Re: Re: Josh's IEP - YEAH!!! (and long!)

[Guest guest]

Sherry and Josh,

Congratulations on all of your success at your meeting...please be cautious

though....assure that all of these issues are clarified specifically in Josh's

IEP...he sounds like a great little boy, he deserves the best !!!!!

Michele

[Guest guest]

Hi, Everyone!

On my way to the IEP meeting today, I had this fantasy that the dist. folks

were going to start off the meeting saying they made a huge mistake about Josh

and we should just rewrite the whole IEP and change the placement. Sometimes

fantasies come true!

OK, not completely but, woweekazowie! We walked in to a table with14 people

representing the school and the district. My ex said, first thing, gosh, this

isn't intimidating! The head of special ed first asked how my ex and I wanted

to proceed with the meeting - do we discuss the letter I sent two weeks ago or

should we bring everyone up to date on how/what Josh is doing. We decided with

the latter.

Josh's teacher started by saying he is absolutely the most social kid she has

seen, his receptive language is amazing (and age appropriate if not moreso), he

is building his independence in the new school setting, he is a real goofball at

times (in a good way), that when he gets tired he gets aggressive (true) but

when he's not tired he is a wonderful kid and an absolute pleasure to have in

her class. He is focused, attentive, helpful. He is behind academically and she

is doing testing now to see exactly where he is at. But, she was doing story

comprehension with him and he completely comprehends everything that is read to

him - he answered every single question correctly and fully understood the

stories.

The OTs were talking about working with him on the trampoline, the balls,

swings, various other things but the motor planning issues really are quite

severe. We knew that - global dyspraxia does that to ya! They are going to use

the ABT Listening Therapy with him along with a variety of other things - all in

all not an unexpected report from them.

We then started talking with the speech folks. For those who weren't

familiary with this saga - the dist. agreed at the first IEP to 120 minutes

weekly of speech but they were going to leave it up to the therapist to

determine how much was individual. Josh had been getting, in the old dist., 20

minutes 4x's weekly and then group for a total of 90 minutes. In the new dist,

we weren't happy that things weren't written down with more specificity and we

were definitely not happy with one day a week individual with the rest group.

Well, we got them to agree to 20 minutes 4x's weekly individual working on

apraxic issues (also got them to actually include that diagnosis in the IEP - it

hadn't even been mentioned previously) and the remainder in group doing language

work. YEAH!!! It did get a bit tense but we pushed - nicely - and everyone

finally agreed - I think the fact that Kaufmann confirmed the verbal/oral

apraxia diagnosis and added the dysarthria diagnosis

certainly impressed the speech folks here. For some reason, the speech path

who did the diagnosis over the summer didn't even see 's report and

diagnosis but the head of the speech division, who was in the IEP today, said

she read it (even referred to phrases used in it) and agreed that Josh was

severely apraxic, although certainly much better than he was.

Then we talked about the mainstreaming - another YEAH!!! Josh will be

mainstreamed with an aide for " specials " starting within the next two weeks

(including PE which I'm very happy about, and MUSIC!!!). He will, as he was in

the old dist., be mainstreamed with an aide for more hands-on activities in

science, social studies, and math and, as the year progresses, we will revisit

him being mainstreamed for more " non hands-on " work in those subjects.

The head of special ed then asked if we wanted to discuss the letter I sent

and I looked at her, smiled, and said I think we already have! We did discuss

the whole placement in the ASD classroom but the ex and I agreed that our

compromise position was going to be that, if they did more mainstreaming, he

could stay in that classroom. Josh adores the teacher and he really likes going

to school so we felt he could use the classroom as a " safe haven. " They are

going to remove the " educational autism " crap from the IEP as well. The two

things I did forget to bring up were that I know the teacher will be using ABA

with the kids with autism and there is no way I want that type of therapy used

with Josh, and I'd really like to see them use the Handwriting Without Tears

system to help him, but I'm sure a nice letter will take care of that.

We also had a great conversation with his PT - he's had a couple of sessions

with her. She's great, energetic, fun. She observed him in a group setting for

a bit and then, she said, she tapped him on the shoulder and said, " let's go! "

She got him up while dancing and he has responded to her wonderfully since. She

really wants him to go into Special Olympics (she's a coach for a couple of

events). Our SO dist through our school dist is the largest in the country and

is marvelous. She said she can see him in gymnastics, track and field (she

really wants to see him in shotput), and bowling. She's got big plans for my

little guy and really wants to see him up there taking a gold!

True the dist didn't say they made a mistake and true they didn't admit their

initial assessment of Josh was way off, but it sure seems like their actions

today were a tacit admission. They are completely rewriting major portions of

the IEP (YEAH!!) and that was one of our primary goals.

We also are having huge luck with the afterschool care. The local park dist

sponsors the inclusive program at Josh's school so he doesn't have to go

anywhere for afterschool care. A special rec program in the area provides a

one-on-one aide to facilitate inclusion. Even they have commented on how social

he is, how much he wants to play with the other kids. I came to pick him up one

day and he was racing matchbook cars around the gym with a couple of other kids

- two years ago he had no clue how to play with kids, it was all parallel play!

YEAH!!! It's amazing what a little more ability in speech can do for a kid!

:-)

On a personal note - I really want to say thank you to everyone here who has

been so supportive. Once again, I am so thankful I found this group 4 years ago

- the people here are wise, calming, and such a great team to lean on that I

can't thank all of you enough. We should all thank our lucky stars there are

people out there in the ether (or at least on the net) who understand what we go

through as parents, offer useful advice, and generally just lend a shoulder when

we need it. More importantly, there are people out there who understand our

kids and want only the best for them. Thank you everyone!

Sherry and Josh

[Guest guest]

Sherry and Josh,

Congratulations on all of your success at your meeting...please be cautious

though....assure that all of these issues are clarified specifically in Josh's

IEP...he sounds like a great little boy, he deserves the best !!!!!

Michele

[Guest guest]

Hi Sherry,

Congratulations on your IEP for your son. I think we've spoken back and

forth in the past. Do you reside in Aurora or Naperville, if so, which school

district are you in? Just curious.

Thanks Jola.

sherry silvern <srsilvern@...> wrote:

Hi, Everyone!

