IAP/IEP meeting

[Guest guest]

And just to get another note out that says these things can go well ... ours

did.

One thing that became an issue in this year's meeting is Ian's transition

plan for leaving high school. Ian's a sophomore now so the meeting is to

discuss the plan for his Junior year. Here in NY, and I'll assume throughout the

country, there is supposed to be an exit plan for our kids. The school is

supposed to have put together a transition plan for classified kids graduating

out, whether that is for college or work.

One issue we have is that Ian wants to earn a Regents Honors diploma. The

problem -- he is language exempt. The state says that he can replace the

language requirement with another sequence. Foreign language is a 3 year

sequence

and has a Regents exam at the end of the 3rd year. But their stated choice for

replacement is 5 credits (years) of music or art. Well, there isn't enough

room in Ian's schedule for a 5 year sequence in art/music. So, we are now

looking for solutions to this dilemma.

We had a touchy moment when the Director suggested taking his TOD services

and putting them through the resource room and therefore earning him a credit

for it. He doesn't get a credit for his TOD services. The Director was the

only one playing with the idea but no else was really speaking up to say what a

bad idea it was -- they all just looked a bit panicked. To say that I dug in

my heels and just said " no " would be putting it mildly. I was so very polite

and informed on the topic -- and so intractable that the discussion went

nowhere. I put the kabash on it by stating that the Spec Ed people were not

qualified to have oversight on the TODs services, goals or even in assessing

Ian's needs. They've proved this in the past by completely mishandling Ian's

needs. I got to explain how a TOD's services were different from special ed. I

think everyone, including our TOD was pleased that they were not asked to do

that, LOL.

Besides, Ian doesn't need more credits. What he needs is more time in a day.

(Don't we all, grin) He theoretically needs 5 classes in art/music, but if

he takes those it would stop him from being able to take the advanced math

and sciences that he plans to take.

The solution is still to come ... we'll be talking to the State Ed Dept

about the requirements and the rules for language exemption. Ian may be able to

take courses at the local community college that would fill those needs. And

since he wants to go to RIT, I'll call RIT and ask about how they

judge/evaluate students for acceptance.

As for his academic and service plan for next year -- nothing was

questioned, even our new request for a note taker was addressed, approved and

added

into the IAP without so much as a raised eyebrow.

Oh, and Ian was there for this meeting. It's the second time he's attended

and honestly, he was more nervous than last year. He barely uttered a word this

time. He told me afterwards that it is very intimidating to go into those

meetings to discuss himself and he's glad that I'm there to explain things

because he doesn't think he could explain what he and his TOD work on that way

we did. (grin) But just by being there, he's learning.

Easy as pie. (grin)

Jill