJ will have all the services he needs to excel!

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  2. Kristi said: I still haven't gotten over the fact that you moved and took my babies far, far away BUT I must say that I don't think you could have ended up in a better place. I just wanted to shout with joy every time they said, "Oh, of course we'll be doing that. It's standard procedure here" I'm totally in love with whoever those voices were on the phone. I can finally breath a sigh of relief that my two favorite boys are in good hands with people who actually understand hearing impairments and they will be getting the services I so wanted them to have all along. In my opinion, God certainly knows what he's doing!

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  3. Wow, that is so great! I agree, that sounds like a dream!!!! So glad the meeting went well and that CJ is in a good place!

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