We had our IEP meetings for our boys' yesterday. They were dx with autism in January of this year, and through our EI, we started an ABA home program in April. ABA is not the standard in our county, and we had to fight and fight to get the EI approval. And we'd heard that IFSP's were a piece of cake compared to the big bad world of IEPS and the school system. So we were reading up on our caselaw, IDEA, and Wrightslaw was on my bedside table for quick reading whenever I could. We'd heard through our speech therapist that we'd probably have to go to mediation to continue our ABA program past age 3. But we had our entire team backing us, as our boys have made some great strides since April.

I had met with the team earlier in the week and we finalized goals and discussed our wishes. (Three half days of public preschool in a speech delay classroom with one of their therapists as an aide, and 15 ABA hours at home. Also OT and SLP.) My husband spoke with the county's autism specialist the night before and relayed these wishes. When we arrived, our SLP greeted us, telling us we were getting everything we asked for! No arguments, no compromises! They even suggested the therapist would ride the school bus with the boys to help with transistion!

Just to let you know, we were going against the norm for our county. When our boys were dx, we were told they'd go to a 4 day/week autism preschool, which looked good on paper, but when we observed it, we realized we wanted to push our boys more. We liked the speech delayed classroom, as most of the kids there are not on the spectrum, and it gave our boys' some more typical behaviors to model.

I've learned so much about advocacy in the past few months and still have lots to learn, but boy, I never thought I'd be doing all this a year ago. Just had to share my joy!


Krista
Michael, Katherine & Daniel
7/25/01 27w5d

Krista
b/g/b
July 2001

krista,
wow! congratulations!! that is great that you got all you asked for for the boys. That is really great. your kids are exactly one year older than mine (just off by 2 days)! So, I will be looking to your posts and expertise when next year rolls around. I guess a lot will depend on how this year goes, but we'll be tackling the school issue next year.
I'm glad it all worked out for you, I hope its a great transition for the boys. Do you mind me asking what you will do with your daughter while the boys are in school? I have wondered about that with my kids, especially my DD since she is the only one not getting services right now.

glad its a day of good news for you!

Meg

Well, right before the boys were diagnosed, I registered all three to continue at their current preschool M/W/F (as a safety net.) I WANTED them all to go to our church's preschool T/Th, but registration was a month later, so I needed to be assured they'd be in somewhere. When the boys were diagnosed a week later, their current preschool refunded my registration for the boys and took them off their list, because we *thought* they'd definitely go to the autism class. So, to sum it up, my daughter is potentially registered for 5 days a week of preschool. I think I am going to keep her in 4 days (the same three as the boys and one additional) because we will still be doing home therapy on those other days and she LOVES school and it will be great for her to be with her peers. Yes, it will be a juggling act for me, but it's better for her to be at school with her friends, than with me so much...she's getting a bit bored of ol' mom at home!

The one thing that I wish is that my county had a peer program. The county right next to us has typically developing peers in their multiple needs preschools. So many of my friends with twins have one child with needs with their other twin in the same class. So I guess that's the next thing I need to advocate for in my county, or move!

Another thing we are considering is, depending how the boys' progress goes, is registering them for a regular afternoon preschool maybe next winter/spring. It all depends on their progress.

Krista
Michael, Katherine & Daniel
7/25/01 27w5d

Krista
b/g/b
July 2001

Krista,

It sounds like you are being such a good advocate for your kids. My daughters qualified for pre-school services until they turned 3 and they will be able to attend next year because their birthday falls in October. Lauren will continue to qualify for the next age bracket but Maggie will not. Our county has a peer program as does our school district. They have 8 special needs kids and 3 peer models. I am so fortunate that my 4 year old just got accepted as a peer model in the girls school next year. That way I will have 3 kids in the *same* school at the same time. It cuts down my juggling by a lot.

We are starting to fill out our paper work for the 3 year old transition and it's funny to watch them fight over my daughter Lauren. The school district wants her but they can't give me peer spots for Thomas and Maggie. Also I'm perfectly happy with the county program.

Gina

Krista,
That is great news! We actually had a meeting today with our attorney, the school district and their attorney. I think we worked everything out too!

Colleen
Mom to Connor, Alec & Devon
5/10/2001

http://lilypie.com>

Colleen, that is wonderful! Wow, just think if we could spend our energy on our children's disabilites instead of fighting the system! How is everything going with Devon?


Krista
Michael, Katherine & Daniel
7/25/01 27w5d

Krista
b/g/b
July 2001

Hi Krista,
Devon is doing good. We are really focusing on potty training now, so some of his other skills are not progressing. He is still basically non-verbal, but he does make some word approximations ("o" for open and "uh" for up "mmm" for more "ss" for yes). He does periodically say words when he is upset. The other day, he was crying and wanted to get out of his therapy room. His tutor kept saying his name to get him to look at her. Finally, he turned around and said "WHAT!".
It sounds like Daniel and Michael are doing great.

