I has an IEP meeting today for Princess. It was actually pretty much what I expected it to be- she scored in the average, high average or above average in just about every educational assessment. I say "just about" because my darling daughter's brain just doesn't want to retrieve information in a timely manner. Her processing score were in the low-critical range for language, reading and math fluency. For the timed tests, she got the answers correct, but got there slowly. In other words, she's got all her data stored, but can retrieve it in a timeframe that is appropriate.
Why is this a good thing? Because it means she qualifies for help. She is learning, and she is retaining what she learns. She just needs some help keeping up with the timing necessary sometimes to express her knowlege and get the work done. She can probably be in her regular middle school classes for this, with the necessary resources being available in-house.
The other report in the meeting was the report of the psychological and behavioral evaluations. Those weren't "good" results, per se, but they weren't a surprise. She's got years of documented anxiety and depression in line with the results from this latest batch of tests, which indicates that she qualifies for a designation as "emotional disability." Again, not such a good thing on the surface, but a diagnosis means the county provides services to her. She can get the help she needs, and chances are good that she can get it in our neighborhood school once she finishes with the transitional program she's enrolled in currently. Observations give some justification for a qualification for Asperger's as well, although the written assessments filled out by me and my husband do not back up that diagnosis. Since the treatment for stuff on the autism spectrum tends to be more behavioral therapy/socialization exercise, I'm totally OK with going forward with it. If we find something that improves her socialization and her ability to feel good about getting through the day with her peers, I don't give a flying frog what syndrome we say we are treating.
So, Hooray for Special Education! Let's face it, neurotypical is just so...mundane.
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