Nathan's I.E.P - 2012

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 Actually - I can't say that I have to fight for much with Nathan.  I had to fight more for Cal and Noah than I have with Nathan.  I'm pretty happy with his team at his school.

He has improved in a lot of areas however .. his speech goals are the same since his speech hasn't changed much. He's attempting to say a lot more, and is being more of a parrot - but the quality of his speech hasn't changed much.  His teacher commented on how she can understand him but others can't.  I said "Welcome to my world!" LOL...

 He's getting longer Occupational Therapy time.... and they were thinking ahead to next year and gym... and how much more .... ah the only word I can think of is violent - but that's not really true... forceful maybe? Anyway - they started to talk about how gym in 1st grade changes to a lot of throwing balls and such.... and I start shaking my head no.  LOL...  .... they are going to keep him in the kindergarten gym class until he's more size appropriate and ready to be playing with flying balls and kids who aren't paying attention to the tiny kid.  Otherwise OT is going to be working on writing letters, cutting with scissors, and doing things like zipping and snapping and such which is really hard for him.  She also said that with it getting colder here now, he doesn't like to go outside.  Ha ha.  So they make them go outside for at least 5 minutes and she says that he just stands at the door and stares at her.   I couldn't help but to laugh.

 He's made some improvement from last year where he's not spinning a lot.  His Occupational Therapist (who was with him at the preschool) said that.  She also said he's a bit more engaged with the other kids.  They said that he knows when Matthew (one of his classmates who is in a wheelchair) gets frustrated and he goes over to his desk to help him out - and they are back there working on stuff together.  I love hearing stuff like this.   She also said he's not staying in the beanbag/papasan chair all the time either, like he was the beginning of the year.  He lasts about 5 minutes or so in the regular classroom before he gets overwhelmed.  In the inclusion room he can go at his own pace and get up and do other things too, if he needs to - and he can go in the other room and jump on the balls or what not ... and he does so on his terms...    Over all he's doing well and he's working on the kindergarten curriculum - in the inclusion room - so YAY!! Everyone agrees that he's super smart he just can't communicate.  :)

They said that they are going to be working with him on doing things like - asking for help, or asking to go to the bathroom.   I want, I need, etc.   They are making him talk and pointing doesn't get him anywhere - and I said "good, cuz it doesn't get him very far at home either."

They say he's a super slow eater... LOL... but he does good, he usually only eats half his meal, but at breakfast he LOVES bananas and he will eat several...  which is very typical of him. He loves his fruit and he loves his veggies.   He's drinking his Pediasure at school, so yay!  She says sometimes he doesn't drink it all - and I told them that's nothing abnormal.

We also talked about his P.O.D.D. and how Nathan lost it at home (or Kaedyn did) ...  and how I haven't been able to find it for about a month now (sigh) ....   and how the Nova situation is going.

The Nova Chat 7 is his electronic communication device.  He was evaluated in May and determined he would benefit from one... so the process started and we were told we'd get it in about 5-6 months.  So I called prior to Thanksgiving to see how things were going - and found out that our amazing Marci who's dealing with it all had turned in the paperwork, she got an email confirmations back saying they had gotten it - but come to find out - there was not record of the paperwork.   So we're basically starting back at square one there.....  ugh....

So - that's about it .......  :)   IEP is done until next December. 

Notes on Nathan

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I thought it was interesting, and I wanted to document these someplace before filing these away ....

There are some notes, made by myself and others at his IEP meeting and his meeting and when we met at his new school ...  to discuss his transition to kindergarten. 

Which - btw - went really well - yet I'm really nervous on how he is going to react, and how he is going to do.  He only liked school when he went to one particular school, this past year even, when he went with Kaedyn - he would cry and cry going to school.  The teachers assured me that he was doing well and wasn't crying all day - and come to find out - at the beginning of the year, he was crying all day.   That made me really sad.  He really doesn't like changes to his environment.   It's so hard to put your child who is crying on a bus when he's begging to stay home. 

It hurts.

Honestly don't know how much I'll be able to take if he doesn't like it.

So my hope is that because I'm so nervous about it - that he'll love this school and his team and he'll enjoy going to school.  

Anyway - back to the point of this blog....

They did some occupational therapy testing on him this year.  He got it through Birth to Three in Wisconsin, however; it was the first one he "graduated" from.   So these are the age equivalents he was ....  at the time of the testing he was 59 months (this was a couple months ago) ... in Stationary - which is balance on one foot, standing and doing arm positions ... he tested at a 46 month level, and he needs to work on standing on one foot, walking on his tip toes, doing sit ups.   Locomotion, he was at a 34 month level - this is walking, jumping, jumping down, walking in directions ...  he needs to work on feet on a line, running speed, hopping on one foot.....   Object Manipulation he was at a 41 month level and this is mostly ball manipulation and other object manipulation. Grasping he was at a 34 month level - he needs to work on buttons and snaps, and that sort of thing. Visual-Motor Integration he was at a 46 month level ... this is cutting and copying shapes and such, which he needs to work on. 

So ...  on his Preschool Progress Report that I got a copy of has the following notes... 
* likes to play by himself
* has strong emotions but is able to calm down usually when comforted
* not sure how high he can count as it is hard to hear, makes counting like "noises" up to 20
* Nathan's preacademic skills are often hard to hear in the classroom, most of these skills were done receptively
* Nathan's still needs someone to remind him to use the bathroom
* Nathan's speech is severely delayed.  He can produce 3-5 word phrases/sentences, but they are often unintelligible unless the listener is very familiar with him.  He is using/learning vocab, understans and follows directions if willing, loves to be read to.

And .......... that .... is what was said.....

Nathan's I.E.P....

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 Nathan's I.E.P. meeting went well.  He has made some progress ...  his vocab has improved a little but his speech therapist.  They said that he's interacting with the other kids a little bit ... however, he still prefers to play alone or with Kaedyn.  However, there is some interest there.  They said he loves to sit in the reading corner and just read.   They have noticed his sensory issues coming into play but not as often as they were at the beginning of the school year.  Over all - he's doing very well.   He has his issues, but he's an amazing kid - and they ALWAYS miss him when he isn't there.

I was super excited when they handed me his communication book!!  We're not having an easy time using it...  it's HUGE and it's a little hard to follow :(   But I'm excited...

I have to say that his most ABSOLUTE FAVORITE thing to do is to sit in the swing....

 He and Kaedyn play very well together :)

And here he is in his favorite reading spot :)