Annual IEP

Yesterday marked our second IEP meeting with Ayden's ECSE classroom.  I was completely stressed over the meeting, let me tell you!  I'm not sure why I was stressed because we have an amazing team working with Ayden.  I guess this stuff has just never been what I expected, and also this time we were prepared with what we wanted - very specifically prepared.  We received a lot of input from the Fragile X clinic and know where we want to see Ayden, so I worried that maybe his school wouldn't have the same idea.  Very lucky for us, our goals we had setup for him were very similar to what the school had put together as well.

Essentially, we now have a very good plan in place for the summer and next school year - though we will be having another IEP in the fall because of Ayden's autism diagnosis.  Once there is a medical diagnosis, the school has to also do an evaluation to determine services and sometimes the school and medical diagnosis differ. (His teachers are pretty sure it will not be different in Ayden's case though)

I think I'm going to be creating a goals chart for Ayden as another section on this blog...but here is a basic summary of what we are looking at for a year from now.

Summer: 
 - Work on fine motor skills - especially drawing/writing. 
 - Implement PECS at home, shooting for Level 4 proficiency by the end of the summer
    (Level 4 PECS students should be able to construct simple "I want" + "picture" sentences)
-  Begin to use picture stories to help with self-independence tasks that are part of daily routines
-  Begin to use social stories to help alleviate anxiety

School 2011-2012
- Continue to work on fine motor skills.  Be able to draw horizontal & vertical lines on command as well as a circle and square.  Also be able to write his name.
- Continue to advance in PECS to reach Level 6.  This is the equivalent of being able to construct and spontaneously use short sentences such as "I see", "I want", and "It is" as well as answer questions posed to him that would trigger those responses. 
- Implement a visual schedule that includes teaching Ayden that anything on his schedule is unable to be refused. 
- Continue working on taking turns with peers and purposeful play activities
- Teach him how to use wait, break, and help cards as part of his schedule and PECS. 
- Be able to answer yes/no questions with a nod of his head or the applicable PECS card.  He can already shake his head no, but has not started doing it for yes.

All in all, it was a fantastic meeting.  I can't stress enough how lucky we are to have this team working with Ayden.  They are very knowledgeable and helpful but most importantly want to work with us so Ayden can receive the best help possible.  It's more than comforting to know that when I'm sending my non-verbal son off to the care of others that they really have his best interests at heart and push him just as hard as we do at home.