The IEP is upcoming

On Wednesday, Rob and I have an IEP meeting for Ben and we're seriously thinking about replacing him. I think he needs to be in a different environment and so does Rob. The Lincoln Center isn't doing anything for him and he's in a class with 7 soon to be 8 special needs kids, mostly autistic, and because he's relatively happy and compliant, he isn't being pushed in the manner we would like. So I've been thinking about IEPs a lot lately, and IDEA law, and the "Best Practices for teaching Children with Autism". Stuff I never thought I would have to pay attention to, but now it's vital to Ben's progress. Sheesh!

Back In the Saddle Again

I gave Ben a regular waffle f0r breakfast yesterday, the EGG0 kind. He was fine f0r m0st 0f the day, w0rked great at speech therapy after sch00l, but yesterday evening he was yelling c0nstantly. S0 if n0thing else the GFCF diet affects his yelling, and that al0ne is en0ugh f0r me t0 keep d0ing it, because listening t0 c0nstant yelling affects 0ur sanity, a fact I didn't kn0w until the yelling st0pped. I'm pleased t0 rep0rt that Ben is n0w w0rking independently 0n a task by task basis. I can take all the pieces 0ut 0f a puzzle 0r s0rting task, and he can d0 the wh0le thing independently, until it's c0mpleted, and I d0n't have t0 pr0mpt him f0r each piece. That is a great achievement. He did five puzzles in church at the nursery 0n Sunday, and they were 0nes he hadn't seen bef0re. I give him a stim break in between tasks, like they d0 at his TEACCH s0cial gr0up, and this seems t0 w0rk w0nders. He watches a spinning t0p 0r plays with a squisshee ball f0r a minute and then I c0unt backwards fr0m 10, and he gives it up and w0rks the next task. He's als0 learned a new sign, the 0ne f0r CUP. I'm s0 happy t0 be rep0rting g00d news.