Tuesday, October 21, 2008

IEP Meeting Today


Isn't he cute?! He makes me laugh and then makes me frustrated all within a few minutes of each other but that's my boy and I'll keep him. Frustrations and all, I'll keep him.

We met with Marshall's Pre-School teacher for his IEP review. The Assistant Principal was there and also the teacher from the Title 1 Pre-School. We were told that's because we need to have someone there who is General Education. Marshall's teacher has a degree only in Special Education.
We read through the goals, which I will have to tell you at a later date as I can not find the IEP right now. It's here somewhere. :) The good news is, we finally had a chance to tell her all about what it's really like to be around Marshall. We told her about his birth and how he nearly died. I didn't realize it at the time but an APGAR score of 2 is NOT good. DH thinks the only reason he got a 2 is because he had a pulse and a heartbeat. My boy could have been born dead!!! He nearly was. As hard as things are with him, I'm so glad he survived. What a nightmare!!! NICU wasn't even ready for him because the doctor messed up. Thanks a lot Doc!!

He will finish up the school year and then have more testing done in the Spring to determine what happens next year. I think his fine motor skills are quite delayed. When I told the teacher and Asst. Principal that he still spills on himself when he's feeding and he can't manipulate Duplo Legos, the Asst. Principal said, "That's a delay." How sad that I was happy to hear that word. I shouldn't be happy but I am. It means I'm not crazy. It means someone else thinks that an almost 4 yr old (4 on Friday!!!!!) should be able to play with Duplos and at least put them together and take them apart. Don't even get me started on regular Legos, or sewing cards, or coloring, or buttons, or zippers, or snaps....

I'll write more when I can tell you the goals we made.

2 comments:

tiptoe mama said...

Congratulations on the confirmation of your sanity!!! I can empathize in the smallest way. My six year old was just diagnosed with ADD. Meaning he SEEMS fine and normal. It is heartbreaking for me to over and over and over see him being held to and judged by the same expectations as normal kids. People can be so mean. I feel weird talking about it, because even in my own head, I have stereo-types of ADD kids and it doesn't fall into the 'special needs' category. But, the more I learn, and the more I watch my own boy I'm realizing that it affects him and his life & functioning in the same ways that M.K.'s Cerebral Palsy affects her life. Only he doesn't have the wheelchair and all the sympathy and social graces from others that she gets from an obvious disability. It's so hard to be a Mom. Hang in there, you are doing great!

Happy in Holland said...

I can totally relate to motor delays. Mason has both gross motor and fine motor delays. He didn't learn to jump until after his third birthday, he still can't pedal a trike, he can't dress himself or put on his own shoes, he is still learning how to throw a ball and still isn't able to catch one. As you said, things like lacing cards, zips, and snaps are also all out of the question. Luckily, Mason's program works a LOT on his motor skills, so that is really good for him. I'm glad everything went well with the IEP. That picture of Marshall is sooo cute!