November Thanksgiving 5: good IEP meeting

Yesterday was our son's annual Individual Education Plan meeting. I had communicated some concerns to staff a few months ago, and was pleased at the response.

The moderator did a great job moving things along, getting the input of the physical therapist, occupational therapist, adaptive phys ed teacher, regular ed teachers, paraprofessional aide, special ed teacher, principal, county service coordinator, psychologist, speech therapist, and parents.

The principal was helpful and suggested several accommodations that could be made. The aide will be able to observe speech and carry that over into the rest of the week, as I wanted.

The adaptive phys ed teacher said she hasn't seen anything in her eight years of teaching like the way our son took off on the tricycle this year. It's increased attention span, direct gaze, lung capacity for speech, morale, self-confidence, etc. (He got a horn on the tricycle today. He honked at the hall intersection. The children in the hall stopped to let him cross, and clapped for him. The art teacher is going to have a few fifth graders make a little safety city, for him to work on waiting, and crossing the street. He's going to have stop signs. Another classmate might accompany him, on a bicycle. The class is studying simple machines in class, and might look at the tricycle, as an example.)

The assistive tech/Intellitools person and one of the district special ed gurus are meeting with the aide and our son's special ed teacher Monday morning, first thing, to continue Intellitools training. The special ed staff person is doing her master's on teaching nonverbal children to read!

The team will meet again for data checks 12/21.

The speech therapist is working on incorporating words from the Love and Learning videos our son has been watching for several years into Intellitools activities.

The moderator displayed (and suggested) the book Teaching Reading to Children with DS, which I have been wishing the school would use with our son. I was very encouraged.

A+

November thanksgiving 4

I appreciate Rebecca's faithfully pulling us back to the theme of the month. Time flies. I can't believe next week is (U.S.) Thanksgiving, already.

Having read Rebecca's post, I'm thankful I don't live in the Yukon, as she does, where she's thankful it's only 20 below! She brings back memories of my two years in the Great White North, when you could see your breathe freezing on the parka fur around your face. You could run around a building in snow, in very thick socks, because the snow was so dry.

The students (at the residential bush high school where I served) didn't go home for November Thanksgiving; that was a U.S. holiday. We celebrated the Canadian one, in October, with a big meal. Around the third week in November, we were a little homesick, thinking of family gatherings down south.

I'm wondering what the Yukon climate is like for older people. Even down here, they like to head south. What must it be like, to grow old in the Yukon? Where do Yukoners go to retire? I wonder.

It will reach the low 40's here today, and that's cold enough, for November. :-)

November thanksgiving 3: three gifts

Today I'm thankful for leftovers. We're having last week's lasagna, recycled from the freezer.

I'm also thankful for the progress our son has made riding the adaptive tricycle, at school. He pedals so fast his aide has to scurry to keep up. He's learned to back up, and pedal without the footstraps. He's getting better at steering. I appreciate the principal's willingness to let us make riding the tricycle a goal at school. Some schools don't allow it, in the elementary grades. They consider it a preschool skill.

I'm thankful for my two sisters.

Further reading: Rebecca Writes' thanksgiving posts

November thanksgiving 2: the internet

"You're caught up in the Internet
You think it's such a great asset
But you're wrong, wrong, wrong.
All that fiber-optic gear
Still cannot take away the fear
Like an Island song."
--Jimmy Buffet, in Holiday

Yes, Jimmy, the internet has its limitations, but I'm still thankful for it. As a parent, I can get access to a volume of ideas for special education that would have been an experienced professional's dream, ten years ago.

My newest find*: AAC Intervention.com

For today, I'm rich, rich, rich.

Additional finds (added): abcteach, offers 5000+ free printable pages and worksheets(received Learning Magazine's 2007 Teacher's Choice Award)
Connective Technology Solutions, Dan Herlihy's new site. Dan, an Intellitools guru, develops solutions for adapting curriculum in the classroom, for children with special needs.

*This is actually a re-find, but glad to encounter it again, at a different point in the journey.

November thanksgiving 1: hearing from old friends

Rebecca from Rebecca Writes is coordinating another round of November thanksgiving this year. I enjoy reading about what people are thankful for. It gives me a window on life in other places, and points to good things in my own life.

Today I'm thankful for the letter from an old friend that came in yesterday's mail. She's been buried in the news business, since I last saw her, nine years ago. I'm looking forward to renewing a friendship.

Further reading: Powerful lesson on kindness learned during night visit to ER
Tending earth’s bounty renews connection to the land
A book keeps on giving despite yellowed pages