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Thursday, April 18, 2013

IEP Means I'm Extremely Proud

Last week I attended the IEP meeting for my son James.

For those of you who may be new here, James is my second oldest child, and he joined our family via adoption a little over four years ago when he was 13 and several inches shorter than I. He is now 18 years old and he towers over me.

Helping James to find his way, to find his place in our family, has been a challenge because James is dealing with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) as well as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This has caused him to have trouble being successful in school, as well, and so a couple of years ago we initiated an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) for him.

A large focus with the IEP has been to get his basic academics up to a satisfactory level, but it also addresses his ability to handle stress and frustration in the school setting, as this has been something he has struggled with since he first started school here in America.

But now? That goal for dealing with frustration has been dropped from the IEP.

Why? Simply because he is now able to handle those frustrations within the classroom instead of having an "escape route".

This is huge.

Teachers flitted in and out of the meeting to give updates on how he was doing in each of their classes. 

The phrase "model student" is something I heard.

Several times.

Model. Student.

Those words mean more to me than all the numbers on the state standardized tests and the test grades and the PSATs combined.

I am soooo, so proud of my boy.

Well done, James.

Well done....








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13 comments:

  1. I am so happy and proud of James...and you too:-). What a wonderful day this must have been for you both!

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  2. Another milestone met and passed. Isn't this wonderful. How grateful and relieved you must be. We had the same situation with our first adopted son. It took him much longer, but now he seems to be able to handle stress so much better and is a happy young man. Good for you, and good for James!!

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  3. This makes me cry tears of joy. Model student! Congratulations James. I am certain it was very hard work, but you did it. You are a MODEL STUDENT!! You should be proud. Your mama, she should be proud, too!!

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  4. WOW!!! Congratulations to you and James. Healing from RAD is possible, and this is just more evidence of that.

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  5. Sounds like James is doing well!!! Congrats to you and your family, because without you guys, James wouldn't have the family support he needs to deal with RAD.... :)

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  6. Congratulations, fellow trauma mama! Both you and James deserve a round of applause!!!

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  7. Great news! Way to go James! So encouraging. My son is in sixth and is on the spectrum and struggles a bit.
    Thanks for sharing the success story!
    Katie~
    Dysfunction Junction

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  8. Thanks, everybody! My ears are still ringing from those words. When I think where he was even just a year ago, it makes my head spin. He's come so far!

    XOXOXO...

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  9. Hi my lovely,

    Thank you so much for joining Friday Chaos – Hope you found some great blogs & gain some awesome new followers.
    Be sure to stop by again soon, don’t be a stranger :)

    Thats brilliant, absolutely something to be proud of. Well done James & well done you too :D

    Lotte xo
    BericeBaby

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  10. That's HUGE! Congratulations! :-)

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