Today we had Moses’ annual IEP meeting. That in and of itself was not too remarkable. What was remarkable to me was that I forgot about it. Last night when Tyson said something about it, I had no idea. I knew it was coming up this month, but I thought it was maybe next week. 🤷‍♀️

In the past few years, I knew exactly when his IEP meetings were because I was a ball of anxiety the week leading up to it. There were so many questions and uncertainties that I would be texting people the night before and day of asking for prayers. I would barely be able to sleep the night before. 

Last night, his meeting wasn’t what was on my mind as I drifted off to sleep. 

Before his Kindergarten IEP transition meeting, I was a ball of anxiety. I was so worried about what Kindergarten was going to be like for him, and if he was going to be given the chance to show how much he was capable of learning and doing. I can remember the woman who was going to be his Kindergarten teacher came to me and said, “I need you to trust me.” 

Back then, it wasn’t necessarily that I didn’t trust her. It was that I didn’t trust the system. From my own experience of working in an elementary school, the norm was definitely not for a kid with Down syndrome to be included in the general education classroom almost all day. It was exactly the opposite. It was hard for me to trust that it could and actually would be different for my kid. 

But it was. And it has been again next year. 

Now, I fully trust Moses’ IEP team to work together and work with Tyson and me to make sure that Moses is included as an important part of his classroom. He is held to high standards academically and behaviorally, and he is absolutely thriving. He’s honestly doing things that I didn’t expect him to be doing in 1st grade. But then again…he always manages to show me he can do ANYTHING! 

At the end of the meeting today, I did what I always do at the end of meetings about Moses….I cried. I cried tears of gratitude for the amazing people who work so hard every day to make school a place where he can pave the path for a new norm for himself and hopefully other kids with Down syndrome.