I do not like IEP meetings...

I survived another IEP meeting! Go me! Today, we met to discuss Blaze transitioning to kindergarten in the fall. It took right at 4 hours,but I think it went well. It's getting easier each time however I still don't like IEP meetings! I think I would rather do almost anything than have these meetings. Why do they stress me out so bad? I really don't know, but they do. I still blame myself for the bad experience Blaze had at the deaf school and because of that I don't trust anyone. I never had to deal with IEPs before Blaze so I did not know how to handle an IEP meeting. Special needs kids don't come with instructions.  I went into those first few meetings and pretty much just agreed to whatever they wanted and my poor baby had to deal with the choices that I agreed to. Since then, I have been in fight mode. I will fight for what I believe is best in my opinion (NOT the counties opinion).

I think the decisions made today will be good for Blaze. I was a little worried about today because we got a new advocate from GSAP, but she knocked it out of the ball park! I was very pleased with her. I can't even tell you how much better it went. 

Blaze is going to be placed in the autism classroom. He will have 8 classmates, 1 main special needs teacher, 1 teacher for the deaf/HOH, 1 teacher for the vision impaired and two paras..  He will also have an OT, PT,and SLP. He will still only go to school 3 days a week(for now), so that he can still go to the autism center once a week, keep up with private therapy, as well as medical appointments. The county has really worked with us on that and I am so thankful. His parapro now will also be his para next year. She will move up with him and I am so happy about that. Both of them already know a lot of signs, so they can keep learning and growing with him. Although Blaze has a dx of autism, that is not why we chose that classroom. Honestly, autism is our least concern at this time. We are much more concerned with his medical needs and his combination of being a deaf and visually impaired child. The combination of those makes it way more complicated. Blaze is the only child considered deaf-blind in his school, so this is also new for them. I believe we only have three deaf-blind kids in our whole county and the last time I asked, I think I was told that they have about 300 registered here in the state of GA. Having a complex child is hard...very hard. I think we are all learning as we go. The autism room will allow for a more relaxed day, with plenty of breaks, and the down time that Blaze will need. When you have a dual sensory loss it makes a child work a lot harder to get the info in. He needs extra time and breaks. He also needs additional time for feeding, so this class setting will allow for that. 

 I just pray that we have made the best decision. Blaze is so precious to me and I just want to do everything right by him.