IEP/Eval TIME!

Happy Happy Joy Joy!!!

Last Friday was Ethan's IEP (Individualized Education Plan) and 3-year evaluation.  Last year's IEP lasted a little more than 3 hours, so I anticipated a longer meeting considering having to go over the evaluations, but it went for close to FIVE hours!!!  OMG.OMG.OMG.

I am fortunate to have an awesome IEP team for Ethan.  Among those people is our Carolyn- yep, shout out to our favorite, most awesome-ist case manager EVER!  ;-)  She is there to have my back and support me through these wonderful meetings that sum up my son on paper with goals and labels.  I hate labels. 

Labels....ugh.  I am not, nor have I ever been the mom that doesn't care what label is slapped on Ethan just so he can get more services.  My opinion is that if the child needs a service, he should get it based on his need, period, not because of some label attached to the end of his name. 

A good portion of the meeting was spent on the evaluations and label choice.  There are a number of different labels available to the Exceptional Children (EC).  Some are:

• ID-Mild 
• ID-Moderate
• ID-Severe
• AU (Autism Spectrum)
• MU (Multiple Needs)

ID = Intellectual Disablity

Whether you fall under the ID-Mild/Mod/Severe category depends on how you test and where your IQ falls.  Ethan has been under the ID-Mod label even though he is in the Functional Primary (severe) self-contained classroom.  I did not want his label to change to ID-severe and I was pretty clear about that.  The LEA rep (http://www.specialed.us/pl-07/pl07-ieppro/07-team1d.html) was great, but she asked me why I didn't want Ethan's label changed to ID-Severe.  This opens up a bit of discussion that is somewhat hard to explain, but is pretty much this:  there is NO test out there that will ever accurately gauge Ethan's IQ.  I do not feel that Ethan's intellectual abilities are severely affected, moderately yes, but not severely.  And, the main reason is purely personal.  When you look in Ethan's classroom, you see four other little boys with different abilities, but you don't know what their disability is.  When you look at Ethan, you KNOW he has Down Syndrome.  I can only speak for myself, but I would venture to say that any parent of a child with Ds out there would not want their child to be the face of the severe side of Ds.  Do I celebrate Ethan every single day?  Ab-so-freakin'-lutely!  The fact is that if I let Ethan's label change to ID-Severe, it would be a heck of a lot harder to get it bumped back up to ID-Mod and then our options would be significantly reduced. 

The other option was AU.  Is Ethan on the Autism Spectrum?  Yup.  He was diagnosed with PDD-NOS a year and a half ago.  Do I think that he is severly affected by autism?  No.  Neither does other people in the special education profession, so I didn't really see how he could be labeled AU.  The back and forth discussion between myself and the rest of the IEP team went on and on, all about a frickin' label.  I hate labels.

After the extensive deliberation, Ethan's label was changed to AU.  I was assured that the AU label will be better for him in terms of access to different methods and classrooms.  And, as much as I hate, hate, hate labels- this will, supposedly, be best for Ethan.  And, at the end of the day, it is what is best for Ethan. 

One specific part of the papers that I had removed and changed was that the psych report came back that Ethan had "very low intelligence".  Um, no.  Anyone that knows Ethan can contradict that statement, so I refused to have that statement in his IEP.  It was changed to say he had cognitive limitations.  Now, to some of you that may not seem like a big deal, but it is to me and that's all that matters.  HA.

On a positive note, Ethan was exited from school PT.  Ethan has met his physical therapy goals!!!  It was so amazing to see GM (Goal Met) on his progress reports!  So, here is a public shout out to Diane, Denise, and Della- his school PT's throughout the years, YOU GALS ROCK!!!  Thank you for your continuous determination to help Ethan attain the goal that we have met today. 

Oh, and we documented (once again) that Ethan does not respond well to high praises, so to keep it limited.  HAHAHA.  Gotta love that boy.  And, I do!  ♥♥♥