Yesterday's informal IEP

And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, 

for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 

Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, 

that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

Yesterday I was a bit stressed. I've been overwhelmed this week and it's making me forget a lot of things. Meeting with my DDS sisters and the IEP we were to have yesterday. I called for this meeting because Jordan's teachers weren't hearing back from the Autism coordinators within PGCPS to determine where he would be going next year after transitioning out of elementary school. Because they were frantic, I became frantic. I emailed people and spoke with one of my ministry members about the advocate they hired for their son. He went in-depth about how the advocate chopped up his son's IEP and there was so many problems within it. That what's in his son's IEP wasn't good enough to prepare him for high school or once he got out of high school. It made me wonder should I pull in my minister from church who works within the school system, to be my son's advocate to make sure he's getting the proper goals set for him. She was the one who told me to request the meeting and after I did it seemed like a day or two after that, we found out where Jordan was going to be headed next year. But they did continue on with the meeting to give me a better understanding of the CRI (Community Reference Instruction) program does. I walked out of the meeting relieved. Here's why...

1) Even though the CRI program is not just for children with Autism, but with all kinds of special needs (which they hope to change in the not so distant future), it gives the children more than academic skills. It gives them life based skills like making purchases and how to manage in the workforce.

2) They can take their time when working on a lesson. The class he is in now, they have a few days to teach an exercise but they have to move on quickly. The CRI program allows them time. The specialist mentioned to me the can take up to two weeks to work on one thing. I'm not sure if that is their limit, but it doesn't bother me. Jordan has always qualified for ESY every year because of his inability to retain a lot of what he's learned. Quality is better than quantity so I'm not upset that he may not learn as much because he has to work on one subject for an extended period of time. It might actually help him.

3) So many of the fears I had with Jordan were reduced because things were said to me that made so much sense. For instance, Jordan can remember a lot. And there are teachers who don't understand why children that can remember some things can't remember all. It was actually stated that the things that special needs children remember, are things that they do on a regular basis. They don't multiply or subtract enough for it to be something they can do at will. Also the fact that Jordan has to be tested not to long after a lesson is learned so it can be fresh in his mind brought to my attention the fact that it doesn't really matter what's in his IEP. If I want the teachers to work on a goal because I feel it's what he needs, it has to be something that is worked on regularly or it won't stick. I can understand the families that fight for their children's goals when the child is higher up on the spectrum and can benefit and eventually make it out in the real world. Jordan is not there yet. And to be honest none of anything he is learning now will be of any good to him if he doesn't get any better than he is now. But that's where I come in.

The treatment that I do with Jordan is what will benefit him. The things I do to remove the toxins in his brain to help it function the way it is supposed to is the key to it all. When he gets to that point where everything has been removed, he can converse with me and others, can remember things taught, then I will look further into his IEP goals if he can't be mainstreamed. Until then I can't fault nor force the teachers to "fix" Jordan's brain and teach him things he won't remember after the week is out. Now the system may not be what it should for other children, and that's a shame. Each child is different and have different needs that should be met. I hope there will be some rebuilding for those who rely on the IEP's to help their children succeed so by the time Jordan is at that place, I will have less of a fight on my hands. Fingers crossed.