On my way to the IEP meeting today, I had this fantasy that the dist. folks were

going to start off the meeting saying they made a huge mistake about Josh and we

should just rewrite the whole IEP and change the placement. Sometimes fantasies

come true!

OK, not completely but, woweekazowie! We walked in to a table with14 people

representing the school and the district. My ex said, first thing, gosh, this

isn't intimidating! The head of special ed first asked how my ex and I wanted to

proceed with the meeting - do we discuss the letter I sent two weeks ago or

should we bring everyone up to date on how/what Josh is doing. We decided with

the latter.

Josh's teacher started by saying he is absolutely the most social kid she has

seen, his receptive language is amazing (and age appropriate if not moreso), he

is building his independence in the new school setting, he is a real goofball at

times (in a good way), that when he gets tired he gets aggressive (true) but

when he's not tired he is a wonderful kid and an absolute pleasure to have in

her class. He is focused, attentive, helpful. He is behind academically and she

is doing testing now to see exactly where he is at. But, she was doing story

comprehension with him and he completely comprehends everything that is read to

him - he answered every single question correctly and fully understood the

stories.

The OTs were talking about working with him on the trampoline, the balls,

swings, various other things but the motor planning issues really are quite

severe. We knew that - global dyspraxia does that to ya! They are going to use

the ABT Listening Therapy with him along with a variety of other things - all in

all not an unexpected report from them.

We then started talking with the speech folks. For those who weren't familiary

with this saga - the dist. agreed at the first IEP to 120 minutes weekly of

speech but they were going to leave it up to the therapist to determine how much

was individual. Josh had been getting, in the old dist., 20 minutes 4x's weekly

and then group for a total of 90 minutes. In the new dist, we weren't happy that

things weren't written down with more specificity and we were definitely not

happy with one day a week individual with the rest group. Well, we got them to

agree to 20 minutes 4x's weekly individual working on apraxic issues (also got

them to actually include that diagnosis in the IEP - it hadn't even been

mentioned previously) and the remainder in group doing language work. YEAH!!! It

did get a bit tense but we pushed - nicely - and everyone finally agreed - I

think the fact that Kaufmann confirmed the verbal/oral apraxia diagnosis

and added the dysarthria diagnosis

certainly impressed the speech folks here. For some reason, the speech path who

did the diagnosis over the summer didn't even see 's report and diagnosis

but the head of the speech division, who was in the IEP today, said she read it

(even referred to phrases used in it) and agreed that Josh was severely

apraxic, although certainly much better than he was.

Then we talked about the mainstreaming - another YEAH!!! Josh will be

mainstreamed with an aide for " specials " starting within the next two weeks

(including PE which I'm very happy about, and MUSIC!!!). He will, as he was in

the old dist., be mainstreamed with an aide for more hands-on activities in

science, social studies, and math and, as the year progresses, we will revisit

him being mainstreamed for more " non hands-on " work in those subjects.

The head of special ed then asked if we wanted to discuss the letter I sent and

I looked at her, smiled, and said I think we already have! We did discuss the

whole placement in the ASD classroom but the ex and I agreed that our compromise

position was going to be that, if they did more mainstreaming, he could stay in

that classroom. Josh adores the teacher and he really likes going to school so

we felt he could use the classroom as a " safe haven. " They are going to remove

the " educational autism " crap from the IEP as well. The two things I did forget

to bring up were that I know the teacher will be using ABA with the kids with

autism and there is no way I want that type of therapy used with Josh, and I'd

really like to see them use the Handwriting Without Tears system to help him,

but I'm sure a nice letter will take care of that.

We also had a great conversation with his PT - he's had a couple of sessions

with her. She's great, energetic, fun. She observed him in a group setting for a

bit and then, she said, she tapped him on the shoulder and said, " let's go! " She

got him up while dancing and he has responded to her wonderfully since. She

really wants him to go into Special Olympics (she's a coach for a couple of

events). Our SO dist through our school dist is the largest in the country and

is marvelous. She said she can see him in gymnastics, track and field (she

really wants to see him in shotput), and bowling. She's got big plans for my

little guy and really wants to see him up there taking a gold!

True the dist didn't say they made a mistake and true they didn't admit their

initial assessment of Josh was way off, but it sure seems like their actions

today were a tacit admission. They are completely rewriting major portions of

the IEP (YEAH!!) and that was one of our primary goals.

We also are having huge luck with the afterschool care. The local park dist

sponsors the inclusive program at Josh's school so he doesn't have to go

anywhere for afterschool care. A special rec program in the area provides a

one-on-one aide to facilitate inclusion. Even they have commented on how social

he is, how much he wants to play with the other kids. I came to pick him up one

day and he was racing matchbook cars around the gym with a couple of other kids

- two years ago he had no clue how to play with kids, it was all parallel play!

YEAH!!! It's amazing what a little more ability in speech can do for a kid! :-)

On a personal note - I really want to say thank you to everyone here who has

been so supportive. Once again, I am so thankful I found this group 4 years ago

- the people here are wise, calming, and such a great team to lean on that I

can't thank all of you enough. We should all thank our lucky stars there are

people out there in the ether (or at least on the net) who understand what we go

through as parents, offer useful advice, and generally just lend a shoulder when

we need it. More importantly, there are people out there who understand our kids

and want only the best for them. Thank you everyone!

Sherry and Josh

[Guest guest]

Hi, Everyone!

On my way to the IEP meeting today, I had this fantasy that the dist. folks

were going to start off the meeting saying they made a huge mistake about Josh

and we should just rewrite the whole IEP and change the placement. Sometimes

fantasies come true!

OK, not completely but, woweekazowie! We walked in to a table with14 people

representing the school and the district. My ex said, first thing, gosh, this

isn't intimidating! The head of special ed first asked how my ex and I wanted

to proceed with the meeting - do we discuss the letter I sent two weeks ago or

should we bring everyone up to date on how/what Josh is doing. We decided with

the latter.

Josh's teacher started by saying he is absolutely the most social kid she has

seen, his receptive language is amazing (and age appropriate if not moreso), he

is building his independence in the new school setting, he is a real goofball at

times (in a good way), that when he gets tired he gets aggressive (true) but

when he's not tired he is a wonderful kid and an absolute pleasure to have in

her class. He is focused, attentive, helpful. He is behind academically and she

is doing testing now to see exactly where he is at. But, she was doing story

comprehension with him and he completely comprehends everything that is read to

him - he answered every single question correctly and fully understood the

stories.

