Sunday, October 08, 2006

Update

I'll have time later in the week to actually have a thought, but I'll update you for now. Alex's second IEP was Friday. The team from the school had more time to think about it, and as we came to the conclusion that we didn't want to move Alex, they also decided against moving him. (It helped that they were able to talk the district into another second grade teacher so will have three rooms of about 20 instead of two rooms of 30.)


Joseph's IEP was Thursday. It was very difficult. We are going to ask the district for an independent evaluation of Jospeh's current level of functioning. They have done an evaluation of Joseph's present level of skill/functioning and are basing the IEP on that. It boils down to we at home see a very different child than the school sees. The school doesn't see the potential we see. The school thinks we are delusional parents. We can't make a suitable educational plan without finding a common view of who Jospeh is and what he could become/achieve. All the standardized tests are difficult for Joseph, and his scores don't reflect the reality of our child, but the school just sees the scores. I'm including pictures of Joseph, since this is all about him.

4 comments:

hillary said...

I look at these pictures of Joseph and just love him! I don't like that I ALWAYS miss his birthday. When is are the boys birthdays? I am going to write them down and hope that I can at LEAST get a card in the mail. I love that I have your blog to check up on how you and your family is doing.

oh and stupid standardized tests! that's my opinion

hillary said...

oh - that was a seriously NOT proof read comment! my goodness!

Lora said...

Joseph is May 22, 1997, He will be ten next spring!!!!

Alex is July 11, 1998.

Anonymous said...

I am glad to hear that everyone decided it would be best for Alex to keep him where he is. That stability is so important for him.

I am also so sorry to hear about Joseph's IEP conference. There has to be just about nothing more painful than having someone tell you that they are seeing a completely different Joseph than what you are seeing at home. I imagine it is also so difficult that you can't just put Joseph in a neat little "box" with this or that "label." Because what do you, as his parents, do??? What are your next steps with the whole process?