Earlier this week we had scheduled Al 's annual IEP meeting. It is something we have every year. And every year I dread it with every fiber in me but also look forward to it at the same time. Riddle me that? How does that make any sense? Interesting Jenna... interesting.
IEP meetings are in my blood. Being a "retired" Special Education teacher for many years, I sat in and ran my share of IEP meetings. But none of that could have ever prepared me for the feelings that come with being in the "mom" seat of the table year in and year out. These meetings are held for Alley's team at school to meet with Alley's team at home (me and my husband) to go over his strengths, weaknesses and academic goals. Where he is currently at academically and where they would like to see him by the end of the school year. So as the parent, it is a very difficult position to be sitting in sometimes. The meeting is also so fulfilling. We were getting a good picture of Alley's school day, what he does so well at and the strides he has made from the last time we met. It really is amazing to hear the good stuff. And believe me, we are so proud of our boy navigating this verbal world without a voice and all the frustrations that come along with that.
However, there's always those couple sentences that knock the wind out of you physically. The state testing they do to gauge his current academic level is where my heart sinks. The testing that is geared toward verbal speakers and learners, is not fit for him. It's literally physically impossible for this test to gauge what Alan knows or is capable of. I know this in my heart and gut. But sitting through the meeting reading his scores, and seeing how low they fall, score after score, just turns my stomach and breaks my heart in pieces. Now I know this is not an accurate picture of my sons abilities academically. I know it. But as a parent, it's hard, man is it hard. Nobody prepares you for the IEP life in the parent seat.
I will say this is probably Alan's best IEP we have had to date. His behaviors that we were monitoring last year have gone down significantly. His reading level has shot through the roof, and his teacher even talked about bumping him up from his current grade level 2nd grade to the next higher one, 3rd grade, because he is doing so well. He is much easier to redirect and transition from activity to activity. The team was all around so happy about his progress from last year, which as his Mom that's all I could want right now.
My husband and I walked out with our heads held high. We were told to "keep doing what you are doing at home" because it has truly made such a difference for our guy. Continue with the holistic approach, supplements, homeopathy and anything we feel that we need to try with him to give him the best possible life. And that is what we plan on doing.
With grace-
This Autism Mama
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