The OTs were talking about working with him on the trampoline, the balls,

swings, various other things but the motor planning issues really are quite

severe. We knew that - global dyspraxia does that to ya! They are going to use

the ABT Listening Therapy with him along with a variety of other things - all in

all not an unexpected report from them.

We then started talking with the speech folks. For those who weren't

familiary with this saga - the dist. agreed at the first IEP to 120 minutes

weekly of speech but they were going to leave it up to the therapist to

determine how much was individual. Josh had been getting, in the old dist., 20

minutes 4x's weekly and then group for a total of 90 minutes. In the new dist,

we weren't happy that things weren't written down with more specificity and we

were definitely not happy with one day a week individual with the rest group.

Well, we got them to agree to 20 minutes 4x's weekly individual working on

apraxic issues (also got them to actually include that diagnosis in the IEP - it

hadn't even been mentioned previously) and the remainder in group doing language

work. YEAH!!! It did get a bit tense but we pushed - nicely - and everyone

finally agreed - I think the fact that Kaufmann confirmed the verbal/oral

apraxia diagnosis and added the dysarthria diagnosis

certainly impressed the speech folks here. For some reason, the speech path

who did the diagnosis over the summer didn't even see 's report and

diagnosis but the head of the speech division, who was in the IEP today, said

she read it (even referred to phrases used in it) and agreed that Josh was

severely apraxic, although certainly much better than he was.

Then we talked about the mainstreaming - another YEAH!!! Josh will be

mainstreamed with an aide for " specials " starting within the next two weeks

(including PE which I'm very happy about, and MUSIC!!!). He will, as he was in

the old dist., be mainstreamed with an aide for more hands-on activities in

science, social studies, and math and, as the year progresses, we will revisit

him being mainstreamed for more " non hands-on " work in those subjects.

The head of special ed then asked if we wanted to discuss the letter I sent

and I looked at her, smiled, and said I think we already have! We did discuss

the whole placement in the ASD classroom but the ex and I agreed that our

compromise position was going to be that, if they did more mainstreaming, he

could stay in that classroom. Josh adores the teacher and he really likes going

to school so we felt he could use the classroom as a " safe haven. " They are

going to remove the " educational autism " crap from the IEP as well. The two

things I did forget to bring up were that I know the teacher will be using ABA

with the kids with autism and there is no way I want that type of therapy used

with Josh, and I'd really like to see them use the Handwriting Without Tears

system to help him, but I'm sure a nice letter will take care of that.

We also had a great conversation with his PT - he's had a couple of sessions

with her. She's great, energetic, fun. She observed him in a group setting for

a bit and then, she said, she tapped him on the shoulder and said, " let's go! "

She got him up while dancing and he has responded to her wonderfully since. She

really wants him to go into Special Olympics (she's a coach for a couple of

events). Our SO dist through our school dist is the largest in the country and

is marvelous. She said she can see him in gymnastics, track and field (she

really wants to see him in shotput), and bowling. She's got big plans for my

little guy and really wants to see him up there taking a gold!

True the dist didn't say they made a mistake and true they didn't admit their

initial assessment of Josh was way off, but it sure seems like their actions

today were a tacit admission. They are completely rewriting major portions of

the IEP (YEAH!!) and that was one of our primary goals.

We also are having huge luck with the afterschool care. The local park dist

sponsors the inclusive program at Josh's school so he doesn't have to go

anywhere for afterschool care. A special rec program in the area provides a

one-on-one aide to facilitate inclusion. Even they have commented on how social

he is, how much he wants to play with the other kids. I came to pick him up one

day and he was racing matchbook cars around the gym with a couple of other kids

- two years ago he had no clue how to play with kids, it was all parallel play!

YEAH!!! It's amazing what a little more ability in speech can do for a kid!

:-)

On a personal note - I really want to say thank you to everyone here who has

been so supportive. Once again, I am so thankful I found this group 4 years ago

- the people here are wise, calming, and such a great team to lean on that I

can't thank all of you enough. We should all thank our lucky stars there are

people out there in the ether (or at least on the net) who understand what we go

through as parents, offer useful advice, and generally just lend a shoulder when

we need it. More importantly, there are people out there who understand our

kids and want only the best for them. Thank you everyone!

Sherry and Josh

[Guest guest]

Hi Sherry,

Congratulations on your IEP for your son. I think we've spoken back and

forth in the past. Do you reside in Aurora or Naperville, if so, which school

district are you in? Just curious.

Thanks Jola.

sherry silvern <srsilvern@...> wrote:

Hi, Everyone!

On my way to the IEP meeting today, I had this fantasy that the dist. folks were

going to start off the meeting saying they made a huge mistake about Josh and we

should just rewrite the whole IEP and change the placement. Sometimes fantasies

come true!

OK, not completely but, woweekazowie! We walked in to a table with14 people

representing the school and the district. My ex said, first thing, gosh, this

isn't intimidating! The head of special ed first asked how my ex and I wanted to

proceed with the meeting - do we discuss the letter I sent two weeks ago or

should we bring everyone up to date on how/what Josh is doing. We decided with

the latter.

Josh's teacher started by saying he is absolutely the most social kid she has

seen, his receptive language is amazing (and age appropriate if not moreso), he

is building his independence in the new school setting, he is a real goofball at

times (in a good way), that when he gets tired he gets aggressive (true) but

when he's not tired he is a wonderful kid and an absolute pleasure to have in

her class. He is focused, attentive, helpful. He is behind academically and she

is doing testing now to see exactly where he is at. But, she was doing story

comprehension with him and he completely comprehends everything that is read to

him - he answered every single question correctly and fully understood the

stories.

The OTs were talking about working with him on the trampoline, the balls,

swings, various other things but the motor planning issues really are quite

severe. We knew that - global dyspraxia does that to ya! They are going to use

the ABT Listening Therapy with him along with a variety of other things - all in

all not an unexpected report from them.

