Etta's First IEP

IEP... I first heard the term "IEP" at a Ds Mom's Night when Etta was just a bitty thing. It stands for "Individualized Education Program" and what I was hearing from the other, more experienced moms scared the shit out of me. From that moment, I dreaded the day Etta would turn three and we would be required to sit down and have a meeting with the school system about her and our goals for her as she transitioned out of the state's Early Intervention program in into an Early Childhood curriculum with the public school system. I worried that I would have to fight for the services I felt she needed/had a right to (as many moms in our group have done). The meetings seemed big and scary and I was not looking forward to having one.

I guess I should clarify that not all of us live in the same county and the worst stories were coming from Davidson County/Metro schools in Nashville. We live south of there in Williamson County. AND not all kids' needs are the same (that's why it's called an INDIVIDUALIZED education program). As time went on, I began to hear more positive stories about encounters with the school system and IEP meetings, especially in Williamson County, and my fears over Etta's IEP began to dissipate. Before I knew it, we were having Etta's "transition meeting", setting up dates for psych/speech/OT/PT evaluations, and setting the date for the IEP meeting.

As today's meeting drew near, Etta's KidTalk team helped me prepare a little by asking me (and helping me come up with) some of my personal goals for Etta, so I wouldn't feel put on the spot in the meeting. They put together a wonderful DVD of many of her signs and they put a report together. Laura and Courtney even offered to come to the meeting to offer support and help advocate for Etta.

And Today was THE Day. By this morning, I was feeling fairly confident that the meeting would go well, but I still didn't know exactly what to expect and I was a little worried that I had not prepared enough. Keith's mom came down to hang out at the house with Etta while we went over to the school to have the meeting. Courtney and Laura (her KidTalk team) were waiting for us in the waiting room. Then, the school psychologist (and my point of contact through out the transition process) came out and greeted us and told us to come on back. As I stepped into that meeting room, the anxiety crept up a little. I didn't expect SO many people to be in there and I immediately put my guard up around my non-present daughter. Sitting around a conference table were SEVEN people (the school psychologist, the school's asst principal, the occupational therapist, two speech therapists, the physical therapist, and two teachers- one representing general education and one representing special education) and there were the four of us. (EDITED TO ADD- ok, I just re-counted... there were EIGHT people from the school system in the room). I had actually already met many of the people in the room as Etta had evaluations done and I had met one of the teachers when I went for a classroom observation a couple weeks ago (I found out today that she will be Etta's teacher in the Fall and I like her. So, this made me happy).

So, we made ourselves comfortable and it began.

We were given copies of all of the reports done by all of the therapists and each therapist went over their report which were done to determine eligibility and to help set up her goals. Then, they said that yes, she does qualify for services and warrants an IEP and they began going over the IEP they had written up. I felt like the experience was very positive. There was a lot of give and take and asking for our input. They were very impressed with the report that KidTalk put together and they LOVED the video (many of them had not met her yet and they felt this was a great way to sort of get to know Etta).

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The peer model program in the classroom sounds amazing and we walked away feeling very good about the meeting and her "team". We didn't sign the IEP yet. We brought it home with us to read through it again before we agree to it.

I know every child is different and every school system is different and as she gets older, we may have to fight for certain things, but I just wanted to say that our first experience with the school system and putting together an IEP for Etta was a very positive one. I'm excited about all that she will learn next year from her teachers, therapists, and peers.