I.E.P. Rollercoaster

I attended Evan's IEP yesterday.  I am SO thankful for the schools here and the team that is working with Evan.  They are truly committed to seeing him succeed, and always grateful for input, information, and suggestions from me.  I have heard many parents complain about their schools, and have heard some real horror stories about the battles some parents have had to go through to get proper services and supports for their children.  I am relieved that, so far, I have not had those experiences.

That being said....this IEP was a bit difficult for me.  They did his 3-year testing to show that he still qualified for services which included testing in many areas.  Speech, IQ, math, reading, writing, comprehension, cognition, etc.  Overall, I have always seen Evan as a generally typically-developing kiddo.  I know he has a speech delay and is a bit delayed socially, but never really had it all laid out on paper as I experienced yesterday.

On the Wechsler IQ testing, Evan scored a 73, well below average.  Many of his testing scores came out with similar results.  My heart sank a bit.  I've never seen him as being so far below average!  I wasn't prepared for that, and admit that there was a part of me that temporarily felt defeated (and guilty).  But, then a voice inside me reminded me of what I have felt for a while now.  Evan is NOT abnormal.  He is simply developing at the pace Evan is supposed to develop at.  Yes, medications have played a role in his delays, and I can feel guilty about that...but, the fact is, HE IS DEVELOPING!  He is continually learning and growing.  Who cares if its not at the same rate that Mr. Wechsler thinks he should be developing at (ok...I really don't know if there is a Mr. Wechsler...that is just an assumption of mine)!

Then was the reinforcing upswing of this rollercoaster.  All the evidence of how hard he has worked and how far he has come.  He has met, and in many cases, exceeded the IEP goals set last year.  At the beginning of the year he was barely writing the letters of his name...he now copies full sentences and can write all letters of the alphabet.  At the beginning of the year he couldn't write any numbers...he can now write numbers 1-20.  Heck, at the beginning of the year he wasn't recognizing numbers beyond 5!  He can now count to 100.  He is starting to read!  These are just a few of the examples the team gave me, reinforcing that HE IS DEVELOPING!  More importantly...he will continue to develop as God has intended for Evan.

I am refusing to see him as a test score, and encourage all parents to do the same.  Those do not take into account what we know about our kiddos as their mom.  Test scores cannot define him or anyone else, and cannot predict what a person can do with their life.  Set high standards for your kids and watch them grow!  Allow them to  explore their limits, don't limit them.  Ok...maybe its ok to limit them when it comes to some things...too much ice cream isn't good for anyone!  

We have set the bar high again with his IEP this year, as we did last year.  I look forward to seeing him surpass those goals by March 2016.