I am going to change gears a little.  Today, I had L’s annual IEP meeting.  The best thing about it was I didn’t cry (unlike last year).  It is amazing how much of a difference a competent teacher is making for L.  She also has an Occupational Therapist who is really working to help unravel L’s sensory issues.

Even though she has made a lot of progress this year, L still has an IEP for sensory differences (big time sensory seeker with visual and vestibular issues) and social-emotional delays.   The sensory issues L has basically make it nearly impossible for her to sit still and pay attention if she doesn’t have the right sensory diet.  For L, that means deep pressure and/or vestibular input (ball pit, hotdog wrap, swinging, etc.)  L craves deep pressure.  When she gets it, it is amazing the difference it makes for her ability to pay attention. She goes from a distracting, silly, wiggle worm, to a kid who can sit straight up in her seat and pay attention for 15 or 20 minutes straight, if you just give her a good back scratching.

L’s social-emotional issues are less obvious this year than they were last year when she would totally shut down in class.  This year, superficially, she is ok. She has friends, she does play with them appropriately one on one, But when there is a group of kids, L checks out.  I think part of her issue is that she is generally behind the curve socially.  She hits all the milestones, just at the back end of the normal curve.  (I tend to follow the “family years” theory. L has been with us for 4 years, so even though she is 5 years old, I am not surprised if she is more emotionally like a 4 year old in some ways.)  L’s teachers also think her social skills in large groups are really impacted by her inability to modulate the sensory input she is getting (too many kids talking, too much activity for her to respond quickly enough, etc.), so she leaves the group and plays alone or seeks out non-group play.  She might be a bit of an introvert too.

Any way you want to look at it, L’s teachers are on top of her issues this year. We are having her wait an additional year to start kindergarten, so she will have another year to catch up.  Socially, I think that will make a big difference for her.

Unfortunately, it looks like L will not qualify for an IEP for sensory issues when she finally starts kindergarten. While I am very pleased with her progress this year, I am afraid all her progress is going to go out the window if she is not receiving the right kind of sensory support in the classroom.  I am also worried L might bounce around for a couple years before her teachers start insisting she has ADD (as her teacher last year said–along with about 8 other diagnoses including diabetes(!!)none of which ended up going anywhere.)

I have until January to do my research and then we will start the transition from her preschool IEP into the kindergarten mainstream.  If there is any hope of an IEP in preschool, we will hire either a disability advocate or an attorney to make sure L can keep her IEP.  I am hopeful that L’s kindergarten teacher voluntarily try to accommodate her needs, I tend to think a legal requirement wouldn’t hurt.