Just so much going on

It's been an insane week, more so than usual.

Micah stayed home sick on Tuesday. At least i had a sitter in the morning, so I was able to do my errands. Took Micah to pediatrician - strep was negative, but very stuffy nose and sore throat. So we did not go to tae kwan do that evening, just relaxed. David came home from a week and a half in California at about 1am. Very glad to see him.

Also got Sofia's IEP testing reports. Hard to read. They are very dry and data-ful. I gave out copies to the folks in the day school. The HOS, who has a grown son with DS, got two pages into the report and then called me into her office. She was very upset by the report. "Where is the lead paragraph about the child's strengths?!" I appreciated her being upset. I knew that the "good stuff" was buried deeper into the report, but indeed, it is difficult to read all the negatives first.

Wednesday was THE day. Insane, indeed. First, drive the boys to school, and attend to meet one of the candidates for Head of School (while trying to keep Sofia occupied).

Then a quick trip for groceries, a quick stop to unload them, and pick up Sofia's friend H.

Then take both girls BACK to the boys' school, to meet their preschool teacher and Sped Coordinator, who were observing the day school's kindergarten class. That was interesting. I was glad to have H with us, because in contrast, Sofia did really well! The two girls were playing in the "kitchen" area of the class, but Sofia got interested in what the teacher was talking about with the class, so she sat on the rug with them and chimed in! She even raised her hand and said "My Turn", and added appropriate on-topic comments. I was so proud!

Fed the two girls some lunch in the cafeteria, and got to see the boys. Then raced back to drop them at school. Home for 20 minutes, then back to prechool for THE IEP MEETING!!!

Two and a half hours later...

It was certainly a long meeting, and overall I was satisfied with the basics, although we are going to request more speech. The meeting started with "what is the disability", and a discussion of whether to transition from "Developmental Delay" to "Intellectual Impairment". Since we all agreed that she is certainly still developing, I was able to demand DevDelay, which can be used up until she turns 8 years old.

I always approach the IEP meeting like this: "Let's pretend that we are moving to California next week; what do we need to include in this document so they would know how to work with this child?"

That helps it stay impersonal and focused on the child, rather than on the the school system.

In attendance was a cast of thousands:
- public school Sped Director, preschool teacher, OT, PT, Speech, and Psych
- day school Head of School, Sped Director, and Learning Specialist
- David and me
- my friend who is a professional advocate, and knows Sofia well.

So.

To know Sofia is at very least to be amused and impressed by her. We all agreed that she has made tremendous progress every year in preschool, and with proper support, will continue to exceed all expectations. (I guess - can we "expect" her to exceed expectations?!)

Now it comes down to WHERE.

The day school folk had a lot of questions, but certainly were not able to promise anything. I had invited folks from Gateways, the Jewish Special Needs collaborative, to attend, but they did not get the message until after the IEP. We will have a separate meeting with them soon.

There are many things to consider. The public school Kindergarten teachers, even in the Inclusion classrooms, are not SpEd certified. They recommend only 60 minutes per day of specific Sped service.

The current recommendation stands at:
Speech - 1x30 in class and 2x30 pull out per week. We are asking for more.
OT - 1x30 in and 1x30 out
PT - 2x30 out
SpEd 5x60 in

Whew.

Got out of the meeting at 3:30 - which was only a problem because I was supposed to have picked Micah up at 3:15 to take him to his therapy appointment (which his doctor kindly rescheduled). Got the boys, had a quick meeting with the art teacher about a project i am working on, and met Sofia at gym (taken by H's mother - I love this arrangement!).


Thursday, more running around. Meeting, then massage (yeah!), then another meeting. When I picked up the boys, Micah was a complete melting puddle. We did a quick stop to get his new glasses, and get Sofia and go home. David, however, did not get home again until after midnight.

So this morning he was "grounded" - I told him he was not allowed to leave the house until 10 am, and should sleep as long as possible. When he is away from the office so long, work piles up.

I also left Micah home again today. Poor kid can't stop blowing his nose, and he is very tired. Since Micah and David were both home, the bonus was that I could leave Sofia home while I took Sam to school and had a quick meeting and grocery shopping.

When I got home, I made home-made Wontons for Micah. They came out YUMMY! I'm making crock-pot for tonight, we have 2 families coming over. And Micah is supposed to read Torah again tomorrow in the children's service.