Case Conference for Caden 04.21.09

Yesterday Was Caden's Case conference at his school. This is where we discuss how he progressed and what areas still need improvement. We also set a goal for the next meeting, which will happen in about 4 months. Our last one was this past December. Caden has shown great confidence with his speech and has began using a ton more words. He is showing that he enjoys speaking although many of the words are not understandable, he is making the effort. I believe that he has a vocab of about 20 words now and uses signs in conjunction to them. He can also tolerate sitting at circle time during an activity now for up to 15 minutes, which is huge for him, currently he can only do this in the classroom setting, but we'll work up to elsewhere. He is showing greater one on one eye contact as well, which stems from his boost in confidence level. academically he is at a stage 2, which is 24-36 so that is wonderful! He is almost on track on that level. He is very smart of his age level and absorbs everything. We discussed that he is visually intelligent, that he needs sights to be able to complete things. Which is why he picked up signing so well. What he is unable to do with words, he compensates with his eyes. We are going to work on more speech and hope to amended how often he gets it weekly. We are also going to work on interaction with peers, as he still shows no interest in others. they are going to prompt one other child and him to purposely interact daily to see if we can spark an interest in others outside of adults. We are also going to work alot more on his sensory delays. he is very bothered by many things, such as light, touch, crowds etc. And he needs motion and heavy work often, so were going to work on that. We noticed that he does most things and alot of talking when he is engaged in something sensory related, such as swinging on the swing during gym or therapy. So we'll also try to engage him in conversation alot when he is doing those sensory related things, such as going down the slide, or vacuuming, swinging, etc.

So all in all that sums up what I can remember until I get the report back. We have a meeting with our district coming up and the school has requested full time summer services in a 6:1:1 class still for him due to the severity of need. We will also keep in such a setting next year as well, since is not ready to be put in an integrated class of 10+ children. I am looking forward to the district meeting and even more so for our visit to Strong in just 27 days. I am also quite nervous about this visit. We had such a horrible experience at Robert Warner last year, that the outcome of this makes me nervous. I am so worried they will once again say your child is shy there are no other problems. Which is crap. I pray everyday they give us the news we need to get Caden all the possible services we can and help him lead the best life for him!