A change is coming...it's a good thing, really!

'Milo has received services since just over 2 years of age; Occupational Therapy (OT), Speech, and Early Intervention. Since starting PreSchool at age 3, he has been provided OT, Speech and Adaptive PE (APE - for gross motor skills) thru LAUSD. All, thankfully, free of cost. Each year at the IEP meetings, his services have always been reviewed an renewed. Today, sitting in the office waiting for the meeting to start with 'Milo's dad, I said to him, do you think 'Milo even needs to continued speech therapy anymore? After talking it over, it was clear to see that he has come a long way, even in the past few years, that we agreed to bring this up at the meeting. Then I said, what about APE? He's been playing soccer and he seems to be much better with the skills as well. And again after discussing, we agreed to also bring this up in the meeting.
So here we are, 'Milo's teacher, his speech teacher, the vice principle, 'Milo's dad and me. We went over the his English, math, writing and so on. Talked about the goals he met (most of which he did!) and some that needed to be adjusted to be more attainable. So when speech came up and the teacher talked about how he's met these goals and how much better he was even since the beginning of this school year and new goal we listened. It was then I said, "we were just talking about this before the meeting started and we're thinking, does he really need to continue with speech? He's come so far in just the last few years; he's aware when he mis-uses a word, and will even correct himself and if clear about that he saying. We feel that he should spend more time on his academics. What are your thoughts?" His teach nearly jumped out of his seat! He said, with a huge smile on his face, "I think this is the first time a parent has asked to remove a service! We have to mark this day down! You guys get it!" He said that parent see progress and they ask for more time on services, but we were asking for just the opposite! This is 1 hour a week, that he is away from class and it just didn't make sense anymore to use that time on a service. He even said, "you should write a book!" I think that was the biggest compliment When the APE services and goals came up, we said the same thing, let's use this time on academics now. I said "he plays soccer now and even wants to try basketball. We think he's ready to transition out of that service as well". They asked how he was doing with soccer, I said he did great, he was even goalie and played defense, blocking shots running up and down the field. They were all supportive of that as well. So now the next step, which is required, is the put in the request for an evaluation in these two areas just to record his progress and make sure these services are no longer needed. I'm sure they will be removed and so next year, he will be able to spend more time in the class on academics. More than likely, the assessment won't be completed until the next school year, but we were able to request that speech be reduced by a half hour a week in the mean time starting the next school year.
All in all it was a great meeting and very happy with the out come. We should start to see some more progress in his academic goals with that extra time in the class. Onward and Upward

IEP: individualized education program - Kids with delayed skills or other disabilities might be eligible for special services that provide individualized education programs in public schools, free of charge to families. Parents work with educators to develop a plan to help kids succeed in school. The IEP describes the goals the team sets for a child during the school year, as well as any special support needed to help achieve them. - Source, http://kidshealth.org/

OT: Occupational Therapy - helps kids who have a physical, sensory, or cognitive disability carry out everyday activities like brushing their teeth or putting on shoes and socks. - Source, http://kidshealth.org/

APE: Adaptive PE - Adapted Physical Education is physical education which has been adapted or modified, so that it is as appropriate for the person with a disability as it is for a person without a disability. Assists in fundamental motor skills and patterns (throwing, catching, walking, running, etc) - Source, http://www.apens.org/

Speech Therapy - With a variety of techniques, speech-language therapy addresses a range of challenges often faced by persons with autism. For instance, some individuals on the autism spectrum do not speak, while others love to talk but have difficulty using conversational speech and/or understanding the nuances of language and nonverbal cues when talking with others. - Source http://www.autismspeaks.org/

Early Intervention - Early attention to improving the core behavioral symptoms of autism will give your child – and the rest of the family – several important benefits that you will not gain if you take a wait-and-see approach until your child enters school at age four or five. A good early intervention program has at least four benefits: It will provide your child with instruction that will build on his or her strengths to teach new skills, improve behaviors, and remediate areas of weakness. - Source http://www.autismspeaks.org/