I'm very nervous about an upcoming IEP meeting (IEP stands for Individual Education Plan) at the boys' school. This one is for my little SMILE. I've been to bunches, they're pretty routine, but this one will be different. I'm pretty sure the IEP team (teacher, occupational/speech therapist, principal, rep from the special ed branch of our school district) will recommend removing SMILE from the mainstream classroom for next year.
What I THINK that means is that they will want to give SMILE time in the "resource room" (the PC term for what was "the trailer" in my day) every day. The rationale for this will be that SMILE loses focus easily, needs a lot of verbal prompts to complete tasks, and struggles to complete four step assessments- that almost always involve tasks he isn't confident in like using scissors, coloring, and writing- while in independent learning centers (the teacher isn't working with that group) at the same rate as his classmates. The resource room, I'm pretty sure they will argue, will give him an opportunity to work at his own pace.
But...SMILE is meeting his academic standards and exceeding some. The little cutie knows his stuff. Why, I'm pretty sure I'll argue, isn't SMILE getting alternate assessments (a worksheet with only two steps that doesn't have such a strong emphasis on fine motor skills, for example) every day in class? Won't taking him out of class so he can spend his time cutting pictures out of magazines or shapes from the bottom of the page be a waste of his time since he already knows the content knowledge (in this case, phonics) the assignment is trying to reinforce? I'm not suggesting that handwriting and scissor skills aren't important (although most adults use computers and I can't recall the last time I HAD to make a collage or a snowflake), but SMILE already goes to occupational therapy for fine motor skill deficits. Why can't he just work to improve them there and at home? Isn't it feasible that, over time, he could fall behind academically because of all the actual teaching time he'd be missing? Sure, he may learn to be a scissors master but that doesn't seem to be a fair trade-off.
So, I'll have to see. SMILE's IEP team may be supportive. SMILE's present and future teachers may be willing to try a high number of in-class modifications and alternate assessment tools. They may all see him as I do: an amazingly bright little boy who will try hard for you if you try hard for him. And then again...
I just found out this afternoon that my request to observe SMILE in class before the IEP meeting has been approved. That's a good sign since parents aren't typically allowed to do so. I, at least, feel assured that they are ready to accommodate me.
...And I think they know it's only the beginning.
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