His elmo mini cupcake cake (comprised of 50+ mini cupcakes) was both beautiful, delicious and family friendly. Grayson enjoyed the party, specifically playing on the bed with his cousins, friends and of course Grampy! His least favorite moments were when I attempted to get him to open up the presents and when we had him blow out a candle on a single cupcake while Elmo continued to sit on the table.
We received the IEP in the mail on Thursday, but thanks to party prep we didn't get around to opening it until Sunday at almost 10pm. In fairness, the release of House of Cards season 3 on Netflix also delayed the process. We were ready to sign, accept and provide it to the school, until we started reading and realized there was no mention of the ABA hours that were discussed during the meeting itself. This of course, sends us into panic mode as we were less then 48 hours from his start of preschool and the IEP was less then perfect.
Thankfully, a quick call on Monday to the Special Education Director calmed our nerves and solved the problem. While I knew that we had agreed to arrange for BEACON to continue to provide services to Grayson during the extended evaluation, we had always said we wanted the school to take over in providing those hours. The school in turn is using the extended evaluation, in order to determine how these hours will be best spent for Grayson. While I might believe that 3 hours in discreet trials is how Grayson learns best, in reality, none of us have actually seen him in a learning environment that is designed to cater to his many delays. The extended evaluation is made to test out just that.
The reason ABA wasn't included on the actual IEP itself is because they don't want to write that they will be providing it in one manner, only to find out he needs an entirely different type of learning. She kindly offered us two options, 1: we sign that we accept the IEP as written with the understanding that we will have an amendment to it later after the extended eval, or 2: we accept the preschool hours and simply reject the remainder of the IEP as the ABA has not been included and this will allow for everyone to return to the table and for the ABA to be added. We went with choice 2. I do not believe that the school district wouldn't provide us the services that were discussed and promised but at the same time, a loop hole is a loop hole and why give one when you don't have to.
With all that completed, our little man, packed his backpack (ok we did) put his big boy undies on (he will kill me later for this) and headed to school.
Here he is so proud and ready to go.
Not too excited about his snow pants, boots, coat, mittens and hat.
Finding his hook for his backpack. He has the one with the snail on it.
Upon pick up, he could barely keep his eyes open and was promptly asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
His report from his teacher said he had a wonderful day, though during one part he did just simply place his head down from sheer exhaustion. He received a birthday crown and book from the teacher. He also managed to stay completely dry through all of school!!
I however, shed more tears then he even thought of. At one point, I gave them my child and in return they gave me a stack of paperwork. The trade was certainly not equal. But I know this is what's best for him and am excited to see what the next few months bring.
Our follow up meeting for the IEP will be scheduled no later then May 5th. Though we would like to have it a little sooner then that. I will have a few off topic blog posts coming up. They will deal with some more parent issue type situations then anything. But as always I hope you share and enjoy.
Happy Birthday Grayson!
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