IEP and Rumblings: Part Two

Just a day after that phone call from The Fabulous Mrs. G., The Hubbs and I had a date with The Princess's team at school for her re-evaluation and IEP meeting.

Once again, I was awed by the caliber of human being that makes up our local special education district.  These people get it.  They really do.  They love our kids and see them as people, rather than inconveniences or disabilities.

Her speech therapist was so excited to tell us about her plans that she was literally getting tongue-tied.  Her mouth couldn't keep up with her brain and all the things she wanted to communicate to us, and she was unbelievably adorable.  The first thing out of her mouth was how much she adores our girl. 

The rest of the meeting went just as well.  The special ed coordinator from our home district was there, and she assured us that The Princess would not be transferring out of the special education district.  The next piece of good news we got was that The Princess will be staying with The Fabulous Mrs. G. for another year.  Her school day will lengthen by another hour, since she'll be entering first grade.  Overall, the input from the staff was positive.  She's been making progress, and we have a plan in place to help her continue to succeed at her goals.

Unfortunately for some of the people in that room, our special education district just had to lay off almost 50% of their staff due to cuts at local school districts.  It just breaks my heart.  I can't imagine being one of the parents who is standing on the edge of the great unknown right now.  At least we know that the people working with The Princess have her back, and that they really, truly understand her.

I'm choosing to look on the bright side.  Though we don't know yet where The Princess will be going to school next year, we do know with whom.  Things are going to change for sure, but at least we have the security of knowing The Fabulous Mrs. G. will be there to guide our little girl through it.

Rumblings: Part One

The past couple of months have been interesting.  With The Princess's annual IEP coming up, along with the looming 3-year reassessment, there's been a lot to do.

While we've been preparing for these meetings, we've heard some rumblings concerning the programs available to special needs kiddos in our area.  Nothing has been released officially, but we keep hearing rumors that a town in our county has decided to pull all of their autistic children out of the special education district programs in favor of fledgling programs that will be initiated by the local school district come this fall.  To save money.  They never even ran this past the parents.

Needless to say, we hoped these were just rumors.

A day or two after we filled out the grueling 3-year re-evaluation (a twenty-two page packet of depressing questions and observations, a truly nasty document that requires copious amounts of chocolate to deal with), The Hubbs received a phone call.

The Fabulous Mrs. G. was calling to talk about what's going to happen next year.  Evidently, the rumors are true.  All of the kids in a district two towns over have been pulled from the special education district, and their home district is going to start their own autism program.  This is in progress all around the county.  The parents have no choice. Mrs. G. wanted to let us know, because our little town apparently had yet to make a decision one way or the other.

I immediately started researching who I should talk to, which offices to call, which feathers to ruffle, in order to make sure our girl continues to get the level of care and service she has become accustomed to during her three years with The Fabulous Mrs. G., who - by the way - has been doing this for twenty-nine years.  I can't imagine changing everything up on her now, not after the amazing progress she's made with this team.

Once I finished breathing in and out slowly into a paper sack, I started to form a plan of action.  I'd start with the special ed coordinator at The Princess's home district, as well as the superintendent.  I was armed with all of the contact information for the members of our county board who represent our district.  I just couldn't trust my voice not to break or my tears not to flow.

I had to do this right.  And that meant it would have to wait.