Ryan's IEP

We had Ryan's IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting for pre-school on April 1st. It went okay, but not as well as I had hoped. At the beginning of the meeting, the Director of Special Education at the pre-school Ryan will be attending in September made what I will, at the moment, call an "interesting" comment. I won't get into details right now...that's another story for another day. We did not get everything we wanted in terms of services for Ryan. He did get a full day placement, but will be spending all day in a DS (Developmental Specialty) classroom. It still hurts to say (and write) that. I never imagined having a child with special needs, but here we are, and we have to deal with it. Ryan has been progressing so well with all of his Early Intervention that we really hoped he would be able to spend at least some time in an integrated classroom right away. I pushed and fought for my son, but this was one issue that the school system would not bend on. We will meet 2 weeks after school begins to determine whether he is ready to spend any time in the integrated class. We will meet again 4 weeks after school begins to discuss if he will receive any additional OT or Speech/Language services (they did not give him much to start the year off with) and we will again discuss integrated classroom time. After that ? I will meet with his DS classroom teacher every week if I have to, and requested that this be put in Ryan's IEP. John and I do not want even one week going by that he is ready for an integrated class (not to sound like a broken record or anything !) and not in one for at least some of the day. So... in order to get what my son needs, I will be a pain in the ass if I have to.

The amount of support we recieived from the folks at Early Intervention and Building Blocks was just absolutely phenomenal. Practically all of his providers were at his IEP meeting. Thinking about it still chokes me up. Ryan is very lucky (and so are John and I) to have such wonderful, caring people in his life. It's going to be really difficult to say goodbye to them when he turns 3 in September and we wish we could hold on to them forever. They have given us our little boy back. They have helped Ryan come out of his private world and silence to join the rest of the world. We are forever greatful to all of them.