Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Me and the IEP Part II

And welcome to another whiplash-inducing posting on my blog. Get used to wearing a neck brace, because over the two months I will be ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Do you ever feel as if your child's ASD is just an amped up piece from your own page of dysfunctions? My poor kids. They never really had a chance at typical, since my husband and I are skirting the spectrum at times ourselves.

I have spent the last few weeks hiding in the Parent's Lounge at Edwards School, where O gets her Early Intervention. Love the place, love the staff, BTW. I hide out of sight, armed with the tools that I will need for Isaac's transition meeting: copies of his most recent IEP, a notebook, and a copy of The Way I See It by Temple Grandin (yes I know I said I wasn't doing ASD books this summer and yes, I do know I told Temple to "Suck it" in a previous blog. I did warn you about the whiplash thing).

Awesome book, by the way, and my personal savior right now. Sorry, JC.

She has a section on teaching and education that has helped direct all of this IEP/Transition mess for me. In particular, her section on Problem Solving Skills. She goes on about how a child with an ASD has to be taught how to approach a problem, decipher what the goal is, break down the pieces, and figure out what is important to reach that goal.

Apparently, I needed to be "taught" (or at least reminded of) this too. Now the piles of books, papers, studies, and plans that are the result of Isaac's two years of PPS education are a little less frightening. Even without the vino. I am making my outline, indented and double-spaced, with a thesis, introduction and conclusion (knew all of those years in college would come in handy again someday).

Yes. I know. I am a dork. But I feel a much BETTER dork right now. As if, in all of this, I suddenly-and-just-for-a-moment, got control of life again.

1 comment:

  1. You're my hero, and someday you may have to show me the way. Hopefully not this summer. LOL

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