'Tis The Season

IEP season, that is.

I got to spend over an hour with Olivia’s teachers, therapists and principal yesterday.

It was actually a lovely meeting. We’re incredibly lucky that Olivia has an amazing team who takes personal pride in her accomplishments and their part in helping her reach those achievements.

Olivia is doing very well this year with the help of her teachers, her therapists and yes, even the kids in her class.

We’ve decided that she’ll continue this path in third grade, spending the majority of the day in the typical third grade classroom with one to one help from the special ed. Teacher and the occasional pull-out for sessions with the OT and the ST.

Her biggest challenge this year is the same as always, social. She still doesn’t talk to her classmates. She will whisper to the teacher during small group projects but she can’t bring herself to actually talk to her ‘friends.’

Yet, the teachers report, her classmates love her. They dote on her, they want to help her, they all compete to see who can make her laugh out loud throughout the school day.

One of the questions that almost stumped me was when they asked me what my goals for Olivia are.

I didn’t know quite what they were asking. Did they want to know if I wanted her to be able to take calculus when she was in high school? Be able to tie her own shoes by the end of second grade?

Finally I said, “I want for her what I want for her sister. I want her to be happy and to feel successful in whatever she does. If she wants a job when she’s older, I want that for her. I don’t care if she lives with me forever but if she wants to live independently, I want that for her because that will help her feel successful and that will help her be happy.”

They seemed happy with that answer.

I mean, isn’t that what we all want for our kids? Happiness…success, whatever that means for each individual person…contentment…as much independence as is possible.

It’s not asking too much and I am incredibly grateful that Olivia has an amazing school team who will help me and Tom help her reach those goals.