IEP Meeting

Ok, so last week Dawson had his evaluations with the city school system for special education services since he will be turning 3 next Sat and Early Intervention stops when the child turns 3. We actually had to leave him alone with the evaluator for over an hour. Yes, drop him off with a stranger and leave....she got the deer in the headlights look from us, not expecting to leave him and then the but he has behavior issues and what if he has a seizure, yada yada yada. So we left him, hesitantly, but he did great. Did not fuss or cry or act out at all. Just played and cooperated and was a sweet boy.

Wednesday was the IEP (Individualized Education Program) meeting. Jeff was unable to get off work so I had to go alone...bummer! I sit down and when we get started, she slides over the comprehensive report sheet and starts explaining what the numbers mean and it sinks in and BAM hits me hard... Dawson is officially labeled as Developmentally Delayed...I start crying right there. I knew this, I knew he was delayed, I knew he is not like the other 3 year olds out there, intellectually I knew this...but emotionally, in my heart, I was somehow unprepared, it broke my heart..is still breaking my heart, I am crying right now as I type this. I can't talk about it without crying (David and Jenny, this is why I didn't mention it Thurs.), I can't even think about it without tears streaming down my face. I am not in a good place with this yet. After I pulled myself together, we continued on and, long story short, he will start out by going 3 days a week for 1 hour and 30 min each day. We can go back and change the plan and add or take away as needed. So, this is great in that he will be able to receive help and hopefully catch up. He is doing better on what almost seems like a daily basis right now as is, so with the added weekly services he should really bloom.

I don't have any beautiful words on this or some sort of uplifting comment, because I am not there yet emotionally. I am, however, thankful that he will be getting special therapy 3 times weekly...so much better than every other week. He is such a special little boy who deserves so much...