Kindergarten screening and IEP meeting

On Wednesday morning Brandon went to Dow Avenue for his kindergarten screening. He was really excited to go to it. When we got there we signed in and he was given a number. An evaluator (I think it was a basic skills teacher) came to get him a little while later and checked to see what he knows (personal information, fine motor, alphabet, shapes, colors). He was gone for about 5 minutes. When he was done she gave him the book Mrs. Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten which he was so excited to read later that night.

When he was done with his screening I brought him to Ivy Hedge. A few hours later Stu and I had his IEP meeting. He has had an IEP (individualized education plan) for the past two years since he qualified for preschool through the public school due to speech when he turned 3. Since he is exiting preschool the child study team needed to assess him in education, speech, occupational therapy (he has been receiving ot services in preschool too), and psychological. We had received the reports a little over a week before his IEP meeting so I had a pretty good idea of what he would and wouldn't need. He has improved tremendously in language. When he started preschool I think he had only 5 words. Now he talks in sentences and has an extensive vocabulary. In fact, he was evaluated at 4 years, 10 months and his language scored at 5 years, 8 months which is almost a year ahead of his age. He does still need articulation which we knew he would. He has improved with that too but he does have some sounds that he needs to work on still. He also qualified for occupational therapy again next year. His scores had a huge range. Some were under his age, some were ahead of his age. He has come a long way in ot too from where he started. So next year he will have an IEP for speech but a 504 plan for occupational therapy since he doesn't need an IEP for education. That is because he scored average, above average, superior, and above superior for education. He is reading at an age equivalent of 7 years, 3 months (which is 2 1/2 years above his age) and doing math at an age equivalent of 6 years, 10 months (which is 2 years above his age). It is all self taught. The child study team started off by suggesting he stay in preschool for another year due to his size and some attention issues but I said I thought he would be bored in another year of preschool when he is so high academically and there was agreement. I think he will be okay. He is small for his age due to his prematurity but when we were at screening there were definitely other kids the same size as him. I really feel he will be okay or I wouldn't have registered him in kindergarten for next year.