Day 80. (Only 350-ish to go!)

Charlie moment from Monday evening:

Having discovered a Tonka Sticker Book from Patty SW that had not been gift-wrapped yet by the procrastinating maternal crab, Charlie settled in for a lovely hour-and-change of construction vehicle glee. I discovered him wide awake and alert, 9:45 p.m.

Hello?! It's almost 10 p.m. The light is going off.

Protest:

"Too dark! Too dark!! Make it SUNNY!" (pointing at the overhead light)

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IEP Recap:


Today was the reconvening of Charlie's IEP team meeting. I am too exhausted -- physically and mentally -- to adequately convey the full scope of the meeting in my usual verbose and anti-concise manner, which may indeed be a blessing for those reading this post.

Having an advocate means the forfeiture of control and that someone else gets to decide when to hold, fold, and walk away. It also means, though, that someone else says the awkward stuff.

Having an advocate means that you sit and say WAY less than if you were there alone.

It also means that the person representing your child is not personally invested in the stuff you've done for 4 years, 11 months, 30 days to this point in time. The advocate is looking strictly forward with an eye to any future legal wranglings -- how to best position your case.

And, in my case, it means that the IEP team gets to smirk at the usually-domineering mother who is left to say, "oh, yes, I'm pretty happy about that offer for 90 lousy minutes of speech, 60 questionable minutes of OT, and no direct music therapy...actually, strike that, I'm downright giddy."

Outcomes:

1. Eligibility determination: Charlie's primary federal handicapping condition remains AUT (Autism) but the team added 2 secondary labels of OHI (other health-impaired) and TBI (traumatic brain injury). The latter, not so much because he is TBI per se, but because his profile of variable skills, etc. matches the psychological determination of TBI. No, I didn't cry. Too busy sweating in the hot room at that moment.

2. Goals: Accepted with minimal changes.

3. BSP: Tweaked slightly.

4. DIS per week: 90 min SLP, 60 min OT, 30 min PT, 60 min APE. Music therapy consultation-only 14 hours per year.

5. AT assessment to be done. AT dissented at this time.

6. Placement offer: K-1-2 Special Day Class (Non-Severe) with full-time BSA aide. M-F, 9-12.

7. Non-Public Agency to do in-home services, with District to fund 5-hours per week (and our insurance to fund 5-hours per week and Regional Center to fund unknown amount).

8. Didn't get to Special Factors.


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Dispatch from Illinois.


Today was Aunt Patty Cake and Uncle Pat Will (or Uncle Will Pat?) vs. Jamie's nasal whining. It appears that APC and Uncle Blog-name-pending joined forces to quash the anti-reading protest.

Jamie's face continues to improve.

There was baseball playing.

Grandma Mary Kay, APC, the J-crabs, and their cousin Mikey went to the State Farm pool.

And, APC has ruined my life irreparably by taking the J-crabs to Blockbuster (a store previously only viewed as a DVD-rental establishment). APC allowed them to rent Nintendo games and now the secret is free.