IEP

Today we had my daughter's annual Individualized Education Plan or IEP.  Any student who needs accommodations beyond what would generally be available to students will have one of these plans.   They are very formal and very boring meetings to attend. 

What has happened behind the scenes to get prepared for the meeting is not trivial.  Each teacher who works with my daughter has a section in the IEP.  They review the year's goals and address if my daughter has met, surpassed, or is still working on each goal.  Then they present the new goals for the next twelve months.  

My daughter has a primary teacher who attends but does not present IEP goals, as her role is to teach all the students in her class.   The VI teachers define modifications or accommodations that my daughter will need in order to do all the things her peers do. 

The bulk of the presentation and goals was done by the TVI.   This Teacher for the Visually Impaired is the lead for all the VI students in the school.   She is responsible for delivering VI-specific content beyond the scope of the classroom, such as braille, abacus, and computer voice-over skills.   She also lists what accommodations my daughter might need in the classroom like seat location or additional room for her braillewriter and materials.  

My daughter's O&M teacher also has a lot of input.   He is responsible for teaching my daughter how to navigate safely through the world.  And since my daughter very much wants to get a sighted guide dog, she needs to master all the Orientation and Mobility (O&M) stills.   Things like safely navigating a busy intersection with crosswalks, finding your way through a parking garage.   Moving safely through a downtown pedestrian area, and self-advocating when she needs help. 

My daughter also has an adaptive P.E. teacher.   This teacher only sees my daughter a few times each year.   She finds out what the P.E. goals are and then lets the teachers know what they need to do to modify things for my daughter. 

The meeting is long and boring but it's a lot of hard work to get there by the teachers, and we appreciate it.   The meeting is long and is a legally binding agreement in the end—because someone somewhere sued over things and this was the best way to protect everyone by having everything very clearly stated.  

We also heard a lot of really nice things about my daughter.   She is well-liked by everyone. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came downstairs during the IEP web meeting.  I told her she could come in if she wanted, that she was welcome to participate in her IEP any time, that it was her right. 

She wasn't that interested but she did stay for a while.  She even helped her O&M teacher make a choice on what to focus on next.   She agreed it was boring and wandered off after a bit, her last day of track out coming to a close.

The Big Boy Update:  My son came home extremely upset.  He did not want to go to golf.  We told him it was not an option.  He was enraged.   Nana was here and she said she thought he had some work he needed to do and forgot and he got to school and was upset because everyone else had theirs done.  I think, I'm not entirely sure.   He was so upset he wouldn't talk to me about it.  Later this evening I saw him working on a Russian map.  That fits with who he's going to be for Mystery History this year.  I can't say who he is though or he'll get mad at me!