Kindergarten

Today was a day that I have been dreading. I have been stewing over where to put Dallin for kindergarten and today we had our IEP meeting with the school district to discuss it. I have been reading up on rights and laws and getting all of my thoughts together for weeks. I prayerfully came to the conclusion that Dallin should be in a typical kindergarten next year because he is doing so well and I don't want to hold him back at all. He is very social and I think he needs to be around typical kids so that he can learn how to be more socially appropriate. I also think that is the best thing we can do for his language development. I believe kids really learn the most from their peers. So we went head to head with the district recommending an autism kindergarten for 3 hours. We did get somewhere though and they agreed to let him go to a typical classroom with and aid. Wahoo!!! What a relief. I seriously had to be a mommy lawyer and really advocate for him. I took this picture of Dallin this morning and put a copy in the front of his education notebook that I keep all his evaluations in and I just kept looking down at him and it gave me the strength to hold my ground. We still need to work out all of the details, which there are tons of, but at least we are in a great starting place now. I am so glad it is over although there will probably be more meetings to iron out everything and I have not signed anything.

The reason that the district recommends the autism program is because it is so much easier for them and cheaper. I could tell they really had no good data to suggest that Dallin couldn't function in a typical kindergarten with an aid. So of course they kept pushing for this and trying to get me to back down.

We feel really good about our decision and I really think Dallin will be in full bloom next year. He will have a full time aid trained by our ABA company with him all the time, but only help him if it is needed with minimal prompting. He will continue with his home therapy as well for 3 hours every afternoon. He will also have help with Occupational therapy and Speech therapy through his school. This should be a great combination and because he is progressing so quickly I think it will be an amazing year for him.

I remember about a year and a half ago when Dallin was very sick with one of his ear infections Peter gave him a blessing. In the blessing Peter said that Dallin would be able to learn to talk and that he would be able to learn and to behave and function well. I sobbed as I heard those words but couldn't really see how it would ever be possible. Today I see that this blessing has completely changed our lives and brought us to where we are now. The Lord took us in his hand and gave us all the tools that we needed. Dallin is an amazing little boy and I can't WAIT to see how much more he is capable of this next year. Going through all of the trials with him has only increased my love and affection for him. Watching his development lately I have just been in awe of him. I love that little boy so much.