ARD meeting

I attended Megan's ARD meeting yesterday.  Her annual meeting will be in February every year but because of the disagreements at the last meeting and the need for additional data gathering we had one yesterday.

We reviewed Megan's final progress report for this year and it was noted that with the exception of 1 speech goal she has now mastered all of her goals.  She made tremendous progress in the past 11-12 weeks once she started really sleeping again and I stopped waking her up for school.  I let her sleep until she wakes up on her own and then take her to school and it has made a big difference in her demeanor.

Before we got into everything regarding her placement for next year (the reason for the meeting) I showed everyone her talker and how it worked.  I explained how she has been doing with it and we discussed getting it written into her IEP that she will have access to it at all times; but that she will be allowed to communicate however she chooses (verbalizing, sign language, pictures, talker).  Her teacher and therapists were all very interested in seeing it and want me to go ahead and let Megan take it with her to school next week even though there are only 4 days left.  After the meeting was over her teacher and 2 of her therapists played with it for 20 minutes or so.

It was determined that the classroom for next year will be the STACC room.  See below for the description of this room.  This is what she needs, a room that is centered around communication and correcting behaviors.  We are not positive we will send her but it is now an option (as opposed to the other class they wanted to put her in).

Structured Teaching Alternative Communication Class – STACC (Prerequisite Skills and Communication)

STACC classes are designed to provide a highly structured instructional program for students with Autism Spectrum disorders, or other disabilities, whose academic, communication and behavioral needs cannot be met in other settings.

The focus of this setting is to provide classes with the following features:

a. A high degree of classroom structure - physical, academic and behavioral.

b. Emphasis on the development of effective communication skills through direct

Instruction.

c. Management of behavior through an individualized Behavior Intervention Plan.

d. Social skills development.

e. Visual supports