Whew! Well let me just say, there was a lot of excitement for a pretty routine meeting. We went in strong though, a full showing of our BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst) from Beacon, the BE (Behavioral Educator) and our Speech Pathologist from Criterion all in attendance with us. Everyone was friendly and cordial, though I felt some icy looks from the Special Education Director but let's be honest. Her and I will probably never be friends, at the end of the day it's her job to be the bad guy and up until now, she'd been succeeding.
Everyone went around the table introduced themselves, I was quickly outed as clearly being an educator and I was TOTALLY ok with that. The team from Medway went around the table, each reviewing their reports and going over their personal observations. I had received all 4 reports in advance on Friday and was well prepared for what they contained. It was nice to hear the observations come from the people themselves, everyone enjoyed working with him. "He's adorable and sweet," was expressed from multiple people. Then we got down to the nitty gritty. What does he qualify for.
Hands shaking, breath ragged, I prepared myself for the moment that was coming. The evil flow chart which had been described as my Berlin Wall between me and getting Grayson the services he needed. As the Special Education Director starts the process, I try not to sweat, quickly we jump over hurdles one and two (does he have a diagnosis and does it affect his learning). Those are the easiest ones, then we come to the next two regarding his learning abilities as well as if there would be a known delay without schooling. These are the ones that terrified me, Grayson is smart. He showed above average intelligence in his academic skills (and you thought I just said he was brilliant cause I'm his mom). Also, Grayson has never been in school, his current ABA data doesn't show any regression even with all these snow days, and that week vacation from August. But just as quickly as my fears came to the top, they were gone as she announced, "We are aware that Grayson is smart but it is assumed most of what he has learned is from his time with ABA and as he's not in school we don't know what would happen if he wasn't continued in that environment. We definitely see a need for him and he qualifies for half day preschool."
On top of this the BCBA of Medway has recommended that he receives 15 hours a week of ABA services provided by the school. The speech pathologist will be seeing him in a small group pull out session twice a week for 30 mins each. This is where things get complicated. The school began to ask if we had gotten approval for BEACON to continue to do in home sessions after he was 3 covered under health insurance. I had delayed this point as I frankly feel that it would be better for Grayson if he were to get everything provided by the school directly.
The only fear there is that we're doing a "partial" IEP, they want more time to evaluate him. It turns out it's very difficult to assess a child during 1 random time of the day when you have never laid on him before (no way REALLY?). They want to include an OT assessment as they hadn't previously completed one for him before. Something is also telling me that while the BCBA is ready and willing to provide these services, the preschool may not exactly have the staff that would be required for htis plan. We for now have agreed upon allowing them to further evaluate him while he attends the preschool. We will be keeping BEACON for the short term until we can all meet further and really assess his needs and how he is handling the preschool, with the plans that he will soon move into a full day plan.
His ABA will take place in the morning and then he will go directly into his preschool class 12-2:30 every afternoon. His naps (which will most definitely be needed) can then take place like they do most days at around 3 pm. We will meet again, no sooner then 4 weeks after he has started preschool and no later then 8 weeks after. At that time we will also be able to further our discussion for summer program.
So there you have it everyone. As of March 3rd, Grayson will officially be a preschooler!! He will take the bus every day but that one, as that will be the one day I take off and drive him to school and pick him up. I will also probably cry the entire 2.5 hours he is gone. We are just beginning the process of switching BEACON over to insurance, I'm trying to make that process as quick and easy as possible so that we can prevent him having any gap in the services. I want him used to that schedule well before the school makes it official.
Thank you all so much for your support and kind words (which as a side note are always welcome directly on the blog). I hope to hear from you all soon!
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