IEP, GMP and VI - Oh My!

Our IEP meeting was two and a half hours long. 2.5 hours long. 2.5 hours of talking about Lily Belle. Don't get me wrong, I can talk about that little sweet pea for hours on end but I don't very much like discussing her faults and weaknesses. Though, I will say that our team was very good about trying to focus on her strengths. Anywho, two and a half hours later and Lily Belle was officially eligible for an IEP which included starting preschool at Governor Morehead in January, transportation to and from school if we so choose, and OT (yes!) that will work with her at GMP. 

She officially falls under "visual impairments" instead of "developmental delayed" since all of her delays stem from her visual impairment. On the list of her delays were:

- Social skills were rated more closely at a 24 month old level. 

- And though she talks and communicates well (at a 36-42 month level), pragmatically she was showing 9-18 month level. This kind of goes along with her social skills. She doesn't use her language to tell others what she wants or needs or to play.

- Fine motor skills were at a 18-24 month level. Gross motor skills were the same. 

Almost every team member started their report with what a "sweet little girl" Lily was and definitely made sure to focus on her strengths which made Dennis and I very happy. She is so smart and so capable. I know that this IEP and GMP will help her in areas that she will always struggle with but they will provide her with the tools she needs to thrive in a regular kindergarten. 

Along with the VI, we also visited the ophthalmologist last week. It was a bitter sweet appointment. Den and I knew we would be getting some new information since LB has been throwing off her glasses more than normal and tilting her head more. This is some things we learned:

- We'll be saying "bye bye" to Lily's pink glasses. She's almost out grown them and it's time for a new, stronger, prescription. 

- We finally found her null point (aka, the sweet spot, visually) which is her right eye, looking over the bridge of her nose. This is how she looks when she's concentrating, tired or without her glasses. This is her best visual spot, where her eyes shake the less and it's really good and smart that she found it.

- Her left eye is not so good. When we did the acuity test LB was happy to call out pictures and letters with her right eye. She measured at 20/80 when her left eye was covered up. Then we covered her strong right eye and she immediately started fretting and trying to get away. I asked the examiner to put up letters (instead of the harder pictures) and she focused harder but didn't see enough to answer correctly until a "Big C!" was up on the wall at a 20/300 :-( 

- So we are patching the right eye. We've successfully done 15 minutes, 30  minutes, 1.5 hours. I think she has much better than 20/300 in her right eye now that I've seen her patched - when she has to use it to get around and play and climb stairs. She's strong and knows how to use what she's got. But I think patching is a good thing and we'll be sticking with it for as long as we need to. The alternative would be too terrible to imagine - losing all sight in her left eye - and that's something we cannot let happen.