Health care is a basic human right, not a privilege. For some reason, we’ve allowed ourselves as Americans to be fooled into accepting that one must be blessed with “means” to actuate appropriate health care. As a nation we have failed to realize that our health care system is a barometer of our society’s value for human life.

-Me

Friday, February 02, 2007

IEP LETTER #2 - Further Concerns

This is IEP letter #2, which they will receive next week. I’m making sure I leave a trail of my regular concerns. We haven’t had even our first IEP meeting yet, but I’m so looking forward to it!

February 2, 2007

Dear Katie,

I have had the opportunity to have a couple of discussions with Sandis’s teacher this week and I have a couple of concerns that I believe I touched on in my last letter but wanted to go into a little more concerning one specific situation.

On February 1, 2007 Sandis became very overwhelmed in class and threw a book at a student. His teacher walked him to the office to have some time to regroup and on the way to the office he kicked the wall. Sandis has had several instances at home as well where he gets very overwhelmed and anxious and responds aggressively. I am concerned about aggression against other students, himself, and property. Sandis when overstimulated, anxious, and upset has quite a bit of trouble thinking things through and handling impulse control. I believe this is injurious to him in his interactions with his peers, injurious to his self-image, and also hard for the teacher, as she cannot always intervene with Sandis before he gets to this level of frustration.

I feel that it is important that we address Sandis’s sensory needs on a regular schedule along with developing a plan to help address unwanted and aggressive behaviors such as these. I also believe that Sandis needs to have consistent help determining when he needs a break and go to a quiet area to regroup.

I have been extremely impressed with how wonderfully Sandis’s teacher, Mrs. Brown, has worked with Sandis. She does not deal with Sandis in a recriminating matter but understands that Sandis’s behavioral problems are rooted in things other than purposeful defiance. I do have some concerns that with the number of students in Sandis’s class that she simply does not have the time to give Sandis all of the extra help he needs, but I know that this concern will be addressed in his IEP.

Thank you so much and I look forward to scheduling our first meeting to review the evaluations!



Sarah
sarahiamslh@aol.com

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great letter. Articulate, firm, complementary, and hopeful.

Molly said...

Sarah-
Another really nice letter. But I'm confused why this much time has elapsed without an IEP conference.
You're really lucky--sounds like his regular ed. teacher is great!
Keep plugging away . . .

Chrissie in Belgium said...

That letter was SUPER!

mysamiam said...

I say "you go girl". You wrote that very well. I am glad you are keeping communication open like that. Sam too has "that side" that I really worry about. He see's red instantly when mad. I can just imagine how they are trying to process when they get upset and dysregulated like that. Good job with the letter.