We then started talking with the speech folks. For those who weren't familiary

with this saga - the dist. agreed at the first IEP to 120 minutes weekly of

speech but they were going to leave it up to the therapist to determine how much

was individual. Josh had been getting, in the old dist., 20 minutes 4x's weekly

and then group for a total of 90 minutes. In the new dist, we weren't happy that

things weren't written down with more specificity and we were definitely not

happy with one day a week individual with the rest group. Well, we got them to

agree to 20 minutes 4x's weekly individual working on apraxic issues (also got

them to actually include that diagnosis in the IEP - it hadn't even been

mentioned previously) and the remainder in group doing language work. YEAH!!! It

did get a bit tense but we pushed - nicely - and everyone finally agreed - I

think the fact that Kaufmann confirmed the verbal/oral apraxia diagnosis

and added the dysarthria diagnosis

certainly impressed the speech folks here. For some reason, the speech path who

did the diagnosis over the summer didn't even see 's report and diagnosis

but the head of the speech division, who was in the IEP today, said she read it

(even referred to phrases used in it) and agreed that Josh was severely

apraxic, although certainly much better than he was.

Then we talked about the mainstreaming - another YEAH!!! Josh will be

mainstreamed with an aide for " specials " starting within the next two weeks

(including PE which I'm very happy about, and MUSIC!!!). He will, as he was in

the old dist., be mainstreamed with an aide for more hands-on activities in

science, social studies, and math and, as the year progresses, we will revisit

him being mainstreamed for more " non hands-on " work in those subjects.

The head of special ed then asked if we wanted to discuss the letter I sent and

I looked at her, smiled, and said I think we already have! We did discuss the

whole placement in the ASD classroom but the ex and I agreed that our compromise

position was going to be that, if they did more mainstreaming, he could stay in

that classroom. Josh adores the teacher and he really likes going to school so

we felt he could use the classroom as a " safe haven. " They are going to remove

the " educational autism " crap from the IEP as well. The two things I did forget

to bring up were that I know the teacher will be using ABA with the kids with

autism and there is no way I want that type of therapy used with Josh, and I'd

really like to see them use the Handwriting Without Tears system to help him,

but I'm sure a nice letter will take care of that.

We also had a great conversation with his PT - he's had a couple of sessions

with her. She's great, energetic, fun. She observed him in a group setting for a

bit and then, she said, she tapped him on the shoulder and said, " let's go! " She

got him up while dancing and he has responded to her wonderfully since. She

really wants him to go into Special Olympics (she's a coach for a couple of

events). Our SO dist through our school dist is the largest in the country and

is marvelous. She said she can see him in gymnastics, track and field (she

really wants to see him in shotput), and bowling. She's got big plans for my

little guy and really wants to see him up there taking a gold!

True the dist didn't say they made a mistake and true they didn't admit their

initial assessment of Josh was way off, but it sure seems like their actions

today were a tacit admission. They are completely rewriting major portions of

the IEP (YEAH!!) and that was one of our primary goals.

We also are having huge luck with the afterschool care. The local park dist

sponsors the inclusive program at Josh's school so he doesn't have to go

anywhere for afterschool care. A special rec program in the area provides a

one-on-one aide to facilitate inclusion. Even they have commented on how social

he is, how much he wants to play with the other kids. I came to pick him up one

day and he was racing matchbook cars around the gym with a couple of other kids

- two years ago he had no clue how to play with kids, it was all parallel play!

YEAH!!! It's amazing what a little more ability in speech can do for a kid! :-)

On a personal note - I really want to say thank you to everyone here who has

been so supportive. Once again, I am so thankful I found this group 4 years ago

- the people here are wise, calming, and such a great team to lean on that I

can't thank all of you enough. We should all thank our lucky stars there are

people out there in the ether (or at least on the net) who understand what we go

through as parents, offer useful advice, and generally just lend a shoulder when

we need it. More importantly, there are people out there who understand our kids

and want only the best for them. Thank you everyone!

Sherry and Josh

[Guest guest]

Absolutely! We got a handwritten synopsis of the meeting in Josh's " take-home "

stuff Friday afternoon - if I don't receive some sort of new IEP specifically

listing all that we talked about, yet another letter will go to Dist. giving my

own synopsis of what happened at the meeting!

Sherry and Josh

mmich5569@... wrote:

Sherry and Josh,

Congratulations on all of your success at your meeting...please be cautious

though....assure that all of these issues are clarified specifically in Josh's

IEP...he sounds like a great little boy, he deserves the best !!!!!

Michele

[Guest guest]

Thanks, . You started a great group here - you deserve all the praise!

And, yes, I went to a Kaufman seminar in this very school district -

that's how I met her, got her to agree to see Josh, and she is fantastic! If

anyone has the opportunity to go to her for an eval, really, you must make the

effort. She is amazing with the kids!

Sherry

kiddietalk <kiddietalk@...> wrote:

Sherry this is the type of update that brings tears to the eyes and

hope to the heart. Josh is one fortunate little boy to have such

determined parents fighting for him, as well as one of my favorite

SLPs... Kaufman! Thank goodness for her too (she's wise and

funny isn't she? I tell her she needs her own talk show and if you

ever saw her in a conference you'd know what I mean) Just like you

are happy to have this group -I for at least one am thrilled to have

you as a member. You always offer support and advice to others -and

I am so thankful that you now get the chance to share news that for

sure will be " archived " to help many other children just like Josh!

Congratulations and (a real) Happy Back to School!!!

=====

[Guest guest]

Hi, Jola -

Yep, we've had many a conversation! We moved to Hanover Park - Josh goes to

Schaumburg schools. You're in Aurora, correct? Did you follow up on the DAN

protocol for your child - I seem to recall you were going to do it a while back.

I looked into it for Josh about a year ago since we all decided it couldn't hurt

apraxic kids but, OMG, those docs are expensive!

There is a free seminar in Des Plaines on October 17 (I think that was the

date) for the Sensory Learning Program. Didn't know if you'd be interested in

that but it sounds very interesting. It incorporates listening therapy along

with vision therapy and vestibular therapy. There is a website for the program

which, of course, I can't remember right now but if you just plug in sensory

learning program, you'll come up with it.

Take care and thanks!

Sherry

Ben & Jola Obire <benjolarac@...> wrote:

Hi Sherry,

Congratulations on your IEP for your son. I think we've spoken back and forth in

the past. Do you reside in Aurora or Naperville, if so, which school district

are you in? Just curious.

Thanks Jola.

sherry silvern <srsilvern@...> wrote:

Hi, Everyone!

