02 April 2013

This Morning's Meeting

Hi guys! Sorry I've been away from here the past two weeks.  After my last post the weather just kind of kept on being crummy and it sort of bummed me out, and so blogging didn't appeal to me at all.  Then last week was spring break for the kids (and Josh) which meant that blogging, once again, didn't really appeal to me.  But now the weather is FINALLY getting more "spring-like" and the boys are back in school, so now I am back to blogging.
 
 
Today I had our yearly meeting to go over Zeke's IEP (Individual Education Plan).  I met with Zeke's case worker, his speech therapist and his teacher to discuss how he's been doing and what would be the best course of action for him for the rest of this year and next school year.  Side note: what I didn't realize before scheduling this meeting is that due to the way his IEP was written, he had been labeled "Special Ed".  I have no issues with that label, and it makes sense given how much help he needed in preschool and kindergarten.  I just didn't realize he'd actually been labeled that. I only mention this because at today's meeting, it was decided that he should no longer be classified as "Special Ed".  We figured if he wasn't getting any of the services associated with that label, why label him that any more?  He still qualifies (and NEEDS) speech services so he'll continue to work with the school's (wonderful) speech therapist twice a week.  But he's doing really well, and his teacher said he's exactly where he should be as a first grader, so I'm happy.
 
Now, I was going to write how I got a pleasant surprise during the meeting when Zeke's case worker told me that he'll still get bus services to and home from school, since he'll still be getting services at the school.  I was going to say super pumped I am about that because busing the boys is SO much easier and convenient for me.  However, as I was about halway through the above paragraph, Zeke's case worker called and said that she had misspoken and he does NOT, in fact, qualify for busing next year. Dang it! Now I'm sitting here wondering if that will go into effect this year, once his new IEP is written, or if it'll go into effect starting in September with the new school year?  Only because if the military was in charge, they'd go with ending his busing services as soon as "technically" possible. I put a call in to the case worker.  Hopefully she'll get back to me on that soon, because the more I think about it, the more I can see it happening either way.
 
Anyhoo! To recap, no more "Special Ed" label, but he still needs speech. He really has come such a long way and I am so proud of him.  Maybe we will be completely IEP free by the time we move from NJ, like I hope?

1 comment:

Ells said...

I'm confused, Beth - if he is attending the school but not receiving services he doesn't get to ride the bus? But he'll still be getting speech therapy and that doesn't count as a qualifying service? This is really none of my beeswax, but I am mystified. :)

On another note, YAY ZEKE!!!