Meet the teacher day!

Today was Cooper's meet the teacher day! We went over to his school and turned in all the rest of his paperwork. We also bought him a t-shirt with his new school name and mascot on it which is VERY excited about! I talked to the cafeteria manager also and she was asking me what kinds of things Cooper likes and what we give him with his allergies and diet. The school is a special needs school so there are a number of kids on a gluten/casein free diet and then they will also make sure that things are okay for him with his allergies! They are great about the allergies!! It is so nice to be able to send him and not have to worry!!!

So, today we met the teacher and Cooper got to look around the classroom and play some. It is an inclusion class so there are 9 typical kids and then 5 special needs kids with the possibility of getting once more. There is the head teacher, a parapro and another teacher of some description.

Yesterday was Cooper's IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting. I went over the IEP and the goals that were set in it with his teacher. I agreed with them because I think they are important it was things like willingly take turns with one verbal prompt 80% of the time and put his things away 80% of the time. I did have them add one goal and that was to initiate and engage in play with another student. Basically I want Cooper to walk over to some kid and say "Hey, want to play dinos?" and when the kid says yes actually do it. Also when that kid comes to Cooper and says "Hey, want to play dinos?" Cooper says yes and does it. His social skills are severely lacking so that is a big thing he needs to work on.

After that part of it the school nurse came down to talk to me. Apparently the word went out about Cooper's allergies because each person I talk to tells me "Oh I heard about Cooper!" I had actually met the nurse when I was there for Cooper evaluation so this was just the formal he is coming to school now (Monday) talk. I gave her the food allergy form the pediatrician had to fill out, all the forms for his medications and a form for permission to administer the Epi Pen and one to administer his inhaler. It was A LOT of forms! I have to go get his meds filled tomorrow so once I do that I will go and drop them off and he is all set! She was also talking to me about the cafeteria and the table he will sit at. They have two tables for kids with food allergies and the kids all sit there. I am not thrilled about that but since they have open containers of milk I don't really know what else they can do. If milk spills on Cooper he WILL get hives so it is probably best to not chance it!

Cooper is going to ride the bus to school! He is really excited about it and we are excited for him. I am not sure if the bus is going to be all set for Monday or not so if it is not I will drive him until it is ready to go for him. It is a short bus with only kids going to that school so I think it will come to the front of the house.

So that is the news! We are getting everything together for school to start on MONDAY! We are so excited for him to go to this school because we know that it really is going to be the best thing for him. I however am going to cry and cry and cry once he gets on that bus!