Today Jedidiah had his annual IEP(individual educational program) meeting with his speech therapist. Basically we talked about what his goals were that we set out to accomplish on last years IEP, where he is now, and what his new goals would be. The good news is that he met almost all of his goals! Yeah! She showed me the test that she gave to him a week or so ago. She explained that he basically made mistakes in every single word on the test. However, they were very consistent mistakes. So he is definitely showing that he is coming out of the apraxia, because the very nature of apraxia is that one minute they can say a sound and the next minute they can't. But he is making the same mistakes with each set of sounds in the different words. That is a good thing. There has been some great progress made. But she did make sure to add that although he has come a long way, he still has a long ways to go. I will look forward to the day I don't have to hear that. It seems like he's worked so hard, and has truly made big strides, BUT he still has soooo long to go. Ugh. Don't get me wrong I am very, very grateful at the huge strides he has made. It just seems like the 'end' is so far off!
Alrighty, so then we moved on to his new goals that we are setting for the rest of the school year. It wasn't a long list like last time, so I am assuming these things may just be harder for children to grasp. Not sure. We had basically gone over some of these things in the past few weeks just because the therapist tells me what she plans on working on with him next. But then we got to the fact that, although this IEP is good for a year, Jed will age out of the program come this July. Which means we will need to transfer his paper work to the school system, as in an actual school. Now before I proceed to tell you what she told me and how I felt about it, I want to make it clear that I understand that this could be a touchy topic. My intent is not to cause a 'stir', nor start a debate about the very nature of public services. So please feel free to agree or disagree, but this is not intended to be a debate :-)
Ok, so the therapist tells me that come May we will have a meeting (like the one we had last year when Jed aged out of the toddler program to transfer into the preschool program that he is in now) with the local school's therapist and necessary personnel. Not a problem. But she told me that since he was going to be homeschooled that they were going to have to file it under different paper work, something called a "personal placement yada yada yada". Ok, following her so far. But because Jed will not be enrolled in the school, the school will not be getting any funding for him. Hmmmm, not sounding too good. Which means that he will basically get the bare minimum services (it will be up to the director what that will entail). The therapist's thought would be that could mean that Jed may only get one or two days of speech.......per MONTH. Per month? Seriously? Right now, as far as his level of apraxia has been determined, he really needs three times a WEEK. That is a serious short coming! I was not in the least bit amused to say the least!
Now, here is where the debate comes in as I know some people have some hefty views on public programming. At this point I see it this way: Although I don't agree with all of it (taxing for public schools, and services), I am PAYING for it. Ok, not really me, but Jeremiah. I did at one time though :-) So our money is going to this funding, but because we don't plan on enrolling Jed into the school he will get crumbs. Hmmmmm, yeah the system is definitely messed up! I suppose that is all I will say about that!
This means that we will have to resort to private speech, which at this point and time our insurance only allows 30 visits per year. That basically will work out to be one time a week between the school and private therapy. I suppose it will just be a matter of prayer. I suppose I should just pray that he won't even need speech come the end of the school year.....that would take care of the matter now wouldn't it :-)
In other news, everyone seems to be on the mend. This weekend will be the last soccer game of the fall. We'll have a nice break until the spring season starts. I'm looking forward to a break at this point. Not that I do any of the work! Seriously I don't! So I'm not really sure why I am looking forward to the break. I suppose that will mean one less thing that takes up our time. With the baby coming I know I will be feeling the crunch, and having soccer out of the way will make it a little more easier to deal with.
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