IEP & 504

Last September I wrote a post about Public School Resources for Parents of Special Needs Kids: Elementary Edition. I’m still collecting information for the Junior High and High School editions. This week I collected lots because I had my first IEP meeting with the high school team and I scheduled a meeting at the junior high to set up a 504 plan for Gleek. (There was an incident that demonstrated need.) Last week we picked Gleek’s classes for next year. Next week we’ll do the same for Link. So I’ve spent a lot of time squinting toward the future and trying to predict what they will need six months from now. I’m going to get it wrong. I know this because I did the same thing last year and we ended up shifting Link’s schedule around three different times to adapt for unexpected developments and complications. The teen years are so huge developmentally. Even if I craft the perfect plan now, they’ll change between now and next school year. So mostly the plan is based on current needs with an addendum that we’ll adapt as necessary.

I really want to unfold this further, but it is nearly midnight and I spent the last six hours driving to retrieve Kiki from college. (She’s home for a week of spring break. Yay!) So let this post serve as a reminder of the detailed parenting post I need to do soon.