On my way to the IEP meeting today, I had this fantasy that the dist. folks were

going to start off the meeting saying they made a huge mistake about Josh and we

should just rewrite the whole IEP and change the placement. Sometimes fantasies

come true!

OK, not completely but, woweekazowie! We walked in to a table with14 people

representing the school and the district. My ex said, first thing, gosh, this

isn't intimidating! The head of special ed first asked how my ex and I wanted to

proceed with the meeting - do we discuss the letter I sent two weeks ago or

should we bring everyone up to date on how/what Josh is doing. We decided with

the latter.

Josh's teacher started by saying he is absolutely the most social kid she has

seen, his receptive language is amazing (and age appropriate if not moreso), he

is building his independence in the new school setting, he is a real goofball at

times (in a good way), that when he gets tired he gets aggressive (true) but

when he's not tired he is a wonderful kid and an absolute pleasure to have in

her class. He is focused, attentive, helpful. He is behind academically and she

is doing testing now to see exactly where he is at. But, she was doing story

comprehension with him and he completely comprehends everything that is read to

him - he answered every single question correctly and fully understood the

stories.

The OTs were talking about working with him on the trampoline, the balls,

swings, various other things but the motor planning issues really are quite

severe. We knew that - global dyspraxia does that to ya! They are going to use

the ABT Listening Therapy with him along with a variety of other things - all in

all not an unexpected report from them.

We then started talking with the speech folks. For those who weren't familiary

with this saga - the dist. agreed at the first IEP to 120 minutes weekly of

speech but they were going to leave it up to the therapist to determine how much

was individual. Josh had been getting, in the old dist., 20 minutes 4x's weekly

and then group for a total of 90 minutes. In the new dist, we weren't happy that

things weren't written down with more specificity and we were definitely not

happy with one day a week individual with the rest group. Well, we got them to

agree to 20 minutes 4x's weekly individual working on apraxic issues (also got

them to actually include that diagnosis in the IEP - it hadn't even been

mentioned previously) and the remainder in group doing language work. YEAH!!! It

did get a bit tense but we pushed - nicely - and everyone finally agreed - I

think the fact that Kaufmann confirmed the verbal/oral apraxia diagnosis

and added the dysarthria diagnosis

certainly impressed the speech folks here. For some reason, the speech path who

did the diagnosis over the summer didn't even see 's report and diagnosis

but the head of the speech division, who was in the IEP today, said she read it

(even referred to phrases used in it) and agreed that Josh was severely

apraxic, although certainly much better than he was.

Then we talked about the mainstreaming - another YEAH!!! Josh will be

mainstreamed with an aide for " specials " starting within the next two weeks

(including PE which I'm very happy about, and MUSIC!!!). He will, as he was in

the old dist., be mainstreamed with an aide for more hands-on activities in

science, social studies, and math and, as the year progresses, we will revisit

him being mainstreamed for more " non hands-on " work in those subjects.

The head of special ed then asked if we wanted to discuss the letter I sent and

I looked at her, smiled, and said I think we already have! We did discuss the

whole placement in the ASD classroom but the ex and I agreed that our compromise

position was going to be that, if they did more mainstreaming, he could stay in

that classroom. Josh adores the teacher and he really likes going to school so

we felt he could use the classroom as a " safe haven. " They are going to remove

the " educational autism " crap from the IEP as well. The two things I did forget

to bring up were that I know the teacher will be using ABA with the kids with

autism and there is no way I want that type of therapy used with Josh, and I'd

really like to see them use the Handwriting Without Tears system to help him,

but I'm sure a nice letter will take care of that.

We also had a great conversation with his PT - he's had a couple of sessions

with her. She's great, energetic, fun. She observed him in a group setting for a

bit and then, she said, she tapped him on the shoulder and said, " let's go! " She

got him up while dancing and he has responded to her wonderfully since. She

really wants him to go into Special Olympics (she's a coach for a couple of

events). Our SO dist through our school dist is the largest in the country and

is marvelous. She said she can see him in gymnastics, track and field (she

really wants to see him in shotput), and bowling. She's got big plans for my

little guy and really wants to see him up there taking a gold!

True the dist didn't say they made a mistake and true they didn't admit their

initial assessment of Josh was way off, but it sure seems like their actions

today were a tacit admission. They are completely rewriting major portions of

the IEP (YEAH!!) and that was one of our primary goals.

We also are having huge luck with the afterschool care. The local park dist

sponsors the inclusive program at Josh's school so he doesn't have to go

anywhere for afterschool care. A special rec program in the area provides a

one-on-one aide to facilitate inclusion. Even they have commented on how social

he is, how much he wants to play with the other kids. I came to pick him up one

day and he was racing matchbook cars around the gym with a couple of other kids

- two years ago he had no clue how to play with kids, it was all parallel play!

YEAH!!! It's amazing what a little more ability in speech can do for a kid! :-)

On a personal note - I really want to say thank you to everyone here who has

been so supportive. Once again, I am so thankful I found this group 4 years ago

- the people here are wise, calming, and such a great team to lean on that I

can't thank all of you enough. We should all thank our lucky stars there are

people out there in the ether (or at least on the net) who understand what we go

through as parents, offer useful advice, and generally just lend a shoulder when

we need it. More importantly, there are people out there who understand our kids

and want only the best for them. Thank you everyone!

Sherry and Josh

[Guest guest]

Thanks, , and thanks for your support along the way!

Sherry

Pedicini <pedicini@...> wrote:

Sherry,

Your post was WONDERFUL to read. I'm so glad that things turned out

the way they should have. Kudos to you for being such a great mom

and not backing down, even when things got rough. It was hard enough

moving to a new district without having to deal with all that you've

dealt with since your move. I am so very happy for both you and

Josh! Congrts again & thanks for keeping us updated. I'm sure your

story will help lots of others who face similar situations down the

road.

>

> Hi, Everyone!

>

> On my way to the IEP meeting today, I had this fantasy that the

dist. folks were going to start off the meeting saying they made a

huge mistake about Josh and we should just rewrite the whole IEP and

change the placement. Sometimes fantasies come true!

>

> OK, not completely but, woweekazowie! We walked in to a table

with14 people representing the school and the district. My ex said,

first thing, gosh, this isn't intimidating! The head of special ed

first asked how my ex and I wanted to proceed with the meeting - do

we discuss the letter I sent two weeks ago or should we bring

everyone up to date on how/what Josh is doing. We decided with the

latter.

