January is almost over!

Well, here it is again, the end of another month! 

   Let’s see… we had Joe’s LAST IEP meeting!!  I just got the papers today to read and “approve”.  They know him so well by now that it’s just a formality.  I don’t know what we’ll do without these teachers/helpers.  He is about to be sent out into the world.  Eeek!!  Ok, one more year, I’m not gonna freak out just yet.

   New things are coming for Timothy!!   A couple of posts back I mentioned that he is going to be switching classes, or schools, or something.                                                    

Little background: Our school district is “independent”.  West Burlington is sort of just an extension of Burlington, but we are our own city.  We have our own PD, FD, City Hall, City Council, Mayor, Utilities Dept., etc.  We also have our own school district, with our own Superintendent and School Board.  Our teachers even have their own union.  Our district serves our city, and bunches of rural area.  We do not bus students to/from school unless there are special circumstances.  As a part of the grant for our preschool, bussing was added, so preschool kids have the option of being picked up in one of our three vans.   Physically disabled is one of those circumstances for the older kids, and we have one student in a wheelchair that is bussed.   Because our schools are small, and because our district is better in most areas that the bigger ones surrounding us, we have a good percentage of open enrolled students as well.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              On the flip side of that, because we’re small, and there are really only a handful of special needs kids, we don’t have the vast special needs program that we need, so our more complicated special needs kids have to go to the Burlington schools where they do have the numbers to support the more diverse SN programs.  They have 6 Elem(I think), 3 Middle, and 2 High schools.  Any of which are only about a 10 minute ride.  Outside of our district, but all within 15-30 minutes are Fort Madison, Danville, Mediapolis, Wapello, & Denmark.   The first option for us though is Burlington.  Because of the sheer numbers of kids, the Burlington district has no room for Timothy.  We’re talking space here, not even teacher/student ratios.  LOL   Well, why don’t they build more schools?  They are, but of course that isn’t an instant answer, we’ll have two new ones opening next school year (well, over the summer). 

 Anyway... the Burlington SN program is full.  No more physical room.  I thought it was a teacher/program thing.  So, because of that, we are “forced” to find someplace else for Timothy after his sixth Birthday.  There is a law in Iowa (I don’t know if it’s a national thing though) that children 6 and up can NOT be in preschool, there are no special circumstances, no accommodations for special needs kids, that’s just the rule, and there’s no room to wiggle.  Now, they can be in KG till they are 20(ok maybe not, but YKWIM), but only in Preschool till their 6th Birthday.  This is where the problem comes.  Timothy’s going to be 6 on February 20.  Our school has no way to serve the needs that he has.  We all hoped he would be further in the process of learning to speak, etc. by now but it’s just not happening yet.  That’s not to say that it won’t, we all feel like the stuff is “there” he is just having a tough time connecting it and getting it out because he is a very bright little guy.  He has picked up signing very quickly, and is at about a 24-30 month old level of verbal communication (connecting the sounds and making words is coming slowly).  Of course, given the strikes against him, he is really doing remarkably well.  He was never taught.  He didn’t learn shapes, colors, abcs, numbers, how to talk with words, or any of those basic things that kids learn as they grow in a normal environment.  He was taught how to dress, feed, toilet, and clean things.  All things to make his caregivers lives easier, but they deemed him “unteachable” so he was never “educated” like the “typical” kids were with those basic foundational things that you learn even before going to school.  Since he has been home, his receptive skills have bloomed.  He understands 99.9% of the things you say to him, in English.  He has completely lost his Russian (this makes me sad but we don’t know enough to really speak it well enough for him to have retained it, and our friend who is fluent doesn’t visit enough.  LOL).   Besides all of that, he also has a strike against him because he has lived in an institution all of his life.  No matter how caring the nannies were, or how well taken care of they were physically (food, warm bed, clothing), there are things that a child needs to be “normal”.  Touches, hugs, affection, etc.  So, there are institutional behaviors that he has that needed to be forgotten, or things that he needed to learn about being in a family.  He is doing very well in that area!   There are also social skills that he needed to change a bit to fit into a family as opposed to a group.  He’s done well with that stuff too.  He has really done well in ALL areas but the areas that are most important to his education are more structured and he is still pretty far behind his peers.  When I look at what Olivia knows (reading, writing, etc) I can really see how far behind Timothy is.  And, if all of that wasn’t enough, he also has that whole Down syndrome thing.    Kids with Ds are not “typical” but they are MUCH more typical that people really know.  Most people/kids with Ds are fully integrated into our crazy society, schools, classrooms, etc.  without too much extra accommodations for their “disability” needed.  Most don’t need adaptive equipment or anything like that that would keep them from being fully functional contributors to society.  However, they are slower at grasping concepts that might only take us a few tries.  Mentally, they are “normal” (most people don’t realize that) and many have the IQ to prove it.  However, because of the way they process things, the way they talk, and the way they look, people tend to think of them as “Mentally Retarded” (I have always HATED that phrase, and now even more!!).

