Today was our annual IEP meeting with the school. This is where we touch base about how Dominic did on last years goals, and write new ones for this year.
This is hands down the first IEP we have EVER sat in (and mind you its about the 9th one we've been in) where the first 25 minutes were spent with everyone raving about the progress Dominic has made. Usually that part is about 3 minutes and consists of how much everyone likes Dominic.
A couple of the stories stood out for me, because they are really cool
- Dominic's teacher was being supervised for a next level license of some variety and her supervising teacher was in the room observing for awhile. Dominic got up, walked in front of this person and said "Strange. Leave".
He recognized that a stranger had no place in the SSN (significant special needs) classroom. And he told her.
Apparently she didn't leave fast enough because he spent the next 25 minutes repeating "STRANGE, LEAVE" and finally got up and stood right near her and said "LEAVE". She looked at the teacher and said "I'm sorry, I didn't realize...." and the teacher said "You should probably leave...."
- In speech therapy group session last week, Dominic knew the answer and another child didn't. So he answered for her. VERBALLY.
WHAT????
Apparently he does this All The Time in his regular classroom, to the point that his teacher actually has to tell him to be quiet.
WHAT?????
- Routine, routine, routine. Dominic's has been a hot mess all school year because they are experimenting with schedules. The most recent routine change is that now he goes outside to recess before he brushes his teeth after lunch. He apparently missed recess the first day because he was trying so hard to brush his teeth. Oops. Second day, he had it down pat. His teacher writes out his schedule (no more PECS for us!!!) and he has to follow a written schedule.
We decided to put him in choir, to see how he does. So that will start tomorrow. We also decided that we wanted the main goals for the classroom academics to be reading based and for his math, to make that money based. Making the choice to move to more practical life skills...
We've also added a social work goal back in to work on creating intentional friendships with peers. (this was at our request)
No later than the beginning of second semester, the school will be instituting a peer mentoring program with the 8th grade leadership club, those kids will be mentoring in some way (we will see how it pans out...) the SSN kids. I've been asking for this for a number of months because I believe that Dominic wants friends. And without the language, he struggles hard to make them. He is also incredibly susceptible to the form of bullying that goes like this: "If you do X, I'll be your friend" and we are not going to allow that to happen.
Overall, one of the best IEP meetings we've had. The school based speech therapist, who has worked with him off and on for many years and knows we are using PMB hemp with Dominic, is ECSTATIC (as in she was nearly in tears at his progress) and told me that she's blown away.
And here's a completely unrelated picture. Dominic really likes to "make mommy's tea" in the mornings.
This is hands down the first IEP we have EVER sat in (and mind you its about the 9th one we've been in) where the first 25 minutes were spent with everyone raving about the progress Dominic has made. Usually that part is about 3 minutes and consists of how much everyone likes Dominic.
A couple of the stories stood out for me, because they are really cool
- Dominic's teacher was being supervised for a next level license of some variety and her supervising teacher was in the room observing for awhile. Dominic got up, walked in front of this person and said "Strange. Leave".
He recognized that a stranger had no place in the SSN (significant special needs) classroom. And he told her.
Apparently she didn't leave fast enough because he spent the next 25 minutes repeating "STRANGE, LEAVE" and finally got up and stood right near her and said "LEAVE". She looked at the teacher and said "I'm sorry, I didn't realize...." and the teacher said "You should probably leave...."
- In speech therapy group session last week, Dominic knew the answer and another child didn't. So he answered for her. VERBALLY.
WHAT????
Apparently he does this All The Time in his regular classroom, to the point that his teacher actually has to tell him to be quiet.
WHAT?????
- Routine, routine, routine. Dominic's has been a hot mess all school year because they are experimenting with schedules. The most recent routine change is that now he goes outside to recess before he brushes his teeth after lunch. He apparently missed recess the first day because he was trying so hard to brush his teeth. Oops. Second day, he had it down pat. His teacher writes out his schedule (no more PECS for us!!!) and he has to follow a written schedule.
We decided to put him in choir, to see how he does. So that will start tomorrow. We also decided that we wanted the main goals for the classroom academics to be reading based and for his math, to make that money based. Making the choice to move to more practical life skills...
We've also added a social work goal back in to work on creating intentional friendships with peers. (this was at our request)
No later than the beginning of second semester, the school will be instituting a peer mentoring program with the 8th grade leadership club, those kids will be mentoring in some way (we will see how it pans out...) the SSN kids. I've been asking for this for a number of months because I believe that Dominic wants friends. And without the language, he struggles hard to make them. He is also incredibly susceptible to the form of bullying that goes like this: "If you do X, I'll be your friend" and we are not going to allow that to happen.
Overall, one of the best IEP meetings we've had. The school based speech therapist, who has worked with him off and on for many years and knows we are using PMB hemp with Dominic, is ECSTATIC (as in she was nearly in tears at his progress) and told me that she's blown away.
And here's a completely unrelated picture. Dominic really likes to "make mommy's tea" in the mornings.
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