IEP Again

Tuesday morning was Lyric's IEP meeting for preschool.  It was a little on the bittersweet side, because it's really not something I wanted to happen - but I left feeling excited regardless.  There were 6 other people in the room apart from me.  Her current speech therapist, her current coordinator, her current occupational therapist, her future speech therapist, her future coordinator/teacher, and her future occupational therapist.  I didn't know it was going to be so many people - it felt a bit like a council of elders.  It was nice to see so many come together for the specific purpose of talking about Lyric though. 

It went pretty much as expected.  They went over her strengths and what she enjoys doing, like putting together puzzles and playing matching games.  Then they went over what needs to be worked on, and we came up with two goals for Lyric to meet by the end of the school year next year.  The first is that she will verbally express wants, needs, and requests both spontaneously and in a structured setting 3 out of 5 times.  The second is that she will follow two step directions both spontaneously and in a structured setting 3 out of 5 times.  She will be getting individual speech therapy while at school for (I think) 30 minutes per session, a few times a week.  If it seems to us that she has met these goals before the end of the year, we will meet to create another IEP, if necessary.

Her sensory needs are going to be addressed in the classroom as part of her education, rather than pulling her out to work on that on an individual basis because she has come so far on those in the past year.  The occupational therapist will basically see her once a month for 15 minutes just to make sure that nothing has gotten worse, and that she isn't regressing.  Since she has gone from not wanting to touch dirt at all, to being able to play in it, it seems like MAYBE they will become less of a concern.  There are still a few things that could potentially be worked on, so I am glad that it's not something that will just be written off, either.

Her preschool start date is September 3rd.  There was no point in getting her started now, as they only had 12 days of school left.  We just had to put something down on paper before she turned 3, essentially.  So we're officially done with home visits, and moved on into the next portion of the program.  She turns 3 on Sunday.  I'm sure I'll spend most of the weekend wondering where my baby went.