Tommy's First IEP

After being nervous that I didn't get well prepare for the first IEP (Individualized Education Program) meeting for my son, because I couldn't attend to workshops. I realized that just knowing about my son's strengths and weaknesses it was enough to be a good advocate for him.

Getting ready for my son's first IEP meeting

Before the meeting, I updated the Tommy's developmental summary about the area of communications. I got information about bilingualism in kids with Trisomy 21 (T21). I talked to other parents who have being gone through the same experience, so it gave me an idea how the meeting would be. I also wrote down the goals I was planning for Tommy and I revised the IEP Checklist app I download on my iPhone a while ago. This app gave me all the sections that will be discussed in the meeting, so I got mentally prepared to advocate in getting exactly what my son was needing. I also pray asking for wisdom and strength because I have heard how the IEP meeting can emotionally affect parents because it could be an overwhelming situation for being a new process and it could be hard to talk about your child's different abilities and share them with people you will see for the first time at a meeting. 

Tommy's First IEP

Tommy's first IEP is going to be a little different because his IEP may have two parts due to he will be re-evaluated in the are of motor. He already had the OT re-evaluation last week and we are waiting for the PT re-valuation.  Meanwhile, Tommy's first IEP section was scheduled on March 2 to discuss about the communication area, the only area he has qualified so far.

I was nervous with the idea Tommy would have two IEP that would be combined when we get the results from the re-evaluations. But it worked out well because the first IEP meeting was focused for about an hour and half, in detail, on Tommy's strengths and weaknesses in the communication area with 6 members of  the school district, a friend of us, my husband and I. Being focused in one area was more beneficial that I could expect. All the services I had in mind to advocate for Tommy where discussed and approved. We got an incredible respond from our school district! Our school district is well known for being family oriented, which not all school district are in this way, this make me feel lucky for choosing the place where we life.

Services that were approved for my son's first IEP:

• Tommy will be part time early childhood and part time early childhood special education. this means, he will be 2 days in a regular class setting and 2 days in the special need class. Our Special School District is recognized for his inclusion program.
• Tommy will received Extended Year Services, so he will get services through the summer brake. Otherwise, we would have to use the services of a private paid therapist while he is in summer brake. Tommy got Extended Year Services due to his lost of skills during his hospitalization. I knew this was an important point to talk at the meeting, so I talked about it as soon as I had the opportunity, so when we got to section of Extended Year Services, they said yes, without me saying a word. 
• Tommy will get services for articulation therapy, including oral motor excises to decrease the tongue trusting. He will also get services for expressive and receptive language development and increasing his vocabulary. 
• Tommy will get Spanish during his regular class. The speech therapist and his teacher will work together to incorporate Spanish words in the class. I will support them in any doubt or question they may have about Spanish. My husband and I will also donate Spanish materials to Tommy's class. He is the first child with T21 in our Special School District being raised bilingual. Members of the School District are very enthusiastic on helping Tommy with his Spanish. I gave a copy of bilingualism researches in kids with T21 to our school district, so they know why bilingualism is important for my son. Tommy will start a extracurricular Spanish class during fall, but I hope by them he completely quit his nap because the class is in the afternoon.

My husband and I are very grateful on how everything has been coordinated to meet our son needs in our Special School District. We are thankful for all the services he is getting because we know they will tremendously help him. We will do everything in our end to help him to achieve his annual IEP goals.

Eligibility Meeting for Service through the School District

During the transition process, the evaluations are important to determine if a child will be eligible for services through the school district. In our case, things turned quite different due to Tommy being sick for many days so he couldn't attend to the evaluations. The school was also close for many days due to the winter storms. Therefore, the School district decided to take information from the progress notes and interview to our current therapists and us.


The eligibility meeting was held yesterday, February 16th, at 2:00 pm with the school district coordinator, the school psychologist, the school speech-language pathologist, a special need educator, a friend of mine, my husband and I. We went over the results of the Tommy's evaluations to determine what services he qualified for and how he qualified. It took about an hour and half to go through everything. The meeting was smoothly thanks to the pastries our friend brought to the meeting. The pastries broke the ice and honestly, they made feel more relaxed. I am thankful and please with the School District team for keeping everything according to the state law and beign flexible in gather as much information as the could even when Tommy was ill.


The psychologist who did the Developmental Assessment of Young Children (DAYC) got enough information from the progress notes, the developmental summary my husband and I do every 6 months and an interview with our current Developmental Therapist. Due to Tommy doesn't cooperate with his Development Therapist during her visits twice a month, some cognitive skills were considered inconsistent forcing the evaluator took points out. But due to my blog and videos I have, I proof he has these skills. Even the evaluator didn't give him points for the skills Tommy showed inconsistency with our Developmental Therapist, he didn't qualify for services in the area of cognition.


