10 Steps To Planning For Our Special Needs Son

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Honey

I received an email today asking for me to meet and set up next year's IEP (individual education plan) for our son, Elisha. At first I was a little bugged because we just started our summer break and I have so many things other than school on my mind. Not to mention the fact that our teacher that we are accountable to is already off somewhere on vacation.

I guess it threw me off because every year (for the last six years), the IEP has not happened until the fall and sometimes even into the new year. I understand that our DL (distributed learning) school is trying to be more organized and yes we do get funding that pays for our TA (teacher's aid) and our OT (occupational therapist), but still.

Here I sit with a house full of sleeping children and a quiet moment to write and I couldn't get the IEP planning meeting out of my head.

So preparing for this meeting means that I need to:

write a list of all the things I need to do to prepare for the meeting (you are reading the list)
dig through my email's and pull out a copy of last year's IEP
pull out the notes I took at last week's meeting with the OT
prepare my goals for Elisha for NEXT year
plan my special needs order for NEXT year (I haven't even ordered my materials yet)
go over those with Jonah and see if he has anything to add
go over the goals and order with the OT when she comes on Friday and have her write it in the proper lingo for the IEP
contact the reporting teacher who is vacationing somewhere that I would like to be and let her know we need to arrange a meeting with the special needs coordinator
arrange a time to meet the reporting teacher and the special needs coordinator
write a blog post about it

One of the things that I am always telling people is to make blogging fit your life, not your life fit your blogging. Use your blogging to help you accomplish goals that you are already trying to accomplish in your life. I started thinking about how I could use my blogging to fit my life in this instance and you are reading the result of that. I have my to do list. You have a blog post to read.

I am linking up to Hip Homeschool Moms and Top Ten Tuesday.

How do you prepare for your special needs students?

What extra steps do you have to take when planning for them?

How do you use your blogging to accomplish your goals?

Weekly Wrap Up

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Honey

This week was a crazy busy week even though it was our second week of spring break. We took a break from the books and changed things up by revisiting our Trip Across Canada and exploring our new art DVD's.

A Trip Across Canada

We started our Trip Across Canada Study again and it went surprisingly well. The reason that I say that is because all the big boys cooperated and participated in a group discussion and exchange of ideas without anyone totally freaking out. To me this is a sign of significant growth. This was the reason that we took a break from group activities (because nothing got done!).

I will be posting weekly about our Trip Across Canada. Our travel brochures have already started arriving and we are very excited.

I am currently updating the links to the online study. I am also putting it all together as an ebook jam packed with loads of fun activities and book recommendations that will be available for sale eventually. I am aiming for the end of June.

Art on Dvd

Not too long ago I asked if anyone had any suggestions for art lessons on DVD for me to use specifically with Moses, but with all the kids too. I was so excited to be asked to review some art lessons on DVD. We have been watching those DVD's this week (and we are really enjoying them) and those reviews will be coming soon.

Occupational Therapy

On Friday, we had our quietest and calmest OT visit in a long time. Our OT is amazing. We love her to pieces and we look forward to her coming every two weeks. Right now we are working on Elisha pacing himself and asking for help before he falls apart (really hard for him sometimes). We are making excellent progress.

Portfolio Visit

On Friday, we also had our last 2nd term portfolio visit. I can't believe how quickly this year is going by. We have not made as much progress as I would have liked, so we will need to kick some serious but this last term (from now until June 15th). We will then spend the summer finishing off everything that didn't get done before we will move up to the next grade levels.

Surprise Birthday Party Success!

My oldest son turned 11 on Thursday and we were able to pull off a surprise party for him on Friday afternoon. This was the first time I have ever even attempted a surprise party for any of the kids (we may never do it again). We decided to try a surprise party for Elisha because the anxiety of the anticipation is almost unbearable for him and us.

When he came home from spending the afternoon with grandma and grandpa (and visiting the IMAX) he was very surprised to find all his cousins and a decorated house.

I am happy to report that the party was fun and went off without incident. There were 6 adults and 9 kids in our small townhouse. It was loud, very loud, and it took the kids forever to wind down after, but it was a blast.

It is a good thing that we saved the chocolate cupcakes until the very end. Can I just tell you how much I love my eggless, dairyless chocolate cake recipe? Well, I do. I will have to blog about it some time.

Winding Down Today

As much anxiety as there is leading up to birthdays, there is almost as much coming down from the high for Elisha. He has had a hard time occupying himself and settling into "normal" life again. I think this is a normal part of his autism and ADHD. He craves routines even when he fights them.

Today we are winding down and just hanging out having a calm day at home. For the boys this means Saturday morning cartoons, movies, and a little bit of xBox.

I have been finishing up with a client and I have some graphic design samples to finish preparing for a potential client (can we say, really excited!) so I have been working hard at those and can't wait to present them.

Our Next Animation

Have you checked out the trailer in the sidebar? It is short and sweet and there will be more trailers coming as we work hard to get the animation finished. Have a look and let me know what you think.

I am linking up to Weekly Wrap Up.

So what did you do this week?

Special Needs – Sensory Resources

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Honey

We have Special Needs children in our home...

Our oldest child has Autism (Aspergers) and ADHD. All of our children have sensory issues to varying degrees. A few of our children have fine motor issues (and struggle with putting pen to paper). We have a child with eczema and kids with allergies (one child has an EpiPen which we have never had to use - thankfully!).

Each week, on Fridays, I want to focus on a different aspect of Special Needs. There are so many resources and pieces of information that I want to share with you, but all in due time. Today's post is about Sensory Resources. I love looking at catalogs to get ideas. I have created a list of my favorite Special Needs Catalogs. You can get amazing ideas from the catalogs below to create your own sensory experiences at home.