Garrett says bubble. He likes when people blow bubbles with their gum and will come up and say bubble dee. We're not sure what the 'dee' part is. His teacher thinks it might be please, but I'm not sure.
Garrett does not qualify for extended school year. After spring break, he recouped his skills within two weeks. His teacher did give me a list of some summer camps for special needs kids (and even one for their siblings as well!).
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
We have WORDS!
In the past two weeks, Garrett has started saying MORE and YES. He's also copying the intonation of his name.
He's pretty amazing.
He's pretty amazing.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
The Puzzling Piece iPad Challenge
We have accepted the challenge from The Puzzling Piece to sell 60 puzzle piece necklaces and key chains. In return, they will give Garrett an iPad!
You can find more information on our family blog.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
New IEP
Todd, Bronson and I sat through a 3.5 hour IEP meeting on Friday. Yup.
THREE AND A HALF HOURS.
I think the ten of us were all starving by the time we got out of there. No one had eaten lunch and we went from noon to around 3:30. It was during Garrett's school time, so he was in class. Bronson did very well playing in the room and going to his friend, the principal, when he needed something. She even had him go into the auditorium for the holiday assembly for a little while. He loved it.
Garrett has an entirely new IEP now. We even changed his IEP category. His last IEP was classified as Developmental Delay and while that is one of his diagnoses, it doesn't entirely encompass what his needs are. He is now classified under the Autism category, which we all think is a better fit.
His last IEP noted delays in fine and gross motor skill, but he did not have services for either of those in his IEP. He has been evaluated at his new school and now has some new goals and new services being provided. They'll be addressing his sensory and safety issues as well as his motor skills.
The school's Speech-Language Pathologist will be working on some augmentative communication devices for Garrett to use during school, like a "one-step communicator". We spoke about sign language since his private speech therapists and his ABA team had been working on that for the past year. I feel like he is too prompt-dependent and the sign language has become frustrating for all of us. The SLP feels that sign language often increases prompt-dependency, making it ineffective.
The team feels that being in an inclusive environment is working well for Garrett. In just a few weeks, he has made some great progress in transitioning and in playing with his peers.
It was a long meeting, but honestly, I didn't mind because we got a lot done. I feel like this IEP is more thorough and that this team actually cares about Garrett.
THREE AND A HALF HOURS.
I think the ten of us were all starving by the time we got out of there. No one had eaten lunch and we went from noon to around 3:30. It was during Garrett's school time, so he was in class. Bronson did very well playing in the room and going to his friend, the principal, when he needed something. She even had him go into the auditorium for the holiday assembly for a little while. He loved it.
Garrett has an entirely new IEP now. We even changed his IEP category. His last IEP was classified as Developmental Delay and while that is one of his diagnoses, it doesn't entirely encompass what his needs are. He is now classified under the Autism category, which we all think is a better fit.
His last IEP noted delays in fine and gross motor skill, but he did not have services for either of those in his IEP. He has been evaluated at his new school and now has some new goals and new services being provided. They'll be addressing his sensory and safety issues as well as his motor skills.
The school's Speech-Language Pathologist will be working on some augmentative communication devices for Garrett to use during school, like a "one-step communicator". We spoke about sign language since his private speech therapists and his ABA team had been working on that for the past year. I feel like he is too prompt-dependent and the sign language has become frustrating for all of us. The SLP feels that sign language often increases prompt-dependency, making it ineffective.
The team feels that being in an inclusive environment is working well for Garrett. In just a few weeks, he has made some great progress in transitioning and in playing with his peers.
It was a long meeting, but honestly, I didn't mind because we got a lot done. I feel like this IEP is more thorough and that this team actually cares about Garrett.
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Wonderful World of Special Education
I met today with Garrett's teacher, the school's Occupational Therapist, Speech Pathologist, and Principal. We were filing to modify his current IEP (Individualized Education Plan). They noticed while reviewing his IEP from Virginia, that although Garrett's scores for motor skills were extremely low, there were no services for OT or PT. There was one OT goal in his IEP, but no services. We're going to correct that.
They are going to observe and see what kind of help he needs. If further evaluations are needed, they'll create and assessment plan.
One of the biggest modifications to his IEP is that he went from a self-contained Special Education classroom to an inclusion setting. So far, he seems to be doing well. His teacher said that he's been doing well with eye contact, and is even starting to give eye contact with some other students. He even tried to join some other students while playing on Friday. I'm very excited to see how he does the rest of the year.
They are going to observe and see what kind of help he needs. If further evaluations are needed, they'll create and assessment plan.
One of the biggest modifications to his IEP is that he went from a self-contained Special Education classroom to an inclusion setting. So far, he seems to be doing well. His teacher said that he's been doing well with eye contact, and is even starting to give eye contact with some other students. He even tried to join some other students while playing on Friday. I'm very excited to see how he does the rest of the year.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wanna see what a change in routine does?
No ABA and no school has taken it's toll on Garrett. His nap schedule is all over the place and I'm not sure what to do about it. Trying to keep him occupied while trying to unpack and take care of Bronson is nearly impossible.
His school registration has to be signed by our Sponsor (Daddy), and since Daddy isn't available right now, the paperwork is just sitting on my desk. Sigh.
We notified Tricare ECHO that we've moved, but they can't assign us a new ABA provider until we have a new ABA referral. So we went to Garrett's well child visit today and got a referral for the developmental pediatrician, and now we have to wait for an appointment with them to get the ABA referral.
I'm really not sure how much more of this I can take. At least we know that we'll be here for two years. But I'm pretty sure that we're looking at getting out after that. These moves are horrible for Garrett. The break in therapy and the break in routine almost destroys any progress that we've made.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
School and ABA
Garrett has ABA for two hours, four days a week. We drive the 35 minutes home, feed him some lunch and send him off on the bus. When he gets home, he usually doesn't wake up as I get him off the bus.
He gets up at 6:45 and is going non-stop until 3pm. This poor kid is exhausted.
I don't know how well he's doing in preschool because he can't tell me. There's a notebook that comes home every day to tell me what they did in class but I don't actually know how HE is doing.
I still feel like he's making some progress developmentally, but his behaviors have gotten worse. The spitting has returned. The headbanging has come back, too. He actually kicked himself in the head today while we were in the car.
I know that this is going to take a long time, but it's hard to watch.
He gets up at 6:45 and is going non-stop until 3pm. This poor kid is exhausted.
I don't know how well he's doing in preschool because he can't tell me. There's a notebook that comes home every day to tell me what they did in class but I don't actually know how HE is doing.
I still feel like he's making some progress developmentally, but his behaviors have gotten worse. The spitting has returned. The headbanging has come back, too. He actually kicked himself in the head today while we were in the car.
I know that this is going to take a long time, but it's hard to watch.
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