Meeting with the School Board Today

Thank goodness for blogs and facebook and e-mail to give a mass update or else I'd be on the phone all day repeating myself! 

This morning, at eight, we met with the school.  The man in charge of Special Ed was there along with the Occupational Therapist (OT), Physical Therapist (PT), and Julie, the school pshychologist. 

The meeting took an hour and a half!  The kids did really well and played with some toys they had for them.  Many of our "fears" were allayed by this meeting. 

I won't go into long details but I'll give you the basic idea of what we came away with. 

Nathan will get some Occupational Therapy that will be Incorporated into his school day.  He will get Physical Therapy because there is concern with his safety on the playground due to a lack of safety and body awareness. 

Again it was expressed that although the psychologist says she has no doubt he has Aspergers she can not give him that educational diagnosis since it does not affect his ability to learn new information and because he is functioning above average academically.  He will have 504 plan in place.  It's a legal document that will follow him through out his schooling since his IEP from Early Intervention will "run out" when he starts school. 

They will the make the teacher aware of some special needs to have plenty of visual cues, being very specific with directions seeing as he is very literal and also the use of fidgets may be used.  Fidgets would be some sort of object such as a stress ball that he can literally fidget with during class to help him stay still.  We think this will be a very good idea. 

They will NOT be letting Nathan skip a grade and after our meeting today we pretty much agree.  In first grade they say he will be expected to do certain things like using scissors and and followng directions with much less help than he would receive in Kindergarten. 

They are worried that he may have a hard time adjusting in the beginning.  It could become a sensory overload suddenly going to school all day with kids he does not know and have to follow directions and not be in control. 

Overall, it will be a big adjustment for him.  And for poor mommy...who I am sure will worry the day away while her "baby" is in school.  :)

One more thing: Tomorrow Nathan has his social group but at two p.m. we are also meeting with Creative Services to start a long process in finally obtaining an official diagnosis!  And sadly I am sure they will kill at least another twenty trees with the paperwork involved! 

Thanks for everyone's care and concern and prayers regarding our family and all the decisions we have to make. 

We love our little boy and Emma too of course!