One IEP and One IFSP

So both of my kids have a speech issue of one sort or another. Today Nick was evaluated and determined to be speaking at a 10-13 month old level (he's 16.28 months old - yes they calculate it all out). He should have a vocabulary of at least 6 words and he has 3 words. This doesn't seem like a big difference to me but the developmental specialist said it is more than just number of words it is how he applies words and sounds. Huh? Also he should be way past babbling and into gibberish and he is still babbling. I am not upset or in the least concerned about any of this. Lucas was far worse off than Nick is at this age and look how far he has come. But it did strike me the other day when I was at a function with my Mom's group and heard a boy the exact age of Nick gibbering away. I realized that I had never heard sounds like that come from either of my children and that THIS is what gibberish sounds like. And yes it is bad to compare children to each other but I never claimed to be perfect.

So next we get to build an IFSP (Individual Family Service Plan) which was really an intimidating mound of paperwork when we did it for Lucas. Now that Lucas has hit the ripe old age of three and still requires services (which he now receives from the school district) he has moved on from the IFSP, which is only for children 0-3 years old who are not enrolled with the school district, to an IEP (Individualized Education Program) which is another intimidating pile of paperwork. An entire team of people (I'm considered a "team" member) are assembled (a federal mandate) to write this document- it is really amazing how much work goes into just one of these things and when you look at how many children require them it is no wonder the schools are having financial difficulties. The IEP is reevaluated at preset intervals to assess the progress the child has made and effectiveness of the current IEP. Is your brain scrambled yet? Well I hate to tell you this but I have only just begun to explain this stuff. . . but I'll stop here.

On a positive note, Nick is out of his crib and into a big boy bed. Again - this is not at our insistence but at his insistence. I liked him in a crib because he was contained. However, he slept on a big boy bed this entire vacation and never once had a problem so when we got home he REFUSED (and I can't emphasize it enough how adamantly he refused) to go into his crib. It was as if the whole damned world had come crashing down around him and he was the last lonely soul on this planet. And then he made several (very nearly successful) attempts at getting out of the crib just to demonstrate in all his fury what a terrible, terrible mistake we had made.

So we put a box spring and mattress in his room without a bed frame and now he is asleep on that. He seems quite happy to be a big boy just like his brother. The bed is low enough to the ground that he can safely get into and out of the bed without assistance and if he falls out it will be far less serious than when he crashes off of the couch. Although he keeps getting out of bed to come see what we are up to out here. So we keep getting up and putting him back into bed, patiently over and over again until he gets the hang of this. It is better than the screams of intense fury that come from the room when we dare to place him into The Baby Crib because clearly he feels he is NOT a baby anymore!