All fired up and nothing to fight for

Remember that IEP meeting I had yesterday? The one where I was all prepared to go in fighting for what I thought Joseph needed? Well, I marched into that meeting all fired up and ready to go. I sat down at that table full of people and in my firmest, most confident voice I said "I want cursive dropped from Joseph's curriculum!"

Joseph's teacher and IEP case manager glanced at each other and said "Yes. We agree. We were already thinking that."

"Oh" I said, my firm, confident voice faltering. "Well then. Ok. I also want him to ...."

"Learn to use a keyboard?" they asked. "We already thought of that. And to have summer school? And access to a separate dining area at lunch from him and hs friends so that he's not overwhelmed by the noise of the lunchroom? And to continue adaptive phy. ed. services while remaining in his regular gym class? And to have meetings once a week with our special education counselor to help him deal proactively with any issues or anxieties that come up for him? And to have continued access to a shared paraprofessional?"

"Yes please." I said. "All of that thank you."

And then I quietly snuck out of the room before anyone could change their mind.

I am beyond happy with how the meeting went. We are so lucky to have people on Joseph's team who really see his needs and recognize how to best meet them. I can't come up with a single complaint about that meeting, everything went better than I could have hoped for.

Well, I guess I have one complaint. I had all this nervous energy built up over this meeting and it all turned out to be for nothing. Now I'm all fired up with no where to go. All this wasted energy is making me irritable. (Also making me irritable is the fact that there's a blizzard going on outside on a day I have appointments scattered all across town.) I'm in the mood to kick ass and I have no ass to kick. Anyone need any asses kicked? Preferably in warm, blizzard-free climates? I'm free later today.

Seriously. You would be doing me and the people around me a favor.

One year ago today I shared funny avatar with you and it looks like it was snowing that day too.

Cursive, shmursive

I have an IEP meeting at Joseph's school today. My plan to ask them to drop cursive writing all together. I also want to ask that he instead be allowed to work on a keyboard practicing proper finger placement during the time other kids are working on cursive. Typing is a skill that he will get far more use out of than cursive so it seems like a logical replacement. For me it does anyway. I hope the people at the school agree with me.

We've been very lucky when it comes to getting Joseph what he needs on his IEP. We've never faced a battle to get him services. I have heard some real IEP horror stories but we've never had anything like that. I think part of it is that Joseph is extremely high functioning and that his needs don't require a ton of accommodating. In fact, most of what's on Joseph's current IEP is stuff that people on Joseph's "team" at school have suggested. I just hope that they're receptive to change like this. I think it's the best thing for Joseph and I hope they can see that too.

Keep your fingers crossed that my boy gets what he needs.

Two years ago today I loved boobies. A lot.
Three years ago today I continued my quest to become the the most boring mommy blogger ever.
Four years ago today some crazy bitch suggested I name my child Coco Cabana.