IEP, PSAT, growing up.

Hmmm,  the check engine light and the brake lights in the Civic came on at the same time today.  Lucky for us, we just fixed the change oil light on the van so we have at least one car without any warning lights on.  We went to Edda’s school today for her annual IEP meeting.  We met with her whole team (ten staff people?) and heard many good things.  I’m sure what my goals are for Edda academically.  The main goal is that she likes going to school and that she has a variety of different experiences in the classroom and hopefully some pals! There are many other Rett girls who seem to be able to communicate more than Edda is able to – either through computer eye gaze systems or various other methods, but it seems to be hard for Edda to do.  I’m OK with that.  But Mr Twigg was very excited to see Edda’s progress since last year, that she seems more comfortable after the spinal fusion surgery and is able to pay attention for longer without checking out.  They are reading Holes in class and then he’s asking her questions about the book and giving her three pictures to choose from for the answers and she’ll answer correctly a lot of the time.  He’s determined to increase the choices to 4 and to increase Edda’s accuracy. (There is actual data collected about the # of right answers, I just don’t have it in front of me now. And, of course, “reading” is used loosely, they adapt everything for Edda’s class.)  I was quite moved to hear of Edda’s progress with this “reading”.  It can be hard, year after year, listening to patient, earnest special ed staff tell you they are working on very simple things (Picking up a fork, walking in a straight line, following a voice command, making food choices, matching colors, recognizing letters in her name), so it’s nice to hear of some progress.  She does seem happier after the surgery, her mood has improved.  Her spine is straighter, but at the same time, she seems a little bit stiffer to me.  Edda will go to Wootton next year, my own high school (Go Patriots!)  There will be a friendly rivalry between RM and Wootton in the house next year, split right along gender lines.  Athletically, there is no question, RM will kick our butts in all sports, though if you competed based on average SAT scores across the school population, Wootton will win hands down.  This was also the meeting where they first mentioned “transition” – the dreaded day when Edda turns 21 and we fall out of the school system into adult services.  That will be tough.

******

Vince took the PSATs this morning.  In MoCo, they practice every year.  Well not in elementary school – lol.  They practice every year in high school.  He’s doing pretty well in school, though we have to navigate things like working and paying attention to subjects that he doesn’t care about.  How to feel about other kids doing better than him on seemingly less work.  How to think about SATs/college without going through a ton of anxiety.  And there is the general growing up – friendships, relationships, driving, drugs/alcohol/sex, responsibility vs sloth, discipline & habit vs disorganization, how to argue/disagree and come to resolution with people you love (or people you hate!  that is helpful too.), how to fail and try again or how to succeed and still try again, how to work through bad feelings – this takes a lot of time.  Not that I have all the answers, I struggle with a lot of these things too, but you gotta meander through it all.  He’s been entertaining himself by eating the hottest ramen on the face of the earth.  This is a kid who thinks Sriracha is nothing – this ramen makes him cry and run around the house saying ow ow ow ow!  Yeah, I don’t get it either.