Right now DS's "physically impaired" IEP says something like "handwriting will be limited if DS shows signs of fatigue." I told his new IEP manager that I want it to be more specific. But I guess I don't know how to figure out what's "reasonable". I don't even really care about regular classroom work, unless it really gets obnoxious (which it really doesn't in first grade), but there was an episode where someone pulled him out of class for math assessments and made him write 8 pages at a time (back to back assessments). I looked at these tests, and the writing after the first page or two was illegible chicken scratches. Then it was actually scored! THAT'S the type of thing I want to avoid in the future. The IEP manager told me to talk to his private OT and have her document what she thinks is "reasonable" but she probably won't have much of an opinion. It's not like she has him do schoolwork during his sessions. Can anyone give me suggestions on how to word this in the IEP? Also, I'm not sure about the slant board. Before it said "slant board will be available to use." But the problem was that his last heinous teacher kept saying "it's available for him to use" whenver I asked about it, but never reminded him and didn't seem to care if he used it or tried it. He was 6, and wasn't going to do that on his own! So I asked the new IEP manager to change that as well, not because I don't trust the current teacher but who knows what he'll get in the fall. So now it says: "Slant board will be available at DS's work station, as well as a "portable" slant board that DS can use for writing when away from his work station. He will be encouraged and promoted to use it when writing information of any signficant length so he doesn't fatigue".
This sounds good, but I don't know if the slant board really helps. No one has ever tried it for a long enough period of time to find out. And what is the point of a slant board anyway? Is it to prevent fatigue? I'd like the teacher to be able to try it but if it doesn't help, then discontinue. Do we put in the IEP "try for X amount of time and if IEP team members agree it doesn't help, discontinue use?"
His current teacher is actually really good and I don't have complaints about her. I just want to have a good IEP to prevent problems in the future. I feel bad about nit-picking at it. Today DS brought home double digit multiplication word problems like how many minutes are in 15 hours, and she stapled 2 pages of graph paper onto the worksheet with problems circled that she wanted him to do on the graph paper. So not only is the work at the right level but she actually gave him graph paper! I never asked for any of this, she just did it. I am very impressed. There are good teachers out there!