>

> Josh's teacher started by saying he is absolutely the most

social kid she has seen, his receptive language is amazing (and age

appropriate if not moreso), he is building his independence in the

new school setting, he is a real goofball at times (in a good way),

that when he gets tired he gets aggressive (true) but when he's not

tired he is a wonderful kid and an absolute pleasure to have in her

class. He is focused, attentive, helpful. He is behind academically

and she is doing testing now to see exactly where he is at. But,

she was doing story comprehension with him and he completely

comprehends everything that is read to him - he answered every

single question correctly and fully understood the stories.

>

> The OTs were talking about working with him on the trampoline,

the balls, swings, various other things but the motor planning

issues really are quite severe. We knew that - global dyspraxia

does that to ya! They are going to use the ABT Listening Therapy

with him along with a variety of other things - all in all not an

unexpected report from them.

>

> We then started talking with the speech folks. For those who

weren't familiary with this saga - the dist. agreed at the first IEP

to 120 minutes weekly of speech but they were going to leave it up

to the therapist to determine how much was individual. Josh had

been getting, in the old dist., 20 minutes 4x's weekly and then

group for a total of 90 minutes. In the new dist, we weren't happy

that things weren't written down with more specificity and we were

definitely not happy with one day a week individual with the rest

group. Well, we got them to agree to 20 minutes 4x's weekly

individual working on apraxic issues (also got them to actually

include that diagnosis in the IEP - it hadn't even been mentioned

previously) and the remainder in group doing language work.

YEAH!!! It did get a bit tense but we pushed - nicely - and

everyone finally agreed - I think the fact that Kaufmann

confirmed the verbal/oral apraxia diagnosis and added the dysarthria

diagnosis

> certainly impressed the speech folks here. For some reason, the

speech path who did the diagnosis over the summer didn't even see

's report and diagnosis but the head of the speech division,

who was in the IEP today, said she read it (even referred to phrases

used in it) and agreed that Josh was severely apraxic,

although certainly much better than he was.

>

> Then we talked about the mainstreaming - another YEAH!!! Josh

will be mainstreamed with an aide for " specials " starting within the

next two weeks (including PE which I'm very happy about, and

MUSIC!!!). He will, as he was in the old dist., be mainstreamed

with an aide for more hands-on activities in science, social

studies, and math and, as the year progresses, we will revisit him

being mainstreamed for more " non hands-on " work in those subjects.

>

> The head of special ed then asked if we wanted to discuss the

letter I sent and I looked at her, smiled, and said I think we

already have! We did discuss the whole placement in the ASD

classroom but the ex and I agreed that our compromise position was

going to be that, if they did more mainstreaming, he could stay in

that classroom. Josh adores the teacher and he really likes going to

school so we felt he could use the classroom as a " safe haven. "

They are going to remove the " educational autism " crap from the IEP

as well. The two things I did forget to bring up were that I know

the teacher will be using ABA with the kids with autism and there is

no way I want that type of therapy used with Josh, and I'd really

like to see them use the Handwriting Without Tears system to help

him, but I'm sure a nice letter will take care of that.

>

> We also had a great conversation with his PT - he's had a couple

of sessions with her. She's great, energetic, fun. She observed

him in a group setting for a bit and then, she said, she tapped him

on the shoulder and said, " let's go! " She got him up while dancing

and he has responded to her wonderfully since. She really wants him

to go into Special Olympics (she's a coach for a couple of events).

Our SO dist through our school dist is the largest in the country

and is marvelous. She said she can see him in gymnastics, track and

field (she really wants to see him in shotput), and bowling. She's

got big plans for my little guy and really wants to see him up there

taking a gold!

>

> True the dist didn't say they made a mistake and true they

didn't admit their initial assessment of Josh was way off, but it

sure seems like their actions today were a tacit admission. They

are completely rewriting major portions of the IEP (YEAH!!) and that

was one of our primary goals.

>

> We also are having huge luck with the afterschool care. The

local park dist sponsors the inclusive program at Josh's school so

he doesn't have to go anywhere for afterschool care. A special rec

program in the area provides a one-on-one aide to facilitate

inclusion. Even they have commented on how social he is, how much

he wants to play with the other kids. I came to pick him up one day

and he was racing matchbook cars around the gym with a couple of

other kids - two years ago he had no clue how to play with kids, it

was all parallel play! YEAH!!! It's amazing what a little more

ability in speech can do for a kid! :-)

>

> On a personal note - I really want to say thank you to everyone

here who has been so supportive. Once again, I am so thankful I

found this group 4 years ago - the people here are wise, calming,

and such a great team to lean on that I can't thank all of you

enough. We should all thank our lucky stars there are people out

there in the ether (or at least on the net) who understand what we

go through as parents, offer useful advice, and generally just lend

a shoulder when we need it. More importantly, there are people out

there who understand our kids and want only the best for them.

Thank you everyone!

>

> Sherry and Josh

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Absolutely! We got a handwritten synopsis of the meeting in Josh's " take-home "

stuff Friday afternoon - if I don't receive some sort of new IEP specifically

listing all that we talked about, yet another letter will go to Dist. giving my

own synopsis of what happened at the meeting!

Sherry and Josh

mmich5569@... wrote:

Sherry and Josh,

Congratulations on all of your success at your meeting...please be cautious

though....assure that all of these issues are clarified specifically in Josh's

IEP...he sounds like a great little boy, he deserves the best !!!!!

Michele

[Guest guest]

Thanks, . You started a great group here - you deserve all the praise!

And, yes, I went to a Kaufman seminar in this very school district -

that's how I met her, got her to agree to see Josh, and she is fantastic! If

anyone has the opportunity to go to her for an eval, really, you must make the

effort. She is amazing with the kids!

Sherry

kiddietalk <kiddietalk@...> wrote:

Sherry this is the type of update that brings tears to the eyes and

hope to the heart. Josh is one fortunate little boy to have such

determined parents fighting for him, as well as one of my favorite

SLPs... Kaufman! Thank goodness for her too (she's wise and

funny isn't she? I tell her she needs her own talk show and if you

ever saw her in a conference you'd know what I mean) Just like you

are happy to have this group -I for at least one am thrilled to have

you as a member. You always offer support and advice to others -and

I am so thankful that you now get the chance to share news that for

sure will be " archived " to help many other children just like Josh!

