Upon Further Review - 2012 Blogging Advent Calendar Day 8

“There is no planet, sun, or star could hold you if you but knew what you are.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

I think it is time to do something… Time for a re-evaluation of Bianca’s IEP.

I am NOT looking forward to it.

Until this year, Bianca had always struggled with returning to school. After a few weeks though, she would get adjusted to her routine and settle in. This year, has been tougher for her.

I don’t know if it is the longer school day (she now goes all day as a first grader) or that her classroom got changed and moved to a smaller room, maybe it is just her. At any rate, she is not where we would like her to be at school. She is making some progress, but she is also constantly out of her seat, escaping from the classroom, mouthing stuff before the paras and teachers can get to her and head-butting the staff on a daily basis. Every morning as Bianca leaves, my wife and I place a bet on who gets head-butted and where.

It isn't the teacher or her staff's fault. They are awesome and busting their butts for our kids. Bianca is so loved there and the teacher is REALLY dedicated to these kids. It may not even be the fault of the school and special education cooperative. When we made Bianca's IEP, we were going off of the huge LEAPS she made last year.

There are nine kids in Bianca’s class and in reality a few kids in the class (mine included) most likely require one-on-one help all day long. They don’t have it either. But I know that Bianca thrives in a one-on-one setting, and I firmly believe that she could be held to a higher expectation of behavior in the classroom if there was somebody there at her side to make sure she didn't just get up out of her seat and go play with the water faucet, or eat sticky tack, or eat Play-Doh , or eat crayons… a lot of eating. Her classmates would also benefit from not having their teacher or para distracted every few minutes trying to chase my daughter down.

The problem is that I have a fairly good rapport with the Principal and teachers and I hate the thought of having to fight with them over services. I already do enough of that with Azure Cross Azure Shield. Do I really want to have to muscle my way around to get Bianca the help she needs? No. But I will if I have to. She deserves it. Luckily for us, I believe that everybody keeps such close tabs on Bianca because they are aware of my advocacy work. If you ever want people to lookout for your kid, get a successful blog going and a relatively viral video… I think they fear me complaining about them.

I know that when we talk to the school administrators about getting Bianca an individual aide, they are probably going to cry about budgets, but the last I checked I was a tax payer. I have been putting in for a long time; I should get a return on my investment. Bianca is worth that investment. She is WELLING with potential. I really feel like she is on the precipice of several breakthroughs. She just needs the support... and we are going to make sure she gets it.

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