31 for 21: Day 4...PPT Meeting



Andrew says "Yay, Momma! Yay!"

 For some reason, I struggled to motivate myself to write this blog post.  It has been a long day, the beginning of another long week.  I thought that the weeks would get easier and less busy once we settled into Andrew's school routine and we would adjust to him being in school every morning this year.  After he began school last December when turned 3 years old, I decided that my goal was for him to attend not only the special education preschool program run by our public school system, but for him to also attend a private preschool program in our community.  I want him to have as much interaction with his typical peers as possible to get him accustomed to interacting socially.  He is shy by nature and it takes him a long time to warm up to people.  This year, Andrew is attending school 5 mornings a week, three days in the special education preschool at Burr Elementary School and 2 mornings per week at Killingworth Nursery School.

At our last PPT meeting in June, I expected to receive the PT evaluation results from the district physical therapist.  However, the PT did not attend the meeting and when I finally received his report almost 6 weeks later after many requests to his teacher and the school's principal, I was very disappointed with the report and immediately requested a PPT meeting for the first week of school.  The initial report painted a VERY different picture of Andrew's abilities than I see on a day-to-day basis.  While I know that many children perform differently in school than at home, I felt the difference between my observations and those of the PT were miles apart.  After a flooding at the school that prompted our initial meeting on the first day of school to be rescheduled, Andrew's team finally convened to discuss the evaluation with the PT present.  Also attending the meeting, per her request, was the Director of Pupil Services (Special Education) for the school district.  I discussed my concerns with the report and the lack of information contain in it.  I was prepared to request for an independent evaluation at that point, but the team, specifically the director requested that I allow the PT the opportunity to re-evaluate Andrew.  Andrew's speech therapist offered to attend the evaluation as a person who is familiar with Andrew, which would help with his confidence and hesitance with unfamiliar people.  The OT was also going to conduct her evaluation during the same time period so we could discuss both evaluations at our next meeting.  The director was very straight-forward during the meeting.  It was she who recommended a timeline for the evaluations to take place and expedited a time frame for the next meeting, which she would also attend to monitor the situation.

This next meeting took place this morning.  Given our track record with Andrew's PPT meetings, I fully expected to wake up to a school delay, which would have forced the meeting to be rescheduled again.  Hurrying Andrew into school, I rushed across the parking lot to the front entrance of the school, and then remembering that I forgot to bake the scones that I am known for carrying into the office for our meetings.  I knew now why I had an extra half hour this morning...I was supposed to bake those scones.  Oops!  Upon signing into the office, I was immediately blamed for the copiers in the school breaking down.  Seems like something happens every time we have a meeting scheduled.  Did I mention that the fire alarm went off for no reason during the meeting four weeks earlier?

The tone of this meeting was immediately different.  As I reached out to accept my copy of the PT re-evaluation, I felt the weight of the report in my hand was much heavier than the last copy I reviewed.  I scanned through the report quickly and then settled in to listen to the PT summarize his findings.  I was surprisingly impressed with his presentation.  This report was immeasurably different than his initial report.  The written report was organized and filled with detailed observations and included not only his assessment of Andrew's gross motor skills, but a draft of the goals that will be added to Andrew's IEP and a copy of the letter that he sent to Andrew's pediatrician with a summary of his observations and his requests for more information to help him understand any diagnostic issues that Andrew may have that could affect his gross motor development.

I was quite amazed by the differences in the evaluations that were presented within months of each other.  I was impressed by the thought and time that went into the re-evaluation.  I know that the director would have expected nothing less from the PT.  I know that the school would do whatever they could to avoid paying for an independent evaluation, but I did not expect to see the quality and attention to detail that was presented to me today.  The re-evaluation exceeded my expectations and the services that the PT recommended were exactly what I would have requested at this meeting if they had not been offered.

The lesson learned:  You know your child best.  You know what your child needs to succeed.  Your job as a parent is to advocate for your child to make sure that the school is doing their job to help you accomplish the goals that you have for your child.  If you believe that the school is not providing or offering the services that you believe your child needs, it is your right to question the reports and ask for additional information.  You have the right to request a new evaluation or an independent opinion.  And most importantly, if you are meeting to discuss a certain evaluation or to request a new evaluation, make sure that the service provider that is expected to present the evaluation report or perform the requested evaluation, make sure that provider attends the meeting.  It can save a lot of time and frustration in the end.  I wish that I had learned this last lesson earlier...I spent much time beating myself up over wasting the summer months holding onto an evaluation that was completely inaccurate.  My only consolation is that I learned this lesson early enough to make a difference to the rest of Andrew's school career.