Colleen
Mom to Connor, Alec & Devon
5/10/2001

http://lilypie.com>

Krista ...Congrats!
Consider yourself one of the lucky ones. We got all we wanted for all our boys too. However, you have to educated yourself & most of all play nice with the district as long as you can. Also bring in private evaluations and therapist to sit with you and back up your request. It's sad cuase I know people who have to fight for services for their kids and it should just happen. This is why we have speical ed in the first place. We too almost put Blake in a austism program until we checked it out. We knew Blake would blossom in a more typical class. So we chose a special day class that was more typical and Blake & Easton were the only kid with autism. They have really grown. All three of my kids have IEP's but will all be in regular kinder this fall and all in seperate class and still getting services they need. WE are too blessed to be so lucky. Keep up the great work.

Danielle
Easton, Blake & Hunter
1-24-99

Oh, Danielle, I DO KNOW HOW LUCKY WE WERE! I can't even tell you how incredibly blessed we felt...we kept thinking there's got to be a catch. I think it's because of the advice of parents like you that we did get so prepared!!

Krista
Michael, Katherine & Daniel
7/25/01

Krista
b/g/b
July 2001

Hi guys -

Hope you don't mind me jumping in here! My son Danny just qualified for public preschool, and he'll go five days a week, full days, with an ABA program in an autistic class.

I am curious why you guys aren't crazy about the autism class? I am new to this (he never had EI services, etc), and may be missing something. I watched the one class -they have only six kids per class, with a teacher and two teachers aides. The day is very busy and very structured. They will work with Danny at his level - for instance, the will work on his expressive speech and impulsiveness/lack of focus. He doesn't have cognitive or OT delays.

All six kids in the class are on the spectrum, and from what I saw, Danny is ahead of many, if not all of them (in the class I witnessed). He needs a lot of help on sitting still, listening and partipating. The school said this is the best class for him.

Anyway, am I making a wrong decision here? I just want to do the right thing. He has two more years until kindergarten, so I could do this for a year and if he improves, send him to preschool next year with his brothers. My goal is to have him be a typical kindergartener in 2006.

Thanks!
Cheryl

Cheryl
The main reason I think most of chose a different class was the one thing you mentioned about Danny. "he is above the rest"
Basically our Autism program was very good, we just felt that Blake should be with his brohters and in a more challenging place. Since Danny hasn't had any other services before, this might be a great starting point. You can change later. You can all an IEP at anytime if you feel like he needs more. ABA will help to sit and attend during class time. BLake has come along way in 2.5 years. Use to hate to draw and not finish and throw crayons. He is almost a model student now. If you have a good staff and stay on top of his goal, he will make it go typical kinder. Ours did. !
Email privately if you like.

Danielle
Easton, Blake & Hunter
1-24-99

Thanks Danielle! I am so happy that Blake has progressed nicely - my gut says that Danny will do the same!

After we got our IEP, I said to dh "Wow, if they can just teach Danny to sit still and participate in class, I'll be happy". I would love for the boys to be in the same preschool - it's tough splitting them up (the other two will go to a church program two half days a week). However, we'll take it day by day and see how he improves. I am so relieved he is getting help with his needs.

Cheryl

Same reason that Danielle said...our autism program looked great as an empty classroom, but when we saw it with the students, it wasn't what we pictured. In our opinion, our kids were "ahead" of all the kids in this program. I had seen 3-4 of these kids at EI playgroup functions at some point before (probably before any of our kids had been diagnosed) and in my opinion, these kids had regressed, not progressed. This is what DH and I decided...unless our kids were in the gifted and talented program, we didn't want them to be the "top" of the class...we always wanted them to be reaching higher and have someone higher to model. Also, our autism classroom had no ABA (we fought to keep this going at home and one of their therapists to go along to school to help "generalize" what they are learning at home in the school environment. That is one thing that many educators have against ABA it seems...kids do great in a 1:1 setting or at home, but can't generalize these skills in a classroom setting.)

BTW, when we went to visit the autism classroom, we took all three of our kids and it was for circle time, which was a 1/2 hr. In this LONG time, they spelled each child's name, the day of the week, the month, etc. Now, I know that my kids love the alphabet and spelling, but I questioned how appropriate this was at a 3 yr old level. My "typical" child even was bored at this long circle time and got up and walked away. We worked with our EI coordinator to write the IEP goals for our boys, and the one thing she said to me was that there was to be no spelling included on goals. I laughed at her and asked why it was taught in the autism classroom then, and she didn't have an answer for me. We wrote very good, very measurable goals for our boys, based on their ABA program. One of their teachers liked them so much that she used them for a non-autistic child.

Sorry to get so long winded. I agree with Danielle...get in the program, see how it's going and always know your right to call an IEP if you see your son is doing great to possibly find a new solution for him.

Krista
Michael, Katherine & Daniel
7/25/01

Krista
b/g/b
July 2001