Soooo... since Burlington is full, and our school doesn’t have what he needs, they had to find it somewhere else.  Fort Madison has a WONDERFUL (best in the state) Autism program.   Joe never really needed it because we were capable of meeting his needs here.  Fort Madison also has a very top notch SN program for other SN kids.  They called me before Christmas to let me know that FM is the next opening that we could place Timothy.  I was adamant that I would NOT be sending him there.  It was not an option.  I contacted the Superintendent, the principal, and his teacher.  I asked some questions, and the Superintendent decided it was best to talk about it face to face.  The day of our meeting, I asked my questions, and they had answers.  It happened that the principal of the FM school was there that day for something completely unrelated so our principal went and brought her in to answer some of my school/program specific questions.  She had never met Timothy, didn’t have any info about him, just that they had a student that might need placement.  Her answers were very informative, and I knew that they weren’t skewed (like she was just saying what I wanted to hear).  I left that meeting with a new opinion on sending him to FM. 

 Last week, his teacher and I headed to FM to see the school, meet the teacher, and see what they had to offer.  I’m sold.  We have to get a staffing together and update his IEP, but his first day will be the day after his Birthday(2-21) since they have no school on the 20th.  The program there sounds like exactly what he’ll need.  He will be one of two Kindergarteners in the program.  They will be in their gen. ed. classroom for the morning routine (calendar, lunch count, etc.), all specials (art, pe, music, etc.), lunch, recess, and any special parties or movie day, things like that if they are tolerating being out of their routine, which he is fine with.  They want to keep him with his peer group (KGers) in hopes that eventually he’ll catch up to the kids in the appropriate grade level and have more and more and more time in the gen. ed. classroom and less and less in the spec. ed room.  His IEP will be written pretty loosely so that they have a chance to see where he needs the most help and the most accommodations.  Once they decide what grade he’ll be in next year, KG or 1st, we’ll meet again and set his IEP for next year.  His teacher told me that it would be so hard to see him move, but going down there and seeing for herself, she feels better too.  LOL   She knew that she didn’t have a choice though, she knows he has to move somewhere because even with a para (one on one) going into the gen ed KG here would have been a really bad move for him.  I’m pretty excited for him to get to go to this new school.  It will be an adjustment because it will be 5 days a week, all day.   I think once he gets used to it, he’ll be just fine!   I should say, once *I* get used to it… 

Besides all of the school stuff, our stove DIED!!  Now, I have to tell you that this stove has worked overtime for us because I use it twice as much as a “normal” family would use theirs.  I have a daycare!  We’ve had it for 11 years, I’ve been doing daycare for all of those years.   I have been without it for almost two weeks, and I’m tellin you, I MISS IT!!  I ordered the new one last Friday though, so hopefully it won’t be long and we’ll be cookin again!  Hehe  

Ok, I think that’s enough for now!  I’ll be back with pics soon!!