Thursday, April 15, 2010

IEP

The IEP was Tuesday. Nea was OKed for ESY, which I think we can agree is a POS, but it's free ST for 45 min/week for the 4 weeks, plus some OT.

She was upped in OT to 40 min/week (from 30), her SLP said ST was going well. Her MIP and mainstream teachers agreed that she's a hard worker who always puts forth 100%.


But. The really interesting part was that the OT thinks she has a touch of SPD (or SID). Now, I read the Out of Sync Child ages ago, and just didn't see where it applied to Nea, but putting together a few things (serious love of swinging, total lack of dizziness, extremely high pain threshold, and the real kicker, a profound deficit in writing), this is starting to make sense. Her letters are still made with very light pressure, are wobbly, and she's not progressing at the rate we would expect. The OT thinks it's due to her lack of sensory input with her hands. That she has to learn visually how to form the lines and curves that make up letter formation. Which is hard.


The good news is that she's rocking out on letter sounds. I think maybe we'll spend some time with Hooked on Phonics this summer. I have a pretty aggressive homework plan for the summer. Stupid ESY (extended school year) is supposed to keep SpEd kids from regressing over the summer, but it's only 2 hours a day for 4 weeks, and all therapies are half the regular minutes. So, although Nea receives 90 min/week ST and currently 30 min/week OT, she will only get 45/15 for those 4 weeks. And have you noticed how the summer isn't just 4 weeks long? No. It's not. It's 11. Yeah, verily, ESY is a joke. Last year I only sent her 2 days a week for her therapy days. We'll probably do the same again this year. I'd rather have her in camp with her sister. At least this summer it's closer to home again, only one town over.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

IEP?
OT?
ST?
etc.?
I am lost,
opa

Kate said...

I have a good SID book for you. Remind me about that, since I have no brain.

Anonymous said...

I'm late reading this post. Good news that they upped her therapy times - go girl!

As for the integration/processing disorder: that is a total mystery to me even after reading Out Off Sync Child. Iyar have a total brain block understanding it. They say Flyn has it but I can't seem to wrap my mind around what it is other than other than she seeks or avoids certain sensations. I can't help feeling there's a fine line between a genuine disorder and typical child actions and desires, and just plain personal preferences. Nor do I feel that they have any idea how to treat it.

Don't mean to be a downer - just a little lost about it.

The ESY never seemed to me to be designed to do much other than maintain a holding pattern and try to prevent backsliding.

Arlopop