IEP discussion - goals?

[Guest guest]

As you know from my recent posts on the triennial review, I will have the

opportunity to meet with my son's team and discuss his progress and in the

months to come we'll be doing an IEP. I'd like to bounce some thoughts of you

guys as they come up. I'll probably have a lot.

Something I've noticed about is he is very quick to pick up on new songs

and rhymes in class. He's smart and has an incredible memory. I have noticed

however that often he will miss entire lines of songs and fill it in with the

appropriate tune as he makes up some nonsense or mumbles sounds that may be

similar. Of course I want him to learn the correct words. How do I approach

this topic as it pertains to his hearing loss? I mean what skill would I call

it? What should I be expecting a teacher to be doing? Should she just be aware

of it and ask someone else to spend the extra time to teach him? Should she be

sending home the lyrics for me to review with him? Should she be figuring out

how he could hear the song better? I don't know what to ask for.

Is part of it his age too? And could they use that against him saying " that's

typical for kids his age. " You see, I'm already second guessing them.

The obstacle I have is that a CI child is new to everyone on the team and they

really see him as functioning just like everyone else. It does seem to the

" untrained " eye that he hears everything. I know this is not true but so hard

to explain. He speaks well and his vocabulary and expressiveness is probably

higher than many of his class peers. Keep in mind he's in a " headstart " type

program and qualifies for this soley on his disability. He's also had two years

of preschool prior to this class so you can't really compare him to the kids

that are getting there first exposure to academics... not to mention 's

intense speech and language training from the beginning and the therapies since

he was a baby.

Here are some topics/concerns that I want to focus on for the IEP. He enters

kindergarten next year. I know the topics but I don't know how to phrase my

concerns in a way for them to result in a service or accomodation. Perhaps some

of you can tell me what you have done and if I need to gather documentation to

prove certain needs. For instance what kind of eval do I need to ask them to do

to prove a weakness?

For next years IEP I want to address -

classroom acoustics (it was a nightmare this year)

Have the personal FM system in place at the beginning of the year

need for social goals

insuring access for at assemblies, field trips, multi class activities,

cafeteria

making sure classmates know how to communicate with him

Training the teacher

TOD services

Can you tell me what your TOD's do for kindergartners? Would a TOD be the same

as the hearing itinerant? We have the itinerant now and her service currently

is to visit the classroom once a week for 45 minutes to observe and consult with

teacher.

K

ryan's mom, 5 years old, MEDEL CI at 20 months