victory.

Had our IEP meeting yesterday. And a miracle happened right before my very eyes. I pleaded my case with the principal regarding the resource teacher that SUCKS, knowing that he would never assign someone new. It's practically unheard of. But he did. He said that there was a trust issue between me and the teacher and that it would never work out. I couldn't believe it. I didn't even need to whip out the sheets I created that she would have had to fill out daily or tell them that I would be visiting the school at least once per week to ensure she was doing her job. I think deep down, the principal knew what I would do and he just didn't want to deal with it. I was THRILLED.

I tape recorded the meeting to get the district person to admit a few things. She thinks I tape for Noah's sake, but truthfully I tape her because her statements are illegal. Every child's case in a school is different. This district person makes many blanket statements like "we never allow a child to have a one-on-one aid in this county." I-L-L-E-G-A-L. She buried herself. She thought she was making a case for Noah not getting an aid (ie--no one else does so why should he?). But it is 100% illegal to say that. I have it on tape and now I wait to see how I will use it. I am over the moon to have her admit all of this. And I asked it 12 different ways so she could keep saying it over and over again. hurray!!! :)

Another positive thing that came out of this meeting was the relationship that formed between the principal and I after the meeting. I was able to express to him that I don't really drive a broomstick and I just love and adore my son and want him to be educated like everyone else. I talked about Noah's history and I think we really got somewhere. To help that point and thank him for taking action for Noah I dropped off some golf balls for him at school today. Hey, you do what you have to!

So, did it go perfectly. No. But it went really well. Phys Ed is still an issue and Noah's aid is still a classroom aid and not Noah's aid, but I got the resource teacher pulled from his case. And that is a huge feat. I anticipated this being a long, awful fight. And it's over. Now he can have someone in the room that really will help him be successful and spend time with him (more than 9 minutes per day!).

For the first time in a while, I slept good last night.