September 18, 2007

Well, 6 days later, I'm adding my second entry, and it's long.

Today we had our first official IEP meeting for Mikey. We met at 7:30 am in the Nichols House conference room. My ex-husband, Mike, and I attended, along with these teachers:

First to the meeting was Chrissie Burg - History
She is new to CVU and is co-teaching with Sue Frederick - English.
She is very energetic, had good things to say about Mikey. She said that Mikey used Jr or the Second or the Third on one of his papers. I confronted her, saying that he has never done that before and isn't any of the above. Mikey believes she may be confusing him with Ben Brownell. She has asked that he types his assignments, as she doesn't want him to lose points because she can't read what he writes. We have heard this before and it is a legitimate request. Mikey seems to like her and she reminds him of Deb Taylor, his 5th through 8th grade teacher who stood up for him.

Sue Frederick - English
Says Mikey is not as much of a class clown as was the first couple days of school. Says he has participated well in class, she took notes, seemed very interested and says she will try to include the "planner" language in her classroom and try to relate it to football. Mikey seems fairly comfortable with Sue, although it may take a bit longer for him to be won over by her. A few good interactions will seal the deal.

Rick Imes - Human Bio
Houston , we have a problem. First off the bat, we are confronted with Mikey "cutting" class last Friday with an excuse that he had a Physical Therapy appointment. Mikey is not in PT of any kind. Mikey apparently produced a bogus note with an illegible signature that allowed him to leave class with his teacher fearing he would be late for an appointment. According to Mikey, he did attend class, did his assignment, and then produced the bogus note. I'm not sure how this is considered "cutting" class, as he did attend and do the work, but that is not the issue. The issue is that Mikey was not correct in his action or decision and he will have to confront that tomorrow at his meeting with all involved and Connie Metz, the Nichols House Director. I will not be attending. I am leaving this to Mike and Mikey to attend. I got the impression today that Mr. Imes had no clue that there was an IEP in place, he asked many questions of Sara regarding the goals in the written material provided by her. He did take notes and highlighted his copy of what Sara provided. According to Mikey, he teaches for a short amount of time during class and leaves the rest of the time to complete whatever assignment is given. In my opinion, Mikey is not comfortable around Mr. Imes, and this may turn out to be confrontational in the future. I am pretty timid and stand off-ish, I don't usually look people in the eye and have been told that on many occasion, so I am going to have to excuse Mr. Imes for not being able to look either Mike or I in the eye when speaking. This bothers Mike, and Mikey, more than myself.

Steve Carey - Advisor - former English teacher
According to Steve, he sees improvement from last year already. He seems to be happy with what Mikey is doing. According to Mikey, Steve spoke to Mikey after the meeting this morning and was positive with his comments to Mikey. Mikey likes and is comfortable with Mr. Carey. I'm sad that Krissa (Mikey's oldest sister) didn't get the Steve Carey experience her Freshman year, it would have benefited her greatly!

Sara Crum - Case Worker - Skill Building
Wow, I can not say enough good things about Sara, she was succint, had hand outs for everyone and went though it point by point. She seems to know Mikey so well, she knows his tactics. She doesn't let him get away with all the things he has gotten away with in the past. She seems to be able to deal with Mikey on his level and doesn't let him "slide" or "con" her. Where has this person been the past 11 years! He still needs to concentrate on the planner, although, Sara is right, he does keep alot in his head. He needs to be told that he needs to attend Skill Building even if he has no homework to complete. This needs to be followed through on. Mikey is very comfortable with Sara and I get the impression that she cares about him not only as a student but as a person. I do wish she had come along sooner in this journey...........

My own generalizations and information for all involved with Mikey:
Mikey and Ben Brownell are very close friends, they may need to be separated at some point in time as they will cover for each other.

It's taken 11 school years for an IEP to be in place. My frustration level is higher than Mikey's and Mike's. We need to stay on top of this and I am always available by phone or e-mail.

Mikey's parents are divorced. We have joint physical and legal custody of all 3 of our children. We talk, we communicate, and we attend meetings and sports events together. If something is said to one parent, it is said to both. We would both like Mikey to be encouraged to pursue any and all interests he has, and that includes trying out for Basketball this year.

My personal observations, questions, and concerns:
Mikey can type without looking at the keyboard, I watched him tonight. He does not hunt and peck and he does make sure his spell check is on.
He wrote his letter of apology/cut/appeal tonight without having the guidelines to go by and he is nervous about it. He knows he made a mistake and is willing to fess up to it.
He also did History homework tonight at home on the computer.
I raised a question in our meeting about when and where Mikey is doing his homework. According to him, he has had plenty of time in class to complete his assignments. This may be why there is nothing in his planner. If it's already done, he doesn't deal with it again.
Where does he sit in his classes? Is he near the front?
Is he still getting notes from Cindy if needed, or does he rely on Sara for that?
Did Chris Hood (math teacher) and Deb Higgins (Personal Fitness) get copies of today's meeting? Do they know about his IEP and what obstacles he faces on a daily basis?

We'll see what tomorrow brings!