Here we go

We finally have a date for the boy's 504 meeting -- Monday! I'm freaking out just a little because I feel like there is so much stuff I have to cram into my head before then. I really need to take some time this weekend to write out some goals and strategies and whatnot.

Most of the books I've read have been SUPREMELY unhelpful when it comes to advice on how to write a Section 504 plan. Typically the advice consists of: don't do it. Get an IEP instead. Uh, thanks? We may end up having to push for one eventually, but in the meantime, it would be nice to have some ACTUAL strategies for the 504 meeting. Since the boy is fortunately so high functioning in so many areas (except for the ones where he's really SEVERELY impaired, like organization and reading nonverbal cues), we have the luxury of being able to try out a few things and establish a paper trail on what works and what doesn't. So yeah, it would be nice to have some acknowledgement in the literature that sometimes it's okay to TRY the 504 route before you get all up in the school's grill with hearings and consultants and whatnot, particularly when MOST of your kid's needs are already being met.

But what do I know? I'm just THE PARENT.

The boy also has an appointment with Dr. H today, the first one in about six weeks (we had one scheduled for a couple of weeks ago, but the doc had to reschedule). I honestly think the boy is doing great and wonder if maybe we should just put Dr. H on call if any problems come up rather than keeping a regularly scheduled appointment with him. I guess I'll talk to him about it at today's appointment.

Other than that, things are moving right along. The only issue the boy is having lately is remembering to bring home his homework. He finally gets caught up, then he forgets it for a couple of days in a row and we start all over again. His teacher is supposed to be helping with this but that's the main reason for the 504 meeting/plan -- to get an ACTUAL plan for dealing with this on paper so that everyone on the boy's "team" can reinforce it using the same procedures and the same language. Because that's what he needs -- rote routine and consistency.

The girl is doing very well in school this year but her spelling is still a major issue. At the end of first grade, she was on the low end of the "normal" range for spelling for her age group. The assumption was that she would catch up in second grade, but that never happened because frankly she had a horrible teacher. Now her third grade teacher, who is wonderful and as I mentioned before was the boy's teacher for this grade, is concerned and THANK GOODNESS someone up there finally is. We've come up with a temporary plan to help her catch up, and I really hope it works. Today is her first spelling test since putting the plan into place so I'm really curious to see how she does.

I've been trying to spend a lot of extra time with the girl lately and it seems to have done wonders for her mood. DH and the kids got me the first three seasons of Bewitched on DVD for my birthday last week, and so the girl and I have been watching them together. This has led to a lot of discussions about what things were like when I was a kid, which the girl loves for some reason. She is so funny!

The long-awaited back-to-school update

Now that we're a month in...

The boy child is doing great. He loves fifth grade so far, especially since they do math and science every single day. So far he's doing a pretty good job of remembering to bring home his homework and folder and all that, and this year I'm actually keeping track of the days he forgets it so I'll have that info when we meet with the admin folks about his 504 plan (more on that later).

My cautious optimism about his teacher seems to be paying off. It turns out she's good friends with his teacher from last year and the two of them have been trading information back and forth, which is really good. There have been a few minor incidents but his teacher and I have communicated and we seem to be on the same page as far as getting the boy what he needs to succeed. I've been told by the vice principal that the 504 meeting will be sometime in early October, which I guess is okay, but I'm going to become a squeaky wheel if I don't get an actual date pretty soon.

In other news, the boy is doing a robotics class after school once a week and he LOVES it! We tried to get him into this class last year but the signup procedures were wacky so we missed out. Another boy from his class is in it, too, and they've been partnered up so we're hoping he'll make a new friend. Speaking of friends, the boy child was invited to a birthday party this week! A boy in his class whom he's known for a couple of years invited him to a small party at his house with just a few other boys. The boy child was thrilled and he had a great time at the party. I was so happy for him. If you read this blog regularly or know us in real life, you know that the boy hardly EVER gets invited to parties or playdates, so this was a BIG deal. Yay!

Also, the really big news is that he has graduated from occupational therapy! Once it was obvious he had the bike riding thing down, there just wasn't much else for the therapist to work on with him. He has mastered so many things in the past few years that he's beyond where he would really need to be to receive therapy. Of course, we can always start it up again if new issues arise, but for now he's going it alone. We still see Dr. H every 4-6 weeks just to check in, but honestly, I'm not sure how much longer we'll need to continue that either. The boy has just matured so much and is doing so well! (Gosh, I hope I didn't just jinx it!)

The girl child is also having a good year in school. It took her all of one day to get over her fear of the car-rider line -- when she came home on the first day of school, she told me that she loved it and wanted to keep doing it. I guess most of her friends go home that way, too, so she always has someone to sit with while she's waiting for me. Academically she's bringing home really good grades -- even her spelling has improved! Third grade is the first year they get actual number grades at our school, so I'll be very interested to see her first report card.

She was having a conflict with another student at the beginning of the year, but that seems to have been taken care of. I guess this other little girl is a bit of a bad seed and was really targeting her. Unfortunately the girl child's teacher from last year was worse than useless when it came to stuff like this -- she considered any reports of bullying to be tattling and would not get involved at all. So the girl wasn't telling her teacher about it, figuring nothing would come of it. Fortunately, as I said, this year the girl child has the same teacher that the boy had for third grade and we KNOW she does not stand for anything like that. So I sent her an email and that seemed to take care of things. Whew! This is otherwise a good year for the girl socially because her best friend is in her class, along with several kids she's had in class previously (all really nice kids, too -- none of the ones who have picked on her in the past).

The girl is also doing some extra-curricular stuff this year. She's taking an art class after school once a week. She's only had one class so far but she LOVES it. Yay! She is so creative that it just blows me away. I did not get that gene at all; I think it skipped from my mom over me to land on the girl.

Unfortunately with school starting up again she is back to rapid-cycling with her moods. I don't think it's quite as bad as it was last year, for the most part, but that could be because we know what it is now and have learned to handle it a little better. DH is so much more patient with her than I am, though. I may end up in therapy myself before this is all over! She just pushes every single button I have and it makes me crazy, and then I feel bad that it makes me crazy. Ugh.

Both kids are still doing taekwondo. The boy child should have his first-degree black belt in November, and the girl will have hers a few months after that if all goes well (she started later than the boy did). The class schedule has changed such that they only have it twice a week now, and together with the boy stopping OT that means we have a little bit more free time after school now, which is REALLY nice. We're still busy, but since their robot and art classes take place at the school, immediately after school lets out (no coming home, then going back), it has really cut down the amount of time we have to spend in the car. Woo!

Well, that's about all I have the energy for now. We have teacher conferences next week so I'll know more then about how things are really going for them academically. Overall, though, they're doing great!