Tuesday, October 2, 2012

the school meeting

Yesterday was our IEP meeting at school.   We came home with a huge stack of papers.  

He was given intelligence tests and an IQ test.  His IQ is hovering just under 140.  Typical is 100.... wow!  He did much better on the nonverbal portion because sometimes his brain and his mouth don't cooperate with each other.  Most things he knows are on par with a 6th grader or above.

According to the paperwork everyone had to fill out and the school psychologists observations, he is hyperactive (duh!), aggressive, anxious, depressed, inattentive, atypical, withdrawn, unable to adapt, has poor social skills, poor leadership skills and poor functional communication.  He also has poor study skills.

Now onto the sensory profile report.  He was observed by the districts occupational therapist throughout an entire school day. 

He has a definite difference than his "normal" peers in:

Auditory Processing

Touch - processing tactile information

Behavior- appropriately responding to differences in sensory processing

He has a difference in:

Visual- processing visual information

Movement- processing vestibular information

She said that these areas will definitely provide challenges for Boyd.  Sensory input for him is confusing, upsetting or just not meaningful to him.

In other testing she did he has definite difference in

Avoiding- basically he has low neurological thresholds for sensory input so to avoid it he will either engage in disruptive behavior, emotional outbursts or withdrawing.  He also creates rituals for his life.  He can also be stubborn or controlling to keep from situations that will cause him to be bombarded with stimuli.

He also has a difference  in:
Registration- this is why he tends to be uninterested and has dull and flat expressions.  He appears apathetic and self absorbed.  It is also why he seems to be tired all the time.

Seeking- he makes noises while working, fidgets, rubs and explores objects with his skin, chews on things, and wraps his body around things.

Sensitivity- this is when he checks out and when he gets upset if you interrupt him or talk to him while he is doing something.

She said the difficulty is going to be finding the right amount of sensory input without giving him too much.  She is going to work with him and the teacher.  They do have a room he can go to if he gets overwhelmed.

Hearing... they are installing a tower system in the classroom to amplify the teachers voice AND they are getting him an FM system.  The FM system is an attachment for his hearing aides that are connected to a microphone that the teacher wears around her neck.  It puts her voice directly into his ears and it cuts back on a lot of the background noise.  That should be in place sometime this week.

Speech.. he didn't qualify for "formal" help, but she is going to pull him out of class once a month and give him informal help with the few sounds he has trouble pronouncing.

As for getting him to school, I asked if they have someone outside who could make sure he doesn't run off if I tried to just put him on the bus.  They don't.  However, the school psychologist was going to call and see if she could get him on the special services bus.  They are curb to curb and there is an aide who would walk him into school.  He has gone into school without as much fight 4 days in a row. 

They did say that for the purpose of school services, he is disabled.  I hate that word.  My brain knew that all of his problems are disabilities, but hearing someone call your child disabled is heartbreaking. 

I will say that all of this has helped me to understand him and why he is the way he is a lot better.  The occupational therapists report, especially.  The meeting in general pulled me back a little bit further from the edge. 

They hadn't heard how he did on his PEAK testing yet, but the teacher won't be there until Wednesday, so probably sometime at the end of the week.  They don't see how he could NOT be in. 

They told me over and over again that he was very diligent and would not give up.  That makes me so proud and happy.  Persistence is something he is going to need to make it through his alphabet ridden life.

As of right now, I am relieved and hopeful.  As long as they hold up their end, he just might make it through the year.

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