IEP - Not So Scary

This past week, we had our initial IEP for Kendal regarding her entrance into the Special Education PreSchool Program. I had previously met with her teacher, toured the classroom, and went over the daily schedule of activities and I was very impressed with what I saw. The people in attendance were me, James, Nana, Speech Therapist, Special Education Teacher, School District Psychologist, and the Vice Principle of the school she will be attending. Everyone was very nice and prepared (totally shocking!), and by the completion of the meeting I felt very confidant that this was going to be a beneficial program for Kendal.

I felt like all the members of the meeting really understood any concerns that I brought up and they had the IEP mostly completed from information that I had already provided. We went over Kendal's last Speech Evaluation (completed 3-2009) and that was hard to hear out loud. Kendal is at an overall level of a 13 month old. It still surprises me sometimes that I can become emotional over something that I feel like I've already dealt with.

The Speech Therapist that attended the meeting and another Special Education Aide in the school is good friends with my parents. Plus one of the aides in Kendal's classroom said she heard all about Kendal because her husband works with James. It is neat to have several people "looking out" for her in a sense. Kendal will probably start the program sometime this week.

She will attend this program on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays between the hours of 11-2. There will be a total of 6 children in the classroom (one of those being a typical developing child), and one teacher and 2 aides. The teacher described that they have centers set up much like a typical preschool however they are led by the teacher. For instance, there are 3 centers, one each being led by a teacher/aid and there will be two students at each center. I was really impressed with the different activities that they engage the child in and also the ratio of teachers to students.

They will focus on such things as colors, shapes, self-feeding, self recognition, and other basic skills that Kendal struggles with. I think this is very beneficial because in her current preschool class I doubt it is covered much because most of the other children have these skills down pat. She will still attend her regular preschool but I will pull her out those 4 days a week for the special education program. It will take getting used to, but overall I'm excited about the program and look forward to seeing improvments in Kendal's skills.