My daughter's voice...

Today was the big day! The big transition to K IEP. Our first big transition and my first ever IEP that I had to disagree and fight for Lily and what was in her best interest. Well, I guess fight is probably not the best word for I truly had no idea if they had any intention of fighting my requests. But, I did have a darned good feeling they were not going to be too thrilled of me asking them to override the lottery for the case of high educational need. I felt empowered this morning and was feeling more confident than ever. I knew I would get something that would be more than a half day for her. I knew a half day would never be enough to give her the best start. I had taken all of the advice from many friends who had been down this road and felt I had a pretty powerful letter in hand. In addition, I had my letter from her Pediatrician who is well known in MI and a Harvard grad. I was sure she was more educated than anybody there. Not discounting anyone who was there because I truly like everyone who is on Lily's team. But, it empowered me to feel like between the two they could not argue any point on either letter.

This is the longest IEP I have ever attended thus far - 2 1/2 hours long! I had forewarned her teacher of my intention of requesting a full day for Lily. So, of course everyone had the heads up! There were 10 people there not including myself. The Special Ed Director directed the IEP and we went through all of her goals, where she is at now, new goals for K, etc.... You all know the routine. I agreed with everything they all had to say. Like I said she has an amazing team and the only thing I was protesting was the fact that half day K was not enough and not in her best interest. After everyone was done the Special Ed director kind of jokingly mentioned the elephant in the room - meaning what I was getting ready to request. But, he was funny about it and meant no disrespect towards me. He even mentioned how maybe I could go back and put in some good words with my higher ups. I told him sure as soon as I got back I would be sure to call Governor Granholm up and tell her about how amazing our district is! It definitely does not hurt for anyone to know I am a Parent Rep who does outreach and advocacy for the state! No matter who I do or don't know it's always good to have that on my side. And for the record, no I don't know the Governor although I do get emails from her on occasion! And I did just meet Janet O..., but that is neither here nor there just me rambling. So, I said yes I am requesting full day kindergarten for Lily as I believe it is in her best interest. Then I pulled out my 10 copies of my letter with the letter from the Ped on the back and let them all read it. I even joked with them saying a few of my friends in the disability community told me that you might not really care at all what her Pediatrician has to say and maybe you won't. BUT, she is the Professor of blah blah blah at the college of med at blah blah and has done extensive research on developmental delays in addition to being very well known in the state and very well respected. It turns out a few of the people there knew her and agreed!

I don't know if the letter I wrote or the letter her Ped wrote truly helped. I am not saying it hurt because it didn't. What I am saying though is that it was not the letters that got their attention - it was my knowledge of my rights, my knowledge of what was in Lily's best interest, my willingness to be open to what they had to say, my willingness to not settle for less than she deserved, my willingness to be a part of the team and ultimately????? My knowledge - I was empowered! They knew I knew what I was saying and there was not a doubt I would fight if I had to. I knew they were going to offer me something - I really did not believe it would be to bump someone off full day and give it to Lily. And truthfully, it was not a full day I was fighting for - I did not need Lily to be in a full day just for the sake of having a full day. I needed her to be in the best program that would give her the best start, that would give her the time she needed to progress, to learn, to be included, to have one on one, to have access to the extra programs, etc.

What they proposed is that Lily attend half day K as was originally planned, but then in the afternoon would go to her Spec Ed Prek that she is in now... Lily's prek class is moving back to the K next year and so she will be in the same school all day. She will eat lunch with her peers and have recess with her peers. Her therapists will only do pull outs when she is in her Pre K class in the afternoon unless absolutely unavoidable. But, mainly they like to do push ins where they are with Lily in the K room. She will have access to the special ed teacher at the K in morning K as well as afternoon class. She works directly in the classroom. She will have the afternoon to work on anything that she needs some more time on or more one on one. The afternoon class is much smaller and that will allow her some down time. Sometimes Lily is happiest in smaller crowds and playing by herself. I am very happy with this offer and actually feel this is an even better option for her... I did not give them my answer yet, but I am 99% sure I am going to sign. I felt great about everything and achieved what I set out to do which was getting what Lily deserved and what would be in her best interest. I was happy they were willing to work with us (although I wasn't giving them a choice). I did ask so if I want her in full day is it an automatic no? And (I think they cringed....lol) and they said well you would have to take it to the superintendent and I said of course. I said I don't really have the desire to fight anybody, but I will fight for what is in Lily's best interest.... The special ed dir kind of smiled and looked at me and said I can already tell I wouldn't want to go head to head with you! haha! I said you are right, you wouldn't!!! Everyone got a good laugh! And then he said I suppose you aren't planning on signing this (IEP) today??? And I said nope not at all! He said yes that's what I thought! But, it was all in a fun manner and I left feeling like I made it!

I made it through the first of what will probably be many many struggles to fight for what my daughter deserves. And you know what that God is surely a funny man I tell you! Hmmmmm all of the things I have had to endure up to this point made a little bit of sense... When I was wondering and crying why me God why do I have to go through this? All of my past adversities and things I had to fight for, people who tried to knock me down, all the while beating me down, all of my low points when I truly never knew how I would get through another day.... Well, it made me strong enough to be the person I am today - to be my daughter's voice in a society that forces me to fight for what she deserves. It's ok God - I am up for the battle!