Splat Goes Life.

About a week or so ago, the senior neighbors across the street had an ambulance outside of their house. This is a frequent occurrence, unfortunately- they're both in their 90's or so, and barely keeping themselves together. The wife went to the hospital, and came back home a couple of days later. I went over to see how she was doing. She was fine- just out of breath, recovering from pneumonia. During the course of my brief visit, she mentioned a few things that she's noticed lately as far as Jack was concerned. For one, she said I must have to clean the windows a lot, because he's always got his hands on them. (Yes. Yes, he does). She also expressed relief that he had stopped walking way down the street to catch the school bus; now choosing instead to wait in front of the house. (Yes, we had a conversation about this, because I didn't care for it either). She then asked me if he was "verbal". Jack has been verbal since preschool. He has been in a ...

Yesterday after school was our "transition IEP" meeting. Yay. LOL (Nobody likes these meetings, do they? I mean, not really). It was also the first IEP meeting with Jack in attendance. (It was held in the Intervention Specialist's room, because the conference room was double-booked, but it worked out great. After Jack got tired of sitting there listening to us talk, he went over to a couch and vegged with his tablet. He did listen, which was great. He even chimed in a couple of times). I make it a point to contact the next school well before he attends it. It makes me feel more at ease if I can speak with (and, if possible, meet with) the new I.S., or any other person who my son will be dealing with on a daily basis. Better for us all of the way around to become acquainted ASAP. So a week or two ago, having failed to attend the school's Transition meeting for all parents of out-going 8th graders/in-coming Freshman, I decided to email his future Intervention Speci...

One of the times of year that I absolutely dread. I mean, as an Autism parent, I actually kinda dread a new school year. Like, A LOT. I'm pretty sure you know this if you've read through this blog. (If not, I don't blame you. It probably triggers anxiety and hair pulling and the need to drink heavily). I know some moms expect the worst at an IEP meeting, and end up leaving mid-way through, in tears. I can't say that I've ever done that, though maybe I wanted to. I have been relatively lucky, in that for the most part, the rest of the "team" has always been on the same page. That's not to say that I always agreed with everything, though. It also doesn't mean that I didn't need to come in with a line of attack, either. When I first started doing IEP's, Jack was in preschool. Actually, he wasn't *yet* in preschool. He was in the middle of summer school at the local ECE MRDD program, (which I think they've since shortened to DD- ...