IEP Meeting

Monday 2/8 was Alex's first IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting. He met the standards to be identified as developmentally delayed/speech impared, and qualifies for the developmental preschool through the school system. Alex will be attending preschool three days per week for just over three hours per day. He will receive a combined total of one hour of one-on-one speech therapy, plus group therapy as well. His first day of school will be Tuesday, 2/15, the day after his third birthday. Goals we set for his IEP were that Alex increase and retain vocabulary and be able to use spontaneous speech to communicate wants and needs with 2 to 3 word phrases.

I was informed at the IEP meeting that Alex would not be receiving therapies during the extended summer program as the preschool follows the regular school year, August - May/June. They base qualification for the services on the amount of regression a child experiences during a break from school. They told me there was not enough time to determine regression for Alex to be eligible for the summer program. I disagree with this, as I feel Alex needs continual therapy. His Early Intervention Speech Therapist strongly supports me on this issue. Not a whole educational program for summer, but one-on-one speech therapy. I spoke with the special education teacher today as I dropped of Alex's registration forms, about the summer program. In a nutshell I learned from her that the program exists, because it is the law, but it is really "unheard of" for a student to actually receive these services. In the 14 years that the special ed teacher has been teaching, she has not known any of her kids to receive therapy through the summer, except for one student who's parents hired a lawyer and ended up battling it out in court. What a shame that the school system here works like this. It all boils down to money. Unfortunately, our insurance company does not cover developmental delays, so we really can't afford private therapy. If we could push a diagnosis of "verbal apraxia" - a neurological disorder, etc., maybe.... but anything with developmental in the title is going to get denied such as "developmental apraxia of speech", as it is often called.

Alex received a Discharge Summary from Ms. Jane, his Early Intervention Speech Therapist. She stated that his speech production (articulation) is severely impared and showed minimal progress over 16 months of speech therapy. He has poor control over volitional tongue movements. His level of difficulty with his tongue movement and his poor articulation is consistent with developmental verbal apraxia.

We do continue to see progress here and there. Alex is very bright. He understands language. He can identify and name several colors. He even tries to count. He has been working on the computer since he was about 18 months old, clicking and dragging and putting together puzzles and playing games appropriately. Small "sentences" are emerging... like "bye wa-wa" (waving to the water as it drains in the bathtub), "bye bug", etc. His play skills and motor skills are excellent. He is a happy energetic little guy.

I still have hope that one day all of these challenges will be a thing of the past. I trust that God can do miracles. I've also learned that although He CAN, it doesn't mean he WILL. This is what God has given me, us. I love this precious child with all of my heart, but God loves him too. Whatever plan God has for Alex's life, I'm willing to accept it.