The Principal

On Friday I met with the Principal at Romania's school to discuss whether Holland could attend there next year. Since he's on an IEP, the 'team' needs to decide if it's the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). She looked at his IEP, the evals I had from the therapists and said it's a tall order. But she didn't think it was appropriate to dismiss the notion of a trial period. How will we know if he can succeed in this setting, if he's never given a chance in the setting? I'm sure the IEP team thinks he still needs to be contained in a special ed class. I probably would have said the same thing at the beginning of last year. But he's obviously getting frustrated and I don't think they fully understand his mental capabilities (which is why I'm looking into educational therapy).

I also think he needs to be around kids who behave more age appropriate. There are kids in Holland's class who throw chairs and knock over desks (at which point the entire classroom has to be vacated. How can that be conducive to learning?). He has never done that. I don't think that he would. His behavior has improved a great deal. The medications that he is on now have transformed him. I think he needs to be in a place where there is lots of activity, opportunities to go outside and play and explore, hands-on projects and various learning experiences to keep him busy.

IEP meeting is next week. We'll see how much stock I hold in this arrangement.