Plans for Madeline

Last week, I attended my first-ever case conference and helped write Madeline's first IEP (Independent Education Plan). Madeline will be in an integrated (typical/special needs) preschool setting at a terrific school here in town. This is how she will receive most of her therapies since she will be aging out of First Steps in July.

Here are my remarks of that day, posted to Facebook:

Have to admit, all the paperwork, all the therapists, school reps, liaison, all the compliments about my little girl, all the clinical numbers showing lower numbers than I'd like, all the recommendations, and just the fact that we were writing an IEP...It was all a tad (or more) overwhelming today. It's amazing to know your child insi...de and out and still have to listen to someone read through the list of what she can or can't do. Everyone was so sweet. Nobody loves her and knows her like I do, and no numbers or checkmarks or Xs will ever paint the beautiful picture that is Madeline.

If you want specifics for prayer, please intercede for us on behalf of Madeline's speech. She signs a lot, but we need her to do more than label items. Cognitively, I think she's not as far behind as what her speech would indicate, but overall, being non-verbal is slowing her down across the board. She signs, mouths some words, but only babbles a little. Her neurodevelopmentalist has given us a referral for a communications evaluation to see about getting a communication board of some sort. This could be a vital tool to coax it out of her!

I'd love to see her take off soon so that we can see where she's at in that little mind of hers! This preschool experience will give me a chance to gauge whether or not I will have the ability to school her at home once she's ready for Kindergarten, a couple years away, thankfully.