IEP Meeting and Other Random Stuff!

Today was Alex's annual IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting. I know a lot of people who have to deal with IEP's dread them, but it was a good meeting. I really like Alex's teacher a lot and I think she's very in-tune to Alex and her needs. She is truly a cheerleader for Alex. Her school physical therapist was in the meeting as well, and I'm really excited that we were all able to get on the same page with Alex's physical therapy goals. Currently Alex is in a box stander every day for 30 minutes with leg braces on - we've modified the goal to try and have Alex in the stander without the leg braces on, forcing her to bear all her weight herself, and upping the amount of time she is in the stander each day to 45 minutes. I am also going to bring her walker to school twice a week and they are going to incorporate walking into her daily routine. I brought the pictures and the system that we are using at home to work on picture communication and we are going to incorporate the same system at school and at home so that Alex knows exactly what is expected of her. I really feel like a lot of the pressure of trying to do it all by myself at home will be alleviated by incorporating these goals into her school day. We had a long conversation about how we typically give Alex a lot of slack and while we push her to a certain degree, we can certainly start pushing her a lot harder - she has the potential and we know she's capable...so I gave them my full permission to start a 'tough love' program with her...I think life as she knew it might be over - but it's a good thing! I'm waiting to have a conversation with the principal because I really want to hold Alex back this year. She has made so many great gains this year in so many areas, that I really feel like she will benefit from spending another year in the second grade and expanding on those skills before sending her to third grade where she will have to start a specialized state wide testing system.

I did hear back from the hospital today and Alex's Upper GI series is scheduled for Friday, May 28th. Seems a while to wait for me, but hopefully we can get some answers.

Changing gears for a second, I cannot believe how fast the kids are growing. Both of them have completely grown out of the clothes I have bought them for the Spring already. Zach's face is completely changing - every day I look at him and can't believe the little boy that is staring back at me. These two pictures are from Mother's Day and as I was uploading them I had to stop and stare at his face, he seems to be changing every day.

Three more days to our Angelman Syndrome walk in Maryland. I'm really looking forward it to - we've reached our goal and have raised over $1,450 and Team Allie Bean is 18 people strong this year!