Ella's IEP!

Michael and I met with Ella's IEP team back in January. They all loved working with her...of course...she's a serious charmer! After doing all the tests with her she didn't qualify for an IEP in the sense that she has a learning disability. She has definitely improved since our first meeting. She knows almost the whole alphabet and sounds. She's starting to sound out some words. She's getting better with numbers...6, 7 & 9 still throw her off a bit. 

After hearing that she didn't qualify for an IEP for a learning disability the speech therapist got to share the results she had. Even though Ella has come a long way with her speech she still struggles. Some of her struggles are normal for kids her age, but then others are not something that we should be hearing at her age or they aren't considered typical for her age. She did qualify for an IEP in regards to speech. YAY! The thing they are really concerned about is since she is learning her letters and learning how to read if she isn't saying the word correctly then how can we expect her to write it correctly. We have lots of goals for this year and the speech therapist is really looking forward to working with her. She will meet with Ella once a week for 30 minutes on Mondays. It doesn't sound like a lot, but that's always how Ella's speech therapy has been at Children Therapy Center, but now I won't have to take her to an appointment outside of school and drag 3 other kids with me. Hallelujah!!!

We are still on the fence in regards to whether or not we should have her repeat Kindergarten. She is making progress, but she is not at grade level. I know how hard school gets in just a couple years and I really don't want to see her struggling then. I feel like I would rather her be one of the super achieving Kindergarteners that has everything down instead of the one that knows some, but not all of what she needs to. The only thing is since she didn't qualify for an IEP for special education she doesn't get any sort of intervention. If she moves onto 1st grade though she'll be able to get reading intervention. Owen had to have intervention because I didn't teach him to read when I homeschooled him in Kindergarten, but he caught up on his reading really quickly with the extra help. Michael has mentioned it might be worth getting her a tutor for over the summer so she doesn't lose the information she's learned. There is still 4 months of school left and I know that she will just keep improving it's just a matter of how much. 

Her Kindergarten teacher Ms. Asselin still isn't ready to make a decision right now either. She is super wonderful with Ella and we are so happy that she is Ella's teacher. It will be neat to see how much progress she makes between now and the end of the year. No matter what I'm super proud of Ella and how far she's already come. Learning is going to be a bit of a challenge for her, but she's so determined and that is going to serve her well all of her life!