Individualized Education Plan or IEP for short

Because Liam is delayed he has received services through our early intervention program starting when he was just a few months old. Therapists come to your home and work with you and your child in order to help them get a good start and get your child the assistance they need to progress developmentally.

This last year we decided to take Liam for private therapy in a clinic setting because he finally qualified for Medicaid and they wouldn't allow us to do private and in-home services at the same time. By going private we were able to give Liam consistent therapy on an ongoing basis 5 times a week (3 sessions on Wed. and 2 sessions on Fri.). With early intervention we were lucky to get 3 in a week. Having medicaid and being able to go the route we have has been a big blessing for Liam. He has blossomed in the last 6 months.

Because he is globally delayed, when he turns 3 he has the right to start receiving services through the school district instead. And Liam will be 3 in just a few short weeks!

To get Liam ready, the school contacted us a while back and I met with them to make sure they had all of the proper info about Liam. Then we set up a time for me to bring Liam to school and have an entire team meet with him (OT, PT, SLP, LEA teacher, psychologist, and vision teacher). Liam did ok at this assessment but I knew and they knew that they didn't get a good picture of who Liam is and what he can do with his limited skills. So I was thrilled when the PT asked if she could come to the home and see him in his world.

*Totally irrelevant picture

When the PT came to the house, I showed Liam off as best I could. He was having a great day that day and I knew she was getting to see the real 'Liam'. She said it would really help them in writing the IEP now that she had come to his home.

Well, we finally met today at the school for the big IEP meeting. I had been nervous about it but excited at the same time. I knew that by getting services through the school it would open up new experiences and opportunities for Liam that he doesn't receive right now in the clinic. But I was afraid of what the IEP goals would be/wouldn't be and if they would just say 'Liam's too complicated' (I'm pretty sure they wouldn't say that but I was still nervous).

At the meeting today we went over Liam's strengths and weaknesses and what kind of goals we were looking at making for him in this next year. He is right at the next stage/level for so many things and those were all written into the IEP for him. But the biggest thing for Liam is that they are going to work with him in his world. The OT, PT, SLP, vision, and LEA teacher will all come to our house to help Liam. Not only does that save me time in driving him back and forth to the school for therapy, but it keeps Liam in his environment where he works the best. And the greatest thing of all is that we are still able to keep our private clinic therapies for Liam through medicaid.  So, that means Liam will be receiving some form of therapy/services almost everyday of the week! While I know this may sound like a lot, it's really not. And it's going to be so good for Liam to be receiving so much attention and therapy. He really needs it.