Congratulations and (a real) Happy Back to School!!!

=====

[Guest guest]

Hi, Jola -

Yep, we've had many a conversation! We moved to Hanover Park - Josh goes to

Schaumburg schools. You're in Aurora, correct? Did you follow up on the DAN

protocol for your child - I seem to recall you were going to do it a while back.

I looked into it for Josh about a year ago since we all decided it couldn't hurt

apraxic kids but, OMG, those docs are expensive!

There is a free seminar in Des Plaines on October 17 (I think that was the

date) for the Sensory Learning Program. Didn't know if you'd be interested in

that but it sounds very interesting. It incorporates listening therapy along

with vision therapy and vestibular therapy. There is a website for the program

which, of course, I can't remember right now but if you just plug in sensory

learning program, you'll come up with it.

Take care and thanks!

Sherry

Ben & Jola Obire <benjolarac@...> wrote:

Hi Sherry,

Congratulations on your IEP for your son. I think we've spoken back and forth in

the past. Do you reside in Aurora or Naperville, if so, which school district

are you in? Just curious.

Thanks Jola.

sherry silvern <srsilvern@...> wrote:

Hi, Everyone!

On my way to the IEP meeting today, I had this fantasy that the dist. folks were

going to start off the meeting saying they made a huge mistake about Josh and we

should just rewrite the whole IEP and change the placement. Sometimes fantasies

come true!

OK, not completely but, woweekazowie! We walked in to a table with14 people

representing the school and the district. My ex said, first thing, gosh, this

isn't intimidating! The head of special ed first asked how my ex and I wanted to

proceed with the meeting - do we discuss the letter I sent two weeks ago or

should we bring everyone up to date on how/what Josh is doing. We decided with

the latter.

Josh's teacher started by saying he is absolutely the most social kid she has

seen, his receptive language is amazing (and age appropriate if not moreso), he

is building his independence in the new school setting, he is a real goofball at

times (in a good way), that when he gets tired he gets aggressive (true) but

when he's not tired he is a wonderful kid and an absolute pleasure to have in

her class. He is focused, attentive, helpful. He is behind academically and she

is doing testing now to see exactly where he is at. But, she was doing story

comprehension with him and he completely comprehends everything that is read to

him - he answered every single question correctly and fully understood the

stories.

The OTs were talking about working with him on the trampoline, the balls,

swings, various other things but the motor planning issues really are quite

severe. We knew that - global dyspraxia does that to ya! They are going to use

the ABT Listening Therapy with him along with a variety of other things - all in

all not an unexpected report from them.

We then started talking with the speech folks. For those who weren't familiary

with this saga - the dist. agreed at the first IEP to 120 minutes weekly of

speech but they were going to leave it up to the therapist to determine how much

was individual. Josh had been getting, in the old dist., 20 minutes 4x's weekly

and then group for a total of 90 minutes. In the new dist, we weren't happy that

things weren't written down with more specificity and we were definitely not

happy with one day a week individual with the rest group. Well, we got them to

agree to 20 minutes 4x's weekly individual working on apraxic issues (also got

them to actually include that diagnosis in the IEP - it hadn't even been

mentioned previously) and the remainder in group doing language work. YEAH!!! It

did get a bit tense but we pushed - nicely - and everyone finally agreed - I

think the fact that Kaufmann confirmed the verbal/oral apraxia diagnosis

and added the dysarthria diagnosis

certainly impressed the speech folks here. For some reason, the speech path who

did the diagnosis over the summer didn't even see 's report and diagnosis

but the head of the speech division, who was in the IEP today, said she read it

(even referred to phrases used in it) and agreed that Josh was severely

apraxic, although certainly much better than he was.

Then we talked about the mainstreaming - another YEAH!!! Josh will be

mainstreamed with an aide for " specials " starting within the next two weeks

(including PE which I'm very happy about, and MUSIC!!!). He will, as he was in

the old dist., be mainstreamed with an aide for more hands-on activities in

science, social studies, and math and, as the year progresses, we will revisit

him being mainstreamed for more " non hands-on " work in those subjects.

The head of special ed then asked if we wanted to discuss the letter I sent and

I looked at her, smiled, and said I think we already have! We did discuss the

whole placement in the ASD classroom but the ex and I agreed that our compromise

position was going to be that, if they did more mainstreaming, he could stay in

that classroom. Josh adores the teacher and he really likes going to school so

we felt he could use the classroom as a " safe haven. " They are going to remove

the " educational autism " crap from the IEP as well. The two things I did forget

to bring up were that I know the teacher will be using ABA with the kids with

autism and there is no way I want that type of therapy used with Josh, and I'd

really like to see them use the Handwriting Without Tears system to help him,

but I'm sure a nice letter will take care of that.

We also had a great conversation with his PT - he's had a couple of sessions

with her. She's great, energetic, fun. She observed him in a group setting for a

bit and then, she said, she tapped him on the shoulder and said, " let's go! " She

got him up while dancing and he has responded to her wonderfully since. She

really wants him to go into Special Olympics (she's a coach for a couple of

events). Our SO dist through our school dist is the largest in the country and

is marvelous. She said she can see him in gymnastics, track and field (she

really wants to see him in shotput), and bowling. She's got big plans for my

little guy and really wants to see him up there taking a gold!

True the dist didn't say they made a mistake and true they didn't admit their

initial assessment of Josh was way off, but it sure seems like their actions

today were a tacit admission. They are completely rewriting major portions of

the IEP (YEAH!!) and that was one of our primary goals.

We also are having huge luck with the afterschool care. The local park dist

sponsors the inclusive program at Josh's school so he doesn't have to go

anywhere for afterschool care. A special rec program in the area provides a

one-on-one aide to facilitate inclusion. Even they have commented on how social

he is, how much he wants to play with the other kids. I came to pick him up one

day and he was racing matchbook cars around the gym with a couple of other kids

- two years ago he had no clue how to play with kids, it was all parallel play!

YEAH!!! It's amazing what a little more ability in speech can do for a kid! :-)

On a personal note - I really want to say thank you to everyone here who has

been so supportive. Once again, I am so thankful I found this group 4 years ago

- the people here are wise, calming, and such a great team to lean on that I

can't thank all of you enough. We should all thank our lucky stars there are

people out there in the ether (or at least on the net) who understand what we go

through as parents, offer useful advice, and generally just lend a shoulder when

we need it. More importantly, there are people out there who understand our kids

and want only the best for them. Thank you everyone!

