That's a picture of Romy a day or two before we brought her home from the hospital. She was around 3 months old. I'm in such awe of how far she's come. She's a soon to be preschooler! I can't really wrap my head around it.
We met her future teacher last week. She seemed nice and very well versed in the special needs department. So far I'm pretty impressed with the program. Romy will be in a developmental preschool class. Her classmates will all be other kiddo's with varying special needs. Some might only have a mild speech delay or some might have CP like Romy. The really great thing is that each class only has 6 kids so they'll get lots of individual attention. She will have 1 full time teacher, 1 assistant teacher and 1 'floating' teacher who just goes around and helps out with all the developmental preschoolers. There's a nurse aid that will be there too. She'll be in school from I believe 8-2:15 Monday through Friday except for a half day on Wednesday. I was kind of surprised that it's an all day program, but I think once Romy gets used to being away from me, she'll really love it.
Her teacher said that they work a lot on potty training, which I think is fantastic! For a while now, Romy has been letting me know when she has a poopy diaper so hopefully she'll be receptive to the whole potty training thing.
Next week she'll be evaluated up at the school by all the different specialists to see what kind of therapy plan she'll be on. After that it's official. Romy is going to school! Whoa.
4 comments:
Oh my goodness. School already? Just doesn't seem possible.
Will say a prayer that she adjust well and enjoys school.
Elaine in MT
Just a piece of advice from a mom who has a 5 1/2 year old daughter with special needs too. You need to educate yourself on the whole IEP thing. It's not always positive experience and you need to understand your rights. I hate to be a downer but not all public schools, teachers, therapists in the public school system are all that great. The ones I've encountered don't really care...just there for a paycheck. I hope you don't have to, but often times, you have to fight for the right services. Pls go online and educate yourself on the IEP process. Best of luck
@Anonymous- Thanks for the heads up, I actually have heard some IEP horror stories, I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have too much of a horrible experience. I've secured extra therapy on the side (through our insurance) and they're ready to cover any additional pt/ot/speech that Romy will need that won't be covered in school. Anyway, I was wondering if you have any specific websites that I could check out. I googled around a bit, but it'd be great to know the good ones. Thanks again!
Hello Justine,
I was the person who posted about the IEP. I usually refer to Parents helping parents for everything. www.php.com. They even do IEP workshops for parents. I'm in the Bay area (Ca). I'm not sure if there is similar non profit in Hawaii or whether they have online training. IEP is a yearly thing and if you have a tough time or not comfortable going alone or know that the SD will be going you a hard time, I would suggest bringing an advocate. THese advocates know the educational laws inside out and they can help. I truly hope you have a wonderful experience and don't have to deal with it. Also, don't be obligated to sign the IEP right away. You can tell them that you will read this over at home and sign later. That is your right. Since Romy isn't walking yet (i'm sure she will someday :) very soon!), will you be asking for a 1:1 aide ? That's your right too! You are a GREAT mom and hope everything goes well!!
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