We started the day with Nick's meeting. We requested a SSD representative from the high school attend so we could focus on the rest of 8th grade and next year's needs. I am so lucky that Nick attends school where Tim teaches. It's just nice knowing that Nick's teachers know Tim and have a even more vested interest in him. It also helps that Tim knows which colleagues would be a good fit. The meeting was longer this year than last year's, but we got a lot hammered out. We have minutes set for the rest of this year and next, and some good goals. The high school representative really listened when we requested Algebra and English be in the morning when his medicine is in full effect. We had frank and honest conversations about his social skills, lack of friendships and choosing electives. We decided that a foreign language could wait until his Sophomore year and Debate might not be a good class for Nick to take. Tim and I are worried about next year, but today's meeting was a great start to reduce the worry. It was also nice to have his home Behavior Therapist with us to talk about the Social Thinking program he is learning at home.
Noah's meeting was after lunch. I am always worried going into his meetings. Noah's behavior is more of an issue than Nate and Nick's and I often worry about his lack of academic progress. Today's meeting was very smooth. His behavior the past calendar year has greatly improved. I couldn't believe the data. He has also made some academic progress. This is also in part to the home ABA team working on many of the same skills as school. Andrea, Nick and Noah's Behavior Therapist, was ferociously taking notes and offering many good suggestions. Noah will have many new things to work on at home. Noah came to Southview for the second half of kindergarten. He is now technically in the 4th grade. The teacher he has this year is the same teacher he had for the second half of kindergarten. It is so nice to be able to talk about the differences between then and now.
So we made it......two IEPs, two happy parents, and, most importantly, zero tears.
