Last Day of School: ARG!
I know, you're probably thinking I'm "ARG!"-ing at the fact that I'll have the girls home all day every day for the next 3 months. While that is daunting, I'm rather more consternated by the follow-up meeting we just had with the girls' teacher & principal.
So, last time I went in to talk with them, they were pretty hot on the repeating kindergarten idea, and so that's what I rolled with. The girls no longer qualified for an IEP for speech, and they had made it sound like an IEP for behavior/etc. probably wasn't an option, even though I tried to point out that when they qualified for the special ed preschool, it wasn't just their speech - they had tested low in cognitive and other areas as well. Their teacher also mentioned having done testing, which in retrospect was probably just end-of-the-year academic testing, but still. So I left feeling like repeating kindergarten or homeschool was the only option.
Well, I go back on Wednesday, and they tell me they've talked with the preschool teacher, and looked at the IEP from preschool and everything, and that now they think the girls would totally qualify for special ed (just not in speech) and so we should get them tested and send them to first grade with an IEP. DAH! I mean, I'm OK with this - if I had felt like that had been an option after the first meeting, you can bet that I would have pursued that like Tommy Lee Jones on Harrison Ford. I'm familiar with special ed and I feel totally comfortable with the supports it would supply the girls. I think it's better than any of the other options.
But what pisses me off is that they waited until 2 days before school was out to push this conclusion. Seriously, I started asking for this follow-up meeting at the beginning of May, after getting home from Colorado. I get that the principal was busy, the teacher had sick kids, etc. and so they had to push back our meeting. But for the love of everything, if they had listened to me talking about the girls preschool qualifications in the first place, then we could have started and finished the damned testing by now. Now, because school is ending, we can't even BEGIN to test until August. I don't know how long it will take to do all the testing they need and slap an IEP in place, but it really, REALLY makes me nervous to be sending them to first grade without ANY supports in place for like the first month. I want to know that my kids are going to be taken care of.
So I have no idea what to do now. I really, really don't want to just sit on my butt until August. Ideally, I would like to get the testing done during the summer so we can sit down and do the IEP in the first week of school. I don't even know how to do that, though, if the entire district is shutting down today. Is there a private place I could take them? Could I go up to Salt Lake where they do year-round school and have them tested there? I went to the doc yesterday and got forms to fill out to have them screened for ADD... but even if they screen positive I'm not sure I really want to start them on medication just yet.
I feel so stressed - I actually burst into tears when I went into the office to ask the Special Ed teacher to give me a call today so I could discuss these options. (Fortunately, the secretary blamed it on pregnancy hormones. :P) I wish I had really pushed these thoughts during the meeting, but I was in a lot of pain that afternoon (more later) and wasn't thinking clearly. If anyone has any clever ideas at all, please let me know; otherwise, I guess I'll just hope the Special Education teacher has something positive to tell me.
So, last time I went in to talk with them, they were pretty hot on the repeating kindergarten idea, and so that's what I rolled with. The girls no longer qualified for an IEP for speech, and they had made it sound like an IEP for behavior/etc. probably wasn't an option, even though I tried to point out that when they qualified for the special ed preschool, it wasn't just their speech - they had tested low in cognitive and other areas as well. Their teacher also mentioned having done testing, which in retrospect was probably just end-of-the-year academic testing, but still. So I left feeling like repeating kindergarten or homeschool was the only option.
Well, I go back on Wednesday, and they tell me they've talked with the preschool teacher, and looked at the IEP from preschool and everything, and that now they think the girls would totally qualify for special ed (just not in speech) and so we should get them tested and send them to first grade with an IEP. DAH! I mean, I'm OK with this - if I had felt like that had been an option after the first meeting, you can bet that I would have pursued that like Tommy Lee Jones on Harrison Ford. I'm familiar with special ed and I feel totally comfortable with the supports it would supply the girls. I think it's better than any of the other options.
But what pisses me off is that they waited until 2 days before school was out to push this conclusion. Seriously, I started asking for this follow-up meeting at the beginning of May, after getting home from Colorado. I get that the principal was busy, the teacher had sick kids, etc. and so they had to push back our meeting. But for the love of everything, if they had listened to me talking about the girls preschool qualifications in the first place, then we could have started and finished the damned testing by now. Now, because school is ending, we can't even BEGIN to test until August. I don't know how long it will take to do all the testing they need and slap an IEP in place, but it really, REALLY makes me nervous to be sending them to first grade without ANY supports in place for like the first month. I want to know that my kids are going to be taken care of.
So I have no idea what to do now. I really, really don't want to just sit on my butt until August. Ideally, I would like to get the testing done during the summer so we can sit down and do the IEP in the first week of school. I don't even know how to do that, though, if the entire district is shutting down today. Is there a private place I could take them? Could I go up to Salt Lake where they do year-round school and have them tested there? I went to the doc yesterday and got forms to fill out to have them screened for ADD... but even if they screen positive I'm not sure I really want to start them on medication just yet.
I feel so stressed - I actually burst into tears when I went into the office to ask the Special Ed teacher to give me a call today so I could discuss these options. (Fortunately, the secretary blamed it on pregnancy hormones. :P) I wish I had really pushed these thoughts during the meeting, but I was in a lot of pain that afternoon (more later) and wasn't thinking clearly. If anyone has any clever ideas at all, please let me know; otherwise, I guess I'll just hope the Special Education teacher has something positive to tell me.