acronyms

So we finished up with all of the new testing on Jacob, and the results were a little bit better than the previous testing, but not really a huge difference. What I mean by that is, Jacob was 'coded' as Orthopedic Impairment (OI) in order to be eligible for Special Ed. All students who qualify for Spec Ed do so under a specific code, or category, or even a couple of codes. My issue with Jacob being coded only OI, was that it doesn't paint a detailed enough picture of him. Yes, he has an orthopedic impairment, but those aren't his only challenges in school. In fact, that impairment doesn't hinder him much at all at this point. He is pretty independent considering he has no use of his right hand at all. His struggles have to do with his anxiety, ADHD, and OCD (he is not diagnosed with OCD, but the tendencies are there either way, I just never bothered to get an official diagnosis because the behaviors are there no matter where they come from and need to be taken into consideration). Anyway, the ADHD allows the code of Other Health Impairment (OHI), which Spec Ed teachers recognize, and can paint a bigger picture. Anyways, as far as the test results, the testing I had done by an outside Psychologist 1 1/2 years ago showed Jacob scored at a low enough IQ to be qualified for a Intellectual Disability (ID); to most people the more commonly heard (but we are trying to not use) term is Mental Retardation. The bottom line, no matter what you call it, is a low enough IQ to struggle with age-level academics. Well, more than struggle actually, ID kids are well behind their peers academically, and lack the ability to catch up. So with the new testing, he scored pretty low, but a few points higher on this second round, so he doesn't qualify for an ID code. Which at this point, I am ok with. The STAAR test (the state standardized test that all students in Texas take) for this year is changing, and I don't know yet what it will look like for Jacob. We have another ARD next Thurs where we will discuss that.
  Other than that, he is loving 7th grade and all of his teachers and aides. They invited him to work the scoreboard at home basketball games, which if you know Jacob at all you know is like THE perfect job for him. Considering he loves lights and sounds (when he is the one making said noises), and has pretty much been obsessed with score boards forever, he is totally thrilled with this new job. He was anxious at first because he always gets anxious when he's not sure what to expect, but after the first night he was fine. The aide who does it with him is a great guy, and Jacob really enjoys his company. He even brought Jacob Jersey Mike's sandwiches last time, and Jacob said that even though it had lettuce and tomato on it, he ate it anyway. :-) He has games tonight, so we are going to pick up a pizza on the way.... He has also decided to try a group called Club Metro again. He did this in Elem, but once he hit the older louder group of teens, and once the anxiety of 5th grade hit, he decided to take a break. It's once a week, and I can drop him off which is not something I can do anywhere else, and they do activities at the city facility, or they take them to parks or other fun places. It's a good way for him to be away from the family and on his own for a bit, and it encourages socialization with his peers, which is somewhere he is severely lacking. That starts in a couple of weeks, so that coupled with the basketball games will help us give Jacob some independence this spring.