" I am in the 3rd grade, just like Grandma the old lady"

Arizona and their school system is SO strange. We are out early May but back in school the first week of August. It is already getting hot by the time we are out. If it hasn't hit the high 90's, we are super super lucky.

This year we hit HOT HOT pretty early but we were still able to go outside for a few things. However, inside was where we were going to have to be. So we have been looking for fun activities to do for the summer.

The last day of school Ty was so super excited. He got off the bus and told his super awesome driver that he was so glad that  she was a good driver and then told Miss Maggie, " Miss Maggie Moo, I am a big boy now. I am in 3rd grade just like Grandma the old Lady." I thought Miss Maggie was going to pee her pants!

Tyler is ready to move on and he is super excited to move to third grade. He will have the same teacher, Mrs. Tuttle, in the same class that he was in this year, for the LAST year. He is up to bench mark and will be taking the AIMS ( the standardized test..... Seriously do not ASK why he would be allowed) and he will be given some new technology next year to hopefully aide him in doing some of the things he can't do now. If not, he will be having a full time one on one aide. He will be adding more orientation and mobility next year and will be doing more cane training.

We are thankful he is doing so well. It is hard to accept the realization that prematurity did affect his brain. That he is not going to be "normal" and will not be doing all the things that we imagined he would. To accept the under development and the lack of normal is just something that has come to head this year. He is a great kid. Normal just isn't what we will have.

Here comes summer!!!!

IEP... One Without Tears

Last year our IEP was TERRIBLE. I ended up in tears and refused to sign and left. I ended up doing a visit to a school that was not very much further than our house and his home school. I liked what I saw at that school and know that the state law says that he should go to the closest home school. I was pretty confident when I went back into his IEP. I told them what I expected. The teachers still told me that their recommendation was life skills class. I refused. I wanted him in a mixed classroom.

A few weeks later we got a letter from the district saying that he was going to be BUSSED clear across the county. Literally. He would be on the bus for more than 45 minutes. If he were to have a seizure he would be transported and it would take me 45 minutes or MORE to get to my son. As opposed to the school less than 3 miles from my house. To say I was pissed was an understatement.

Soon our landlords decided to be jerks and so we did a little checking and off we left. Back to a state that we got what he needed. We did some research as to what district we wanted to be in. We were fine with the area we lived in before but I REALLY wanted us to be in Higley district. They were smaller and I felt they were able to offer more. And I was RIGHT!

We didn’t have a redo of our IEP when we moved to Arizona because Ty’s was barely done. So I signed on the dotted line and let them use Utah’s bench marker. We had to change and update stuff throughout the year to work for what Ty actually was at, and I was happy with the changes we made.

IEP rolls around and I get ready to go in. Except I know there will be no tears. His team is amazing. We have made a lot of choices this year and have really gone with him getting an education an actually learning. His “team” last year made me feel like I didn’t know my child and so having someone ( and multiple someones) that truly wants what is best.

SO.. What are we doing next year?

NOTHING!! We are staying and doing exactly what we are doing. OK, we are doing a few things different but I think they are for the better.

So, for the new things.

• We are adding more keyboard training. We are teaching him to type out his sentences instead of trying to put the flashcards into sentences. He can’t use his arms the way he needs to so why are we forcing something that isn’t there and letting him be behind? We won’t, so we will teach him something else.
• He is going to start Cane training. It won’t be immediate that he gets it all down. So it will be a gradual thing. He has to figure out left and right and directions. But he can and does maneuver around his school very well and pretty much on his own. He, apparently, just walks around and through everyone where he says "excuse me" and keeps going. So his O & M is going to be in full swing next year. 
• He struggles a little in math and in money especially. Money is so visual, that he has a hard time not manipulating whoever is helping him. He is GOOD. So we have an activity every night of coins and what is it. (I think he also gets a little confused because his brothers name is the same as a coin! That is the only one he gets right!)

He will still be in the cross category class next year and he will be ( hopefully) in the same class. He LOVES his school and his class. He goes to all the specials, in regular but he gets to play with the same ten people. He likes his little world. I like his little world. 

Oh The Places You Will Go.....

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

It seems like only yesterday we had an itty bitty baby. 

The one that had to fight a million battles with Dragons. 

The one that grew up and has moved on to the big stuff.  

IEP 2010!

Tyler's IEP ( Individualized Education Plan) recently expired so I had the chance to sit down with his education team and come up with new goals and things to work on for the upcoming school year.

Last year Ty was really new to the school and we didn't know how he would do in a classroom setting like the one we had him in. In Arizona, Tyler was in a class where there were only 3 other kids. 2 were a lot more severe but had physical challenges. He was not in a "almost typical" class there when we moved.

In Utah he was back in a typical ( as typical as Special needs preschools can be) and he was not doing as well last year as he was this year. So the goals were made and he did really well. This year, his goals were made and I am excited to see how they will pan out.

To start the year Tyler has made leaps and bounds progression. When we left the school year there was no words. He was making some sounds but nothing that really resembled words. With a new speech person she is really wanting to push Tyler to make the leaps and bounds that she wants him to make. She wants him as close to kindergarten ready and she can get him.

Educational goals for Tyler are SMALL!! He is doing what he should be doing as far as cognitively as he works toward kindergarten. He is basically caught up. Including his ability to count by ten to 100!! So the goals that we have for him are all social. Getting him to play with others, initiating play, talking about what they are playing so that he can be more social with other people that he needs.

Other people involved in our IEP is a Physical therapist and an adaptive PE teacher. They are going to work on Ty's core strength. They are also wanting to get him in the habit of walking in a straighter line instead of a drunk straight walk.

