IEP Meeting went AWESOME!

Guess What?! History Boy has started a new school year! Did you know that? I bet you forgot! But that isn't the best part. He made it through the first week. He likes his class. He likes his teachers and his aide. Yay! :-)

But on Day 4 of school I have an IEP Meeting, and not just any IEP Meeting. It is the IEP meeting that is where we discuss his review of his classification and could be retesting and all that good stuff. You moms know what I mean. It comes up EVERY 3 years years and HistoryBoy is due. So I get to meet his teachers at this meeting, only 4 days into school. I am a little scared. I know my HistoryBoy seems happy, but well I know my HistoryBoy. LOL.

I meet Mrs. S and Mrs. H and they we discuss HistoryBoy and they have read over his IEP and most of the stuff is listed as "as needed." I tell them what may be more "needed" than others and how to handle his outbursts of knowledge. It is hard to stop out Aspies flow of information once it is going and apparently she is already aware of this on Day 4 but I gave her some suggestions so he doesn't feel bad for sharing, like "If we have time later we can come back but we have to move on to ... this or give someone else a chance etc" I have found these to help me when I need him to slow his flow a little. It doesn't always work. Sometimes he just has to say what he has to say, but sometimes it does.

Once we all settle into IEP meeting mode, we discuss that YAY! we are just going to keep his placement as is! No retesting. If I am happy with his current level of service and we know he still qualifies for services, he does not need to be retested. So no pull out for all those tests again. I am SOOO happy. That would be so hard for him as his is just starting the whole middle school thing. So NO RE-EVAL! NO RE-DETERMINING Eligibility! YAY! He is just eligible because he is! We know he has ADHD and Asperger's and OT isssues and it is documented and we have observed! I am so glad his teachers and therapists were so on the ball. We were able to discuss and fine tune things yesterday and make sure the teachers were aware of what HistoryBoy can do, but he also has to have consequences for misbehavior and such.

Now we can just move forward from this point. I am not saying it will not be a bumpy road. This is middle school. A whole new venture for my growing into a young man HistoryBoy. He needs to take more responsiblity for himself. He can't rely on mom to check everything for him all the time. Pretty soon (age 13), he will be included in these meetings with me and have a say himself. I am so proud to know I have help to mold him to this point. He is my greatest achievement, my little miracle, my angel. I love you HistoryBoy.