The Physical Therapist and the Occupational Therapist in charge of the physical evaluation got general information for the Peabody PDMS-2 and DAYC tests from our current Physical and Occupational therapists. According to the physical evaluation, Tommy needs services for gross motor skills because he has a significant delay in gross motor area. Meanwhile, Tommy's fine motor skills qualify in an average range. This means, he is not eligible for services in the motor area because he has to qualify in gross motor and fine motor together to get services in the physical area. But, the evaluators requested a re-evaluation because they need more specific information to complete the Peabody test. This left the door open for Tommy to be eligible in the coming weeks.


The Speech and language evaluations were measured by the REEL, GTA and PLS4. According to the results of the REEL test based on a questionnaire we did with the evaluator days before Tommy got sick, Tommy's language comprehension is in the average range. The evaluator was needing more information to complete the GTA and PLS4 tests; therefore, the speech and language evaluation was complete with Tommy a day before the eligibility meeting. Tommy didn't cooperate with the evaluator even she tried hard. Therefore, his combined score for receptive and expressive language skills went down making him eligible for Speech and language therapy services. Tommy's scores according to the REEL were consistent with a private pay evaluation we did when Tommy was 13 month. The REEL were used in both evaluations, so the evaluator realized the gap between Tommy's receptive and expressive language is consistent by keeping almost the same score, which is good.


Tommy will be re-evaluated for gathering more specific information about his gross and fine motor skills. He will also be re-evaluated for oral motor macanism because the speech and language pathologist couldn't gather any information because he didn't cooperate with her. The school district will also evaluate him for sensory issues because the evaluator concern on Tommy's odd tongue movements. Even, we did a private pay evaluation about a year ago and it shows he doesn't have sensory issues, I know deeply in in my hear he does. I am glad the school district pay attention to the possibility of Tommy having oral sensory issues.


We are happy with the results because they show how capable and smart he is. It is not my love to my son that talks about the many skills he has. But we are hoping he doesn't pass the fine motor re-evaluation, so he can get services in the gross motor, which is the area where he truly needs services. We are thrilled Tommy is doing so well!

Transition from the Early Intervention to the Special Education

Picture of Tommy that will be in the

cover of his file at the school District office

I was very nervous by just thinking my son won't receive more therapies at home. I was worried about me not being prepare for all the transition meetings because I didn't attend to workshops about IEPs, which are offer for free in our State, but I didn't have the time. I have searched online information related to IEPs and I think I have a good overview how to go through this new step in my son's life. So far, the transition has been smoothly and relax.

The Special Education Process:

1. Child Find:

We were referred for the Early Intervention (EI) program to the School District. So the school district new about our son and we didn't have to contact them to request services. Back in september, our last 6 months review meeting with EI program and the transition meeting to the School District was scheduled at the same time. Most of my son's therapists, our service coordinator and a school district representative got together at my house with my husband and I. Having both meetings together allowed to the School District Representative knew a little bit how Tommy is and how his therapists have been working with him. I presented Tommy's developmental summery to our service coordinator and the school district representative. This summery is divided in 6 developmental areas as follow:

• Cognitive & Playing Skills (Personal Curiosity and Autonomy, Solving problems, Sensory development, Memory and Pre-academic skills, Creativity, Interacting with toys and List of toys)
• Communication kills
• Fine Motor Skills
• Gross Motor Skills
• Self-care Skills
• Social Skills

The summery has all milestones and abilities Tommy has accomplished in certain period of time, as well as, progress notes, activities to strength and improve his weakness and concern notes. It takes me a while to prepare Tommy's developmental summery, but I enjoy it because it makes me realize how much he is doing and find the areas he is struggling.

2. Request for Initial Evaluation:

The school representative contacted us back in December to schedule an appointment to go through all the data and create an assessment plan for Tommy that will help to establish the eligibility of services. The meetings was on January 6th at 8:00 am. The school representative, the school principal, a speech therapist, a special education teacher, my husband and I were present at the meeting. We didn't invite our therapists or service coordinator because we thought it wasn't necessary. The meeting took about an hour or so and we discussed the specific areas of Vision, Hearing, Health, Motor (Fine and gross motor), Sensory, Speech/language, Cognitive, Adaptive, Social/emotional/behavioral and Pre-academics. The Pre-academic area wasn't take as part of the assessment plan because my son is not at the school yet, but a note was written in the assessment plan that he doesn't have problems learning pre-academic skills so far and he is learning the numbers. At the end of the meeting, we all agreed Tommy will be evaluated in three areas:

• Motor (Fine and Gross motor)
• Speech/language
• Cognitive

3. Evaluation:

Tommy's first evaluation will be in the area of motor (PT and OT). It has been scheduled for the end January and we have to schedule the other two evaluations.

The next steps to develop my son's first IEP are:

4. Eligibility Determination

5. Eligible

6. IEP Meeting Scheduled

7. IEP Meeting

There is a possibility my son won't qualify for some services through the School District. If this would be the case, we could get those services through our Regional Center. Our service coordinator already enrolled us at the Regional Center and we will get call from them closer to Tommy's birthday. I am glad we are already enrolled because the enrollment process at the Regional Center is taking about a year.

Wish us good luck!