IEP and extra help

So I survived another IEP with my sanity in tact! The meeting itself went pretty well. The biggest success they mentioned was that he was on track with his math skills and at or above level for all academic math concepts.

He is steadily making progress with his handwriting and coloring but still needs help to color the full areas. The team agreed that he is very aware of where his strengths and weaknesses are and since handwriting and coloring are weak he tends to do them as fast as possible and with the minimum amount required.

He is grasping all spacial concepts in 3D but has a hard time translating them to a 2D world.

He is also having issues with story time. He will sit and listen but has a hard time retelling the story or answering questions regarding what he just heard. He needs a lot of work in this and is just making slow progress. Luckily I was able to get him into a group speech therapy session one day a week that is going to work on just these major weaknesses. It will go from the beginning of April through the end of the school year and will hopefully provide just a little extra help.

The other area of concern is his social skills. If he is playing in an area and another child comes over, he will stop what he is doing and leave. Other kids typically try to interact with him but he can not carry on a conversation with them. The team recommended some more testing to quantify this gap and make sure it becomes an integral part of his IEP going forward. The team did agree that the idea of him playing tee-ball with other kids from his school is a great idea and will hopefully find a common ground to talk to other kids.

So the recommendation going forward is to transfer him schools next year for first grade. This will allow for him to be in the least restrictive environment and go back and forth to a mainstream class while getting the help he needs in other areas.

Our next meeting is scheduled for May 7th to finalize 1st grade plans. The decisions we are starting to make going forward aren't exactly easy but I know that we are in a good school district and between his teachers and myself and W we are looking out for what is best for him in the long run. The path isn't going to be the easiest but we know going forward that he will need a little pushing and help and that's fine with us.