Well, I'm a little over a week away from Joshua's big IEP meeting. We are transitioning out of preschool services and jumping into Kindergarten. Yes, that is right my sweet little baby will be starting kindergarten this year. I'm torn between excitement and nausea. If I think about it too much I get overwhelmed with nausea. How is it possible it is time for this. First off when he was born I looked ahead and figured out when he would start Kindergarten and it was 2011 not 2010. I decided that he would be held back the first year because he would be one of the younger ones and I wanted him to be older and more mature. I still feel this way! However, because Joshua has autism and relies on services through Wake County I am being forced to put him in Kindergarten this year, otherwise, no services. So here I am preparing for the inevitable my big boy starting kindergarten. It's scary I won't lie to you. I don't know how I'm going to handle it.
But the first step is the big IEP meeting. Two important things are going to happen that day, one we are going to figure out all the services he will get. Secondly I will finally find out what track he has been assigned too. We have a lot of plans made for the summer. They are all set up so if we need to cancel we can but I really don't want to cancel any of them. I am way too excited about them. So I am hoping for track 4.
I have a friend who is going to the meeting with me to help advocate for Joshua. She recommended that I prepare a positive profile on Joshua outlining his strengths. If for no other reason but to remind me of everything positive about him during the meeting because being in these meetings where deficits and negative things are discussed it can really bring you down.
Sounds easy enough huh. Well, I'm struggling. Some of the things I think of don't really mean much in the educational aspect.
For example, He's great at giving hugs and he is so cute in the morning when he first wakes up and forgets that he prefers to annoy his sister and instead talks sweetly to her and shares and really takes on the nice big brother role. Later in the day, he remembers that torturing her is so much more fun. :)
He is adorable when he gets excited over something and starts flapping his hands. Which reminds me, I just ordered a shirt for him that says "I get flappy when I am happy" I can't wait for it to get here.
So here I am trying to htink of his positive things like problem solving and how well he does with puzzles. His pretend play is emerging, he was walking around some patches of dirt that matt recently spread grass seed on and I asked him what he was doing and he said he was "pretending to water the grass!" He is initiating more conversations with his peers and you can see in his eyes that he loves his friends and tries so hard. I'm actually going to have to rely on other poeple to actually help me with this profile because they see things I don't. I'm not sure why but they do. I guess I'm so caught up in the day to day struggles and trying to get through the afternoons where being locked out of my house is just part of the routine. I have learned to carry my keys with me. So always seeing his strengths is difficult.
For now, all I can do is my best and hopefully that will be enough for Joshua to succeed.
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