Sherry and Josh

[Guest guest]

Thanks, , and thanks for your support along the way!

Sherry

Pedicini <pedicini@...> wrote:

Sherry,

Your post was WONDERFUL to read. I'm so glad that things turned out

the way they should have. Kudos to you for being such a great mom

and not backing down, even when things got rough. It was hard enough

moving to a new district without having to deal with all that you've

dealt with since your move. I am so very happy for both you and

Josh! Congrts again & thanks for keeping us updated. I'm sure your

story will help lots of others who face similar situations down the

road.

>

> Hi, Everyone!

>

> On my way to the IEP meeting today, I had this fantasy that the

dist. folks were going to start off the meeting saying they made a

huge mistake about Josh and we should just rewrite the whole IEP and

change the placement. Sometimes fantasies come true!

>

> OK, not completely but, woweekazowie! We walked in to a table

with14 people representing the school and the district. My ex said,

first thing, gosh, this isn't intimidating! The head of special ed

first asked how my ex and I wanted to proceed with the meeting - do

we discuss the letter I sent two weeks ago or should we bring

everyone up to date on how/what Josh is doing. We decided with the

latter.

>

> Josh's teacher started by saying he is absolutely the most

social kid she has seen, his receptive language is amazing (and age

appropriate if not moreso), he is building his independence in the

new school setting, he is a real goofball at times (in a good way),

that when he gets tired he gets aggressive (true) but when he's not

tired he is a wonderful kid and an absolute pleasure to have in her

class. He is focused, attentive, helpful. He is behind academically

and she is doing testing now to see exactly where he is at. But,

she was doing story comprehension with him and he completely

comprehends everything that is read to him - he answered every

single question correctly and fully understood the stories.

>

> The OTs were talking about working with him on the trampoline,

the balls, swings, various other things but the motor planning

issues really are quite severe. We knew that - global dyspraxia

does that to ya! They are going to use the ABT Listening Therapy

with him along with a variety of other things - all in all not an

unexpected report from them.

>

> We then started talking with the speech folks. For those who

weren't familiary with this saga - the dist. agreed at the first IEP

to 120 minutes weekly of speech but they were going to leave it up

to the therapist to determine how much was individual. Josh had

been getting, in the old dist., 20 minutes 4x's weekly and then

group for a total of 90 minutes. In the new dist, we weren't happy

that things weren't written down with more specificity and we were

definitely not happy with one day a week individual with the rest

group. Well, we got them to agree to 20 minutes 4x's weekly

individual working on apraxic issues (also got them to actually

include that diagnosis in the IEP - it hadn't even been mentioned

previously) and the remainder in group doing language work.

YEAH!!! It did get a bit tense but we pushed - nicely - and

everyone finally agreed - I think the fact that Kaufmann

confirmed the verbal/oral apraxia diagnosis and added the dysarthria

diagnosis

> certainly impressed the speech folks here. For some reason, the

speech path who did the diagnosis over the summer didn't even see

's report and diagnosis but the head of the speech division,

who was in the IEP today, said she read it (even referred to phrases

used in it) and agreed that Josh was severely apraxic,

although certainly much better than he was.

>

> Then we talked about the mainstreaming - another YEAH!!! Josh

will be mainstreamed with an aide for " specials " starting within the

next two weeks (including PE which I'm very happy about, and

MUSIC!!!). He will, as he was in the old dist., be mainstreamed

with an aide for more hands-on activities in science, social

studies, and math and, as the year progresses, we will revisit him

being mainstreamed for more " non hands-on " work in those subjects.

>

> The head of special ed then asked if we wanted to discuss the

letter I sent and I looked at her, smiled, and said I think we

already have! We did discuss the whole placement in the ASD

classroom but the ex and I agreed that our compromise position was

going to be that, if they did more mainstreaming, he could stay in

that classroom. Josh adores the teacher and he really likes going to

school so we felt he could use the classroom as a " safe haven. "

They are going to remove the " educational autism " crap from the IEP

as well. The two things I did forget to bring up were that I know

the teacher will be using ABA with the kids with autism and there is

no way I want that type of therapy used with Josh, and I'd really

like to see them use the Handwriting Without Tears system to help

him, but I'm sure a nice letter will take care of that.

>

> We also had a great conversation with his PT - he's had a couple

of sessions with her. She's great, energetic, fun. She observed

him in a group setting for a bit and then, she said, she tapped him

on the shoulder and said, " let's go! " She got him up while dancing

and he has responded to her wonderfully since. She really wants him

to go into Special Olympics (she's a coach for a couple of events).

Our SO dist through our school dist is the largest in the country

and is marvelous. She said she can see him in gymnastics, track and

field (she really wants to see him in shotput), and bowling. She's

got big plans for my little guy and really wants to see him up there

taking a gold!

>

> True the dist didn't say they made a mistake and true they

didn't admit their initial assessment of Josh was way off, but it

sure seems like their actions today were a tacit admission. They

are completely rewriting major portions of the IEP (YEAH!!) and that

was one of our primary goals.

>

> We also are having huge luck with the afterschool care. The

local park dist sponsors the inclusive program at Josh's school so

he doesn't have to go anywhere for afterschool care. A special rec

program in the area provides a one-on-one aide to facilitate

inclusion. Even they have commented on how social he is, how much

he wants to play with the other kids. I came to pick him up one day

and he was racing matchbook cars around the gym with a couple of

other kids - two years ago he had no clue how to play with kids, it

was all parallel play! YEAH!!! It's amazing what a little more

ability in speech can do for a kid! :-)

>

> On a personal note - I really want to say thank you to everyone

here who has been so supportive. Once again, I am so thankful I

found this group 4 years ago - the people here are wise, calming,

and such a great team to lean on that I can't thank all of you

enough. We should all thank our lucky stars there are people out

there in the ether (or at least on the net) who understand what we

go through as parents, offer useful advice, and generally just lend

a shoulder when we need it. More importantly, there are people out

there who understand our kids and want only the best for them.

Thank you everyone!

>

> Sherry and Josh

>

>

>

>

>