Yesterday afternoon, I sat in a really bad IEP meeting. The child is a non verbal child and the mother wants him to talk. Unfortunately this child is 7 years old and will say random words but nothing consistent except for ball and no. I started down the augmentative communication system last spring and at first mom was against it but then got on a bandwagon and wanted the DDD system to buy the device like yesterday. She has been hounding them unmercifully. But she is spouting that the child has made no progress and will make no progress until he talks out loud to her. He doesn't talk of course because the schools have not done their job and the only answer to that is to make them do their jobs by requesting more intensive speech/language services while also increasing his academic goals. (One on one therapy in our own little room is her ideal speech/language solution.) She stated that she has been paying $200.00 an hour to a private therapist that she would not name and they have not been able to make him talk either but that is not the private therapist's job....it is the job of the school. I asked for progress reports from the private therapist but she "doesn't know where they are"...hmmmm like maybe there aren't any??? She also stated that his Rehabilitation Counselors (para professionals who have a minimal college education or who have passed a state test) also say he needs at least an hour more speech per week. I asked, "Oh are these habilitation counselors licensed speech/language pathologists?" and she looks at me and deadpans, "I don't know." We all know they are not. She also states that DDD will not provide speech/language therapists to her. My thought is that there are DDD SLP's out there but she makes their lives so hard, they will not work with him. This ordeal is not over as we left the meeting with the parent and the lawyer asking for another evaluation so we'll see where this lands. I do know that I can leave that school and pick up a different school if that is what is needed. And believe me, I just might.

This meeting was just the icing on the cake for a bad week. It has been hard emotionally, physically and any other way you want to name. I am not sure why but I am so glad it is over. I will regroup on the weekend and then hit Monday with new energy!!!

Gotta go in to work...Later.