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Maggie's IEP is tomorrow. For those of you lucky enough not to know anything about the world of special Ed, the IEP is the Individual Education Program that every special ed student has to have every single year. The IEP meeting includes the parent, teachers, therapists and any other specialists sitting down together to hammer out a program for the next year. It is supposed to be individual, but in reality it's making an existing program within a district work for a specific child's disabilities.

For many parents and school district representatives, this is a showdown. At the extreme level, Parents come in ready to demand exactly what their kid needs and never mind the cost or the needs of any other kids; and districts come in with "this is the program, and we will not accommodate one single thing to meet the needs of your child." Low vision, sorry, no seats in the front. The extremes rarely happen. I've seen it, mind you, but it's rare. Generally a consensus is reached somewhere in the middle.

Maggie's IEP meetings have always been cordial and without drama. That works perfectly for me. It may be easier for me because Maggie's needs are so obvious to everyone. Sometimes the kids who are high functioning, but still need help are more likely to fall through the cracks. Maggie is pretty involved and her needs are profound. Another factor is Maggie's personality. She is also very responsive and very smart and the teachers and therapists love to work with her. That's just luck. Other kids with her extensive needs may be unable to demonstrate their knowledge as well as she can and therefore getting that extra push from teachers etc might be a bit more difficult. Teachers, like everyone else, want to know that their work is making a difference and they can see that with Maggie.

The meeting itself is trying. It takes about three hours (partly because of all the people involved in Maggie's program). If this were in the private sector it would take about 45 minutes. That drives me crazy, but it's just a little something. Because Maggie will go to high school next year I realized I should at least look at the classroom they want her in. I was delighted to learn that she has a spot at Mission High, where her specialized program continues. Of course I was going solely on rumor and reputation and realized I should have a look see for myself. I just returned form there. It is perfect. There will be six kids in the class next year, including Maggie, and she already knows three of them. Woot! The transition will be as smooth as possible.

Of course I saw the vending machine behind bars and noticed the huge hallways and the very large students and felt a lump in my throat. But it is time and it is the right place. I showed up without an appointment and asked at the office if I could check it out. The teacher agreed, which was very kind of her. That made a great impression on me too.

My brother is a student teacher at Mission. Hopefully, budgets willing, he will be a teacher there next year. Maggie won't care, mind you. She'll be too busy catching up with her old pals and making new friends. But what a gift that would be for a worried mom knowing that Maggie's cool uncle would be in the building.