Finally

I don't know if my school district is getting easier to deal with or if I am giving up the battles...or something in-between. But for today, I am going to go with the thought that the school district is improving.

The IEP meeting for my oldest daughter, Jessica, was held Thursday afternoon. Since Jessica will be 21 years old this year, we're in the home stretch of the educational process and moving into the transition process full throttle. I've had and actually still have issues with the agency that will support Jessica's employment efforts in the future, but I must say that the school district and the IEP team really stepped up to the plate today.

The IEP is good, really good and addresses all my concerns about transition. Though I didn't ask for an assistive technology eval, one was conducted, and the AT representative had a whole bunch of great ideas. And get this - Jessica is getting an IPad provided by the school district! She will use it to develop a calendar, practice some educational skills, and use it to record important information.

Everyone on the IEP team seemed to care about Jessica and what her future holds, and they really listened to my concerns and suggestions.

Why couldn't this have happened 12 years ago, and for all my other children with IEPs? I can't go back and change anything in the past, so I am going to just relish that things are going well now. If I dwell too much on how much further along my children could have been educationally, I will miss out on the enjoyment of the positive things that are happening now.

So thank you IEP team, thank you for proving that we can all care about our children's future.