Tuesday, July 14, 2009

I think we've begun the IEP process...

...today we had a psychological evaluation for Rachel. I think this is the first step in the IEP process. We were originally prepared to do this in June, but then the twins' team realized that they would be 30 months in July so in order to avoid having to do this twice, it was put off until this month. So, I dropped Simon off at school and then headed home so that Rachel could meet with the psychologist.

Overall, I suppose things could have been worse. I thought it would be a good idea to do this in the basement since she hadn't had much of an opportunity yet today to get some run around playtime (had to make a playground visit short due to some poor timing issues). But she was distracted by her favorite toys (well, books), and so we moved it into the family room and were prepared to strap her into her high chair if necessary (fortunately, it wasn't until lunchtime). The psychologist brought a great number of really nice toys for Rachel to play with, but Rachel refused to do anything that she was offered by the doctor. However, if I presented her with these things, she was more receptive. Until the last 5 minutes (and the visit lasted for nearly 1.5 hours), Rachel refused to make eye contact with her, but was definitely willing to engage me. I suppose this is not as bad as it could have been -- at least she showed herself to be "engageable" (if that's really a word). I was also watching to see how Rachel responded to Simon's absence. It didn't seem to negatively affect her, but I did see her periodically looking for him, specifically when she was in her high chair for lunch she was checking to see if Simon was in his chair as well. But she didn't react negatively to his absence -- just seemed to recognize he wasn't there. She will be observed in the classroom as well.

Then we went back to their school to pick up Simon. Simon had joined the other class that meets at that time (6 kids overall [including Simon]) and he seemed to be perfectly happy being there. When I asked how the morning had gone, they told me that he had minimal issues and seemed to be happy being there and with the other kids. I really hope that continues as this should be the "norm" when he goes back to school in September and Rachel will be receiving the in-home ABA therapy.

Simon's evaluation is scheduled for next week. It'll be the same procedure, just in reverse. I'll drop Rachel off at school, someone will come and get her so that I don't have to get Simon out of the carseat and then Simon will have his evaluation without interference from his sister. Given how today's visit went, I'm really not sure what to expect from Simon next week. They are very different kids, both with issues, but their issues are very dissimilar.

Tomorrow is the field trip to a local orchard for blueberry picking. Daniel will be joining us as the trip is early in the day and his camp doesn't begin until after the field trip should be over. It's always interesting to see what "tomorrow" will bring.....

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