Ryan Does Need Speech–Pragmatics

RING.  The phone goes off.  Inside of 30 seconds my day’s activity is dictated.  All else fades.  I didn’t take the call, but I listened to the message.  It is the high school psychologist, saying that we need to make a decision because she wants to write her report this week.  The IEP isn’t until next Tuesday.

I’m confused.  Decisions are suppose to be made by the IEP “team”.  I don’t like this being rammed down my throat.  Especially since Mike and I don’t agree with the decision to stop speech services for Ryan.

I discussed with Mike what points I should include when I speak to the speech pathologist. I decided to send an email for two reasons: I want to remain calm and to ensure I don’t miss any details.  Mike read the email and assured me it had the high points.  Then Mike went to work.  I hate doing this on my own; alas, Mama Bear kicks in.  My son’s potential is at stake.

Within ten minutes of sending it, I received a phone call on my cell. It was the speech pathologist. The timing was not good as I had an appointment.  She started of by saying, “Instead of reading your email, I saw that there were inaccuracies and we need to discuss this.”  She just made my day!  She’s NOT going to read the email.  She wants to talk NOW.

I am usually a cordial person, but I refuse to discuss this hastily.  I told her I’d call her back as soon as I could.  She insisted that we needed to make a decision asap.

I attended my meeting, and hurried home.  I called the district office to ask a simple question:  do I have to make this decision before the IEP.  IT was an unusual and odd for a school staff member to push for a decision BEFORE an IEP.

I spoke with the director of special ed department.  I asked about making this decision.  She told me how I could appropriately respond.  I also relayed my concerns about Ryan still needing speech.  After a quick discussion, I was armed with the correct vocabulary. I also verified that my “incorrect information” was, indeed, correct.  I then called the speech pathologist, and left a message about the correct information and what Ryan’s speech needs were with the key vocabulary of “pragmatics”.

The end result was ZING.  The speech pathologist acknowledged her error.  She read my email and “now understands”.  She also agreed with the “pragmatics” and will write her report with new goals.  SUCCESS.

The above actually transpired through a few phone calls and emails throughout the entire day.  I felt I kept hitting a brick wall with the speech pathologist. I needed to be persistent, patient, and grounded which required lots of prayer throughout the day.  Prayers were answered.

Now we await the IEP report.