IEP Take Two

In May we had Rylie's kindergarten IEP. All went well. We were in agreement with all the therapies and goals. They had this great program where basically Rylie would be in a special ed kindergarten class that integrated with the general kindergarten class. The classes were to be together pretty much the whole day except for reading and math. So, Rylie would be in the general kindergarten class w/ a special ed teacher, an aide and about 6 other kids from special ed. I visited the classrooms and I was very impressed. I honestly could not tell the difference between the kids who were special ed and the kids who weren't.

So, a few weeks back the director of Special ed called me to informed me that this program was no longer going to be available because they only have one other kindergartner for special ed besides Rylie this coming fall. They are now thinking Rylie will do special ed with the first graders and spend more time in regular ed kindergarten with this one other kindergartner sharing an aide. Am I making sense?

This is all good and bad. The good is that she will have even more time in general ed and this other kindergartner is most likely Rylie's friend Alice, who you can meet again by clicking on this post. Her friend Alice and her family just moved around the corner from us! So, I am thrilled that these two best friends will be going through elementary school together. Also like I mentioned, I saw all of the special ed kindergartners when I toured the classrooms, and these are the same kids who would be the first graders Rylie would spend some time with. They all seemed like great kids!

The bad is that, it is a little unsettling that you can think your all done with an IEP and then have them call you and say, sorry we need to change things! Also, I am still a little bit apprehensive that she is starting kindergarten and now it's like she is going to first grade(for math and reading anyway). I mean, she will follow the kindergarten curriculum, but she will be w/ first graders. It's all very confusing right now and I really won't understand it all until I go to the IEP meeting tomorrow.

I'm sure that technically I could say NO WAY JOSE, we all ready signed the original IEP and you need to stick with it, but I really won't be able to make a decision until I go tomorrow and find out more. And honestly, since we signed her original IEP, I have second guess myself about a few things, so I feel like now I have a fresh start to bring a few new things to the table. YKWIM?

So, wish me luck as once again I will be going to Rylie's IEP meeting!