IEP update

Well I did finally get that IEP meeting and it wasn't as scary as I anticipated. Thanks to all who gave input and especially to Kate who walked me through the process. Ava was tested and estimated to be at about a 9-10 month level in the areas of language, gross and fine motor skills. I honestly think she is a little more advanced than that based on what I see at home but I am pleased because she qualifies for all three services at school, 30 minutes a week each for OT and PT, and 60 minutes a week for speech.

If you don't know what an IEP is, it stands for "individualized education plan". Basically, when a student has learning challenges and can't meet the goals of typical kids their age, they are given their own customized education plan based on the educational goals of the parents, teachers, and therapists who will be working with that child. The IEP meeting is where all of the above meet to come to an agreement on the goals for the year and the means of meeting those goals.

Because I am too lazy to get up and look for the goals I will try to summarize them based on what I remember:

Gross motor- 4 point crawling, sit to stand, weight shifting on feet (or "cruising")
Fine motor- scribbling with a crayon, turning pages of a book, releasing objects into container
Speech- recognizing pictures in books, verbal approximations and picture exchanges

I am excited to see the progress she will make once her school therapies are started.

On a side note, I was really excited about something that happened over the weekend: On Saturday, our family was invited to a birthday party, and this was Ava's first birthday party (Thanks Fullinghams). We took Ava down the inflatable slide several times, which she wasn't too sure about at first but eventually she seemed to really like it.

That night as I was getting her ready for bed I started talking to her about our day, like I always do. When I said, "Daddy took you down the slide", she got SO excited and started squealing! It was obvious she understood what I was saying and remembered doing this. So I took a baby doll and propped up some pillows to make a little slide, and we played push-the-baby-down-the-slide game. She did this over and over again, and squealed and laughed every time. It was so neat to see her little brain at work, recognizing the words I was speaking to her, and then imitating the fun with her doll. I sure do love that little girl!