The best and most exciting news is his vision. They want to teach him how to use a CCTV. It is a pretty cool device that is going to help him learn to read. By Christmas they would like him to be able to sight read 20 words. I totally and whole heatedly agree. I KNOW he can do it. He is a very smart kiddo.

The CCTV is small, lightweight and quite cool. I think my mom could use one. She is almost as blind as a bat!! The cost of the device is quite minimal so it is very cost effective for what it will do and he can use it for a while.

The OT and Vision people will coordinate some of their efforts and work on his writing skills and if writing isn't going to be an option then they will be teaching him how to type and utilities the abilities he does have and keeping him up with the rest of the kids his age.

I was pretty impressed and the only change I requested was that we don't automatically write off Summer school for next year. So in December we will be reassessing the goals to see if we can get him the socializing.

Octagon, hexagon, pentagon

Tyler LOVES LOVES loves shapes. We point out shapes all the time. In almost EVERY book he has shapes. We have shape books. When he learned to identify the easy ones we went to the BIG ones. You know, the ones that have lots of sides and no one really knows if you got it right or not.

He is getting really really good at getting them right. It sounds quite odd to have him point and tell me that is a pentagon or that is a octagon. But I will happily take it.

Today I got a phone call from his school. I really thought that I would be getting a call telling me he is hungry because we didn't get him to eat. Instead we got a call asking me if I "Know that Tyler knows all his shapes and colors and can tell you what order the rainbow colors go in." And " Did you know that he knows what a octagon is? " I chuckled and thought... YEP I know. Why do I know? We play and we read, ALL day. We find octagons and we find diamonds and we find triangles. We draw circles, and squares and rectangles. We talk about hexagons and all other gon's you can think of.

If you want to know the truth. He knows what the Leaning tower of Pisa is too. And he can point to it in pictures. He can build one in his bath tub. He knows it is in Italy. He knows where China is on a map.

Best of all he knows his name and how to spell it. He knows about red cherry pie, Green trees, pink kitten noses and cows.

He remembers Christmas. He remembers our Christmas tree. He remembers how to trick or treat.

Why shouldn't he know what an octagon looks like? Or a pentagon? Or is it more he knows and we didn't know he knew.

He has been a sponge for a LONG time. Watching him sit and think and then stand up and come over and TELL us the word he was trying to figure out. To think that the time we lay on his bed for 30 minutes every day reading book after book. He is SOOO smart. He knows so much.

Shapes.

He knows his shapes.

IEP's

Individualized Education Plan. That is what IEP stands for. If you google it you might find answers that involved a * small* amount of anxiety for a parent. As one site says that IEP's are "rarely" pleasant. Makes you want to sign up and get one huh!

We had Tyler's annual IEP for school on Wednesday. I can honestly say it wasn't so bad. It definitely wasn't the most pleasant thing but it was better than the flu shot or the flu!

Dallas went with me and we met in the office with a lady from the district, the speech lady, OT, Vision and another lady. I don't remember what the other lady was nor what she did but frankly I kinda didn't like her much .

Though the goals are pretty straight forward and I think he is already meeting some of them and or WILL met them pretty quick it was nice to hear that he is participating in class. It is also funny to hear them try to nicely put that he is stubborn and if it is hard for him he will " try" it once and then say he is done. Or that unless it is his idea he doesn't want to do it.

It was nice to feel like when I had a concern it was valid and it was listened to. Except by the lady that I didn't like much. ( I think we name her Helga!)

Some goals we will be trying to reach in speech include using pecs, signs and sounds and to get him to verbalize as much as possible AND to sign and pecs several words together. PECS is a picture exchange system. While we have tried PECS in the past what tends to happen is he uses the picture, finds a gesture that will work or a modified sign and then the PEC gets thrown out the window. Which is technically the order of things but we need him to get the signs down and not just approximations. BUT they are coming.

One thing we suggested was really focusing on the SOUNDS that the letters make. And we have really been working on them at home as well. If we can get first sounds then maybe soon we can get first sounds and follow with second sound.

OT really wants to work on some vertical lines, circles and stringing beads and cutting. Apparently he can cut with modified scissors and cut using big fat kid scissors so we are on the right track. they weren't sure he knew how to identify objects, like circles, triangles etc. That is when we were able to explain that he can identify things like hearts, diamonds, squares, circles, triangles etc. which is awesome since he can't say them. and apparently draw them

Vision is trying to increase what they do know he has and get him more acclimated to school and his surrounds. Helga kept pipping in and saying that Ty should use canes and crutches to better get around .I told her we had a walker but he chooses not to use it. It is OFFERED to him every day as a way for him to get around. He stands at it and says no no and pushes it back against the wall. I explained nicely to Helga but she didn't want to listen so I stopped trying to get her to listen.

We brain stormed ideas and ways to get Tyler motivated to do certain things. They were enthralled at Tyler book collection that is found in my bag and was pleasantly surprised that he can do and tell you so many more things than first anticipated.

Over all a few sentences and suggestions were made, and a suggestion to the nice bus lady to please stop pulling my kids arms out of his socket and allow him the same respect as typical kids to walk up the stairs and get help on the seat.

Ty is going to do well in school this year. I can feel it. Dallas and I are always asking him to say letter sounds and repeat things. Sometimes we get no but mostly we get trying. It is going to be a year of very involved parenting, very involved CP docs, teachers, therapist and mostly we need a very involved extended family to help us.

I guess that is my plea with the IEP , Extended family PLEASE come and help us get him up to where he is suppose to be. Help us teach you what he does, how he can communicate, get him communicating with you and so YOU understand and HE understands. PLEASE