We had Ty’s annual IEP* Meeting yesterday. His end of freshman year, looking at sophmore year of high school IEP. For those counting that means we will technically only have TWO more IEP meetings and then, no more IEP meetings. TWO MORE?? When? HOW did this all go so fast? I know alot of my blog posts lately have been very nostalgic in nature. I can not even really explain why, that in this season of my life I am as cognizant of the passing of time as I am.
Maybe its because on Wednesday night our family welcomed our new niece Cadence (first girl for the Geroux side!)

Maybe it is because my “baby” Connor is now solidly and officially taller than me-

Maybe it is because this May will mark the 18th anniversary of me setting off on my own meaning this side of childhood has now been longer than my childhood.

I don’t know why my go to emotion has been sentimentality. I am not “sad” about any of it though- just mindful.
This IEP Meeting was different in many ways. Number One is that Tyler “led” it for us.

Number Two is that we had so much positive focus on Ty’s strengths that I did not even feel like we were in an IEP meeting. Is that sad? That in all these years IEP meetings have been dreaded BECAUSE of the fact that it is a known time to highlight the areas where he has “NEEDS?” I think it is sad- but this year was different. The shift in focus has a lot to do with
Number Three- we talked about the T word. Transition.
Be still my heart.
I just teared up writing that. You know, because of my nostalgia and all.
Overall we feel good about it- With all of the upheaval in GPS with budget concerns we thought there might be some changes proposed (not sure what but we just prepared anyways) but nope, things seem to be working well the way they are so we really talked a lot more about his future plans so we could be sure that he is enrolled in the right classes to earn him the proper credits to move forward on the path he wants to move on.
Ty wants to go to EVIT*. for Video Production (http://www.evit.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=20222051&pageId=20598733 ) so how that works is that come junior year he would have 3 academic classes at Campo and then head over to EVIT for 3 “vocational” type classes in his program. In order for him to get all of his academic requirements satisfied we had to scrutinize his class choices for sophomore year and agree that he will likely need to take a summer class next year. (EVIT recognizes this is an issue with EVERYONE that wants to attend and so they pay for a summer class)
EVIT will be different because they will only provide the bare minimum in IEP accommodations (so we are told)- there are no “para-pros” not even roaming ones- but there are a few special education teachers that will assist with the general accommodations. So this last quarter and all of sophomore year will be really focused on Ty’s Independence levels. He needs to be self initiating to a higher degree and require less “cues and prompts.” Ty does really well in both of those areas now- so this next 16 months will be good practice to get even better.
Oh baby bird- you are sprouting feathers left and right- I should probably stop calling you baby bird and start realizing the young man you truly are becoming.
*IEP= Individual Education Plan
*EVIT= East Valley Institute for Technology