We had Mick's IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting Friday, for three hours. I met with his teacher, Kris Bracy, and the speech therapist, Molly Browning, as well as social worker Laura Greenberg and school administrator Barbara Lunsford, who was voted Autism Administrator of the Year last year. Since Mick had a scheduled eye appointment for Monday, we set his official first day of school as Tuesday, but after the eye appointment we visited the school. Sean wanted to be in on the meeting, but he stayed home with the boys, thinking they would get pretty antsy in a two-hour meeting (predicted length) especially after having sat with us through our refinancing meeting with a lawyer that morning. We're happy to have gotten a better interest rate on our mortgage.

The MRI showed no nerve damage whatsoever. The opthamologist's assistant, Annelle, checked Mick's lazy eye for any change. His left eye drifts more to see up close than when he is looking at distant objects. He wasn't terribly cooperative, but he did wear his glasses for Annelle. She assessed no increase in crossing, which is good, and she determined that there is no need to patch his stronger right eye at this time. We'll see Dr. Dagi's replacement in October, and in the meantime we will just try to increase the time that Mick wears (and looks through rather than over) his glasses.

We arrived just before lunch, and Mick explored the classroom and seemed to have instant affection for Miss Kris (although he wants to call her "Christmas") and for his single classmate, a three-year-old named Matthew, who makes four-year-old Mick seem like a giant. He also liked Miss Molly, the speech teacher, when she came in, and by the end of the day he was seeking Miss Debbie's hand, as well. Debbie is the parapro. He was a little overwhelmed by the cafeteria, which may end up being his biggest adjustment to make, and he did scream once when Matthew touched the green boxcar from the train set that Mick was arranging. But he liked his green chair (assigned seat for story time), which looks like a really big version of a molded plastic booster chair -- very cubic!

Mick will have school for six hours, 7:45 - 1:45, Monday through Friday. It's probably good that they have a planned nap time and a more relaxed schedule after lunch. I'll keep you posted, including Miss Kris's daily reports. Am I ready for this?