Tuesday, May 22, 2012
IEP Meeting and Preschool Update
Today I attended Tyson's end of the year conference, and it was also time for his IEP update. It went pretty much how I thought it would, but with a twist.
His preschool teacher is very concerned about the fact that he can't stay on topic. When he draws pictures and tells "stories" he is all over the place and his stories do not make any sense. He can go from tornadoes to a picnic to racing cars in three sentences and one story. His speech teacher also reports that he doesn't answer questions directly and can't focus on a topic.
It isn't like I didn't know this. It is my frustration too.
So the twist came when she said they want to re-evaluate him in the fall. To me this is a double edged sword. On one hand, it's good because they are going to take a closer look at language to see if that is a qualifying area. When he was tested 2 years ago, he was still learning English. If he qualifies in language, they could increase his speech time. Good, right? Well, here's the bad part: he could test out of his articulation goals, and if he doesn't qualify in language, he won't get any speech services. His speech has improved a lot, and in isolation, he can slow down and pronounce words.
I also asked if they would test him for cognitive disability, and they will do that too. I know he's a sharp little boy: nothing gets past him. But this year, he made very little progress. After daily repetition of numbers and letters, he only knows very few of both and didn't make the progress that his peers made. What's more frustrating is that we work on these skills at home too, and Kacie plays "school" with him. He practices letters on the iPad, uses starfall app, etc... it just doesn't sink in.
Could it part of an overall institutional delay? Maybe. Will this extra year of preschool be the answer? We shall see. If it isn't, we may have a long road ahead. And that's OK, we will get through it!
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I found with Theo is he is so overstimulated in a normal classroom setting that he isn't learning anything. I saw huge changes when I started to homeschool him. The smaller enrichment classes seems to be best for him.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how much help we can be. Since Jake's birthday is in October he missed out attending pre-K when he was 4. It helped him a lot, not being in school that year. He was going to day care (not a lot of school type work, but lots of activities) and we worked at home with him. When he started pre-K he was almost 5 and he just finished the school year today. He's adapted to school really well. He knows his alphabet and numbers, although when he writes them he still does some of them backwards sometimes. When he gets to telling a story he talks fast and it becomes hard to understand, but he can get through the story. His biggest issue to us is his speech. He's going to have another surgery June 4 on his palate, so we will have to see how that works out.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is overstimulation with Ty. It sounds to us like you are going through the steps you need to take. Wish we could offer you more, but you will have our prayers.
Jolene, how does he act in speech sessions? Violet
ReplyDeleteHe sounds like both my son and daughter - they were adopted from China at ages 4 and 5. Son - when he was 5 and 6, he zoomed from topic to topic and I could barely keep up with his train of thought. He was diagnosed with ADHD with agression right before he started kindergarten - medication helped so much but its not for every child or family. He's 8 now and mostly focuses on his favorite topic - sports or more specifically hockey! He's an extremely good student now and writes wonderful stories.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter sounds like him from a cognitive perspective. She is one smart cookie too but she is lacking in several areas. She seemed to stop progressing in English at the end of 1st grade. She repeated 2nd grade, has been in speech since the second time she was in 2nd grade, and now at the end of 4th grade, she finally has a hard won fight of an IEP goal for reading comprehension. Her speech goal is continuing for 5th grade next year. She has been diagnosed outside of the school system as having PDD-NOS which is helpful and its not all at the same time.
If they are willing to test your son for a cognitive delay - that is awesome! Our school district has refused to test my daughter and I am taking her to our University Hospital 2.5 hours a way just so I can hopefully find out what is really going on with her from a learning disabilities standpoint.
Good luck!! I hope you get a solid determination and the school system is willing to work to help him be successful!!
Wow! I struggle with Joy. Like your son, she is very bright and clever. It is just that some things don't click right away. I hope things go well and he learns to "get" it.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for your struggles. I would have to say that to some extent, he's a boy, and he's only 4/5. You said you were keeping him in pre-school again this year, right? I think you'll probably see significant strides this year. I really hope you are able to continue to get speech for him. (I'm really hoping the same thing for Ewen's PT; he doesn't have other delays, so he might not qualify for PT; we'll find out in Aug. when he's re-evaluated.) Good luck with everything. You are such a great mom!
ReplyDeleteJolene, when we had Kai evaluated we were told that the delays and overall deprivation kids experience in orphanages cannot be overestimated...that they actually become "wired" to react from a trauma perspective (even if there is no "abuse" per-se, kids that suffer neglect also develop this response.)
ReplyDeleteWe have Kai on medicine for ADHD and it has been helpful....and while that is the case, I really believe that the way he interacts with the world around him was created in his early years within a stressful environment. Speech is also a HUGE hurdle here...and we just keep pluggin' along, just like you guys.
Hang in there!