We had Sydney’s ARD (arbitration meeting with the school) and it went really well.  I got the Individual Evaluation Plan (IEP) with the many sets of notes from all of the evaluators (Speech therapist, teacher, daycare providers, ECI specialist and myself).  They did a good evaluation of Sydney.  I had asked for them to come to the house for an additional evaluation since Sydney is VERY quiet at school and they wouldn’t get a good view of her capabilities.  They did just that and I felt that their eval of her was fair.

The ARD went well.  I reviewed the IEP the night before and ran it by some friends who have personal experience and they gave me sound advice.  Essentially Sydney is sitting just at or below the typical range in age appropriate behavior, socialization, cognition, and physical abilities.  Where she is delayed is in her language.  Since learning from Downs Ed about how children with Down sydnrome need to be evaluated not based on just expressive language (what she is able to convey out through words or sign) but by receptive language (what she takes in and understands).  In other words, Sydney understands a lot more than she will sign or say outwards.  She is still delayed in language both receptive and expressive, but her expressive is more delayed of the two.

So, how does this affect her IEP?  Since she is a visual learner (the learning profile of children with Down syndrome) she needs to be taught with multi-sensory methods (not just verbal cues).  There were just a few things that we upped on her goals, but overall we were very pleased with the school’s team and Sydney’s teacher.