IEP Meeting

We had Caleb's SECOND IEP meeting today. I met the itinerant speech language pathologist (SLP) who would be working with Caleb if he attended school in our town instead of where we work. I also met the itinerant deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) teacher who would be working with Caleb if he attended school in our town. The SLP would come out monthly to test his hearing aids and work with us to make sure he continues to have some sort of amplification depending on his needs. The DHH teacher would work with his teachers to make sure they're appropriately modifying instruction so he is getting the help he needs. And his speech teacher, who we had met before, was there as well. If he attended school in our town, he would be receiving services with her, as well.

So now we are faced with a big dilemma. Do we switch his school? He LOVES his school, but I am pretty sure he is having a hard time understanding his new teacher, who is a second-language learner. For Nikki, I wouldn't have given this a second thought. But since Caleb has some strange speech patterns, I'm thinking a more apppropriate speech model might be in order. Still, he has shown great improvement in just a month, and he LOVES going to school every day.

Fortunately, there is no hurry to make this decision. For right now, the plan is to wait and see what kind of progress he makes with his speech teacher at Children's Hospital (we've been approved for 32 visits through our insurance). Still, I am struggling with how much more progress he might be making if he were in a more supportive environment. And then there's the fact that he only has one more year until he should start kindergarten. And then there's that decision to be made-do we start him at five or wait a year??

I feel so inadequate when trying to make these decisions. I wish God would just whack me on the head and say, "DO THIS!!!!!" So if you're reading this and you're a praying person, PLEASE pray for guidance for us.