A hero for our kids - rest in peace Dr. Rimland

I was shocked to read tonight of the passing of Dr. Bernard Rimland - a true hero for our generation. Before I was even born, Dr. Rimland was fighting the medical establishment to improve the lives of all touched by autism. When history looks back at the great leaders of our time, I'm sure his name will always be brought up.

It's been 4 1/2 years since our own son was diagnosed with autism. In those days, as we searched for help and hope, it was his web site and publications which provided a great source of education and ideas. Certainly our son is better off because of the early information we learned from ARI.

May we always remember his fight and strive to give back what we can to the autism community.

3 weeks?

Has it really been 3 weeks since my last post? I've honestly missed it and have tried a few times to make a post "happen", but unfortunately I've come down with "too busy at work" syndrome. It's just been crazy lately and I've let my blogging pay the price. Or, perhaps I was frightened off by the concept of NaBloPoMo - does that make me a na-nablopomo? On the positive side of NaBloPoMo, it has brought a daily post from MOM-NOS, my favorite blog after she had reduced her postings quite a bit in October.

Wednesday afternoon brought our annual IEP for Grant. We had not been so unprepared for an IEP since our very first one (over 4 years ago!) when we didn't even know what an IEP was. So why were we so unprepared? I'd like to blame it on work, but honestly, our philosophy is that Grant's education always take priority. I could even blame it on the construction going on at the house. But no, it really just boils down to this - things are going good. We are totally on the same page with each of Grant's educators - classroom, OT, and speech. Grant is making real academic progress this year and he is really trying hard to vocalize to communicate. There are no major services that we feel the school district is denying us.

Grant's teacher wrote up a set of goals and asked us to review them about a week prior to the IEP. I had a pretty quick glance but never made the time to do a complete review or write up my own (shame on me!). But you know what, it was a great IEP. The reports were great, and it's just so relieving to know we all generally see the same challenges and progress from Grant, and we are all seeking the same goals.

Without delving into the nitty gritty of the goals in the IEP, here are the main points:
- improve his reading and book skills up to a Kindergarten level (he is in 2nd grade)
- name and be able to address his classmates and his teacher
- tell time
- addition / subtraction w/ #'s up to 10
- master his numbers to 30
- learn 25 new words (according to the report, he sight reads over 50 words now!)
- improve his vowel-consonant sounds and use 3-word sentences

His mainstreaming in the Kindergarten class is going as well as we could have possibly hoped for. He spends up to an hour a day in the K class; he's doing the work and learning in an environment different from the SDC class that he's become accustomed to after 4 years. Our overall IEP goal is to reduce the academic and social gap between his chronological age and his "school" age. If mainstreaming didn't move us toward this goal, we wouldn't do it. But the amazing thing is, and it's still shocking to think it's true, is that he is finally at a place where it really is the right thing for him and it really is helping him toward that goal.