Savannah's IEP

Savannah and her preschool teacher on Halloween.


This morning Savannah had her IEP. I met with her Occupational Therapist, Adapted Physical Educator teacher, Vision Specialist, Speech teacher, and her teacher.I love her teacher! She is extraordinary! I love that all her teachers love her and truly care! It is because of them that she has made such great progress this year. Savannah is so smart and she just soaks everything in! She knows her shapes, colors, and the alphabet. Her teacher says that she is very social and has lots of friends at school!

Some things that we are going to work on are identifying friends and family members names. I need to get some pictures of some of her friends and cousins and work on getting her to be able to tell us the name of each person. It is so funny, how she has one name for everyone in someones family. My sister-in-laws family are all Kimber. LOL! We are working on getting her to respond when someone asks her a question having her respond with3 to 4 word sentences. Savannah zones out a lot still, but you can see it in her eyes when it is on purpose. LOL.We are working on getting her to share toys and ask for things before she just takes them. She thinks that if she gives someone else another toy then she gets whatever toy they have. To Savannah, everything is "Savannah's".

Savannah leaves of the ending of words a lot. I learned that she pronounces most medial consonants as an "h" sound of completely leaves it out of the word. We are going to help Savannah to understand emotions, and feeling. Savannah has a lot of goals in speech. This is one of my biggest concerns for Savannah. She says things that she has memorized and knows. To Savannah everyone is happy. when she or Xander are crying she say she or he is happy.When she get excited about seeing something she tells us the name of it, color, shape, big or small, or the letter it is. It is as if she sees things differently than we do. She doesn't tell us how she feels, about how her day was, what she did at school, or in her class at church. She doesn't ask questions. Except, where did it go? Where is it? Where is...? I know my daughter, but, I want so badly to know Savannah, and what she is really thinking and feeling, what her needs are. I really wish I had that.

In OT Savannah has been working on clothing fasteners. I am so excited about this! I still have to dress and undress Savannah.Sometimes I can get her to put a shirt on herself with help, or get out of most of her clothes. She can zip some but, I've never been able to get her to button. They have been working on buttons, snaps, and zippers. They have been working on tracing shapes and her first name, and cutting.

In APE they are working on running, walking, jumping, galloping, and the balance beam. I worry that her vision effects her in this area. At home we notice her often being very clumsy, walking into corners, tripping over things, or just walking into people, just being completely oblivious to them. She doesn't walk straight and she still has to have lights turned on when she enters a room unless she is very distracted. She sleeps with her lamp and room light on every night. That is one thing that I wish that I could ask her. If she can see okay... The vision therapist is just observing her at school right now. She says that she doesn't seem to be having any problems in the classroom right now. I do think that her glasses have helped her. She really loves them, and of course she looks adorable in them! They fit her personality!

I am so grateful that Savannah has such amazing and caring teachers! I am so grateful for all of their hard work, dedication and love that they all give to her. She is an amazing little girl and touches everyone she meets. I am learning from her each and every day. Like I've said before, I just wish that we could have a glimpse of what she sees through her eyes. She sees the world in a way that I believe that none of us can. I love Savannah so much and I am so proud of my beautiful little girl!