A very smooth IEP meeting.

It's that time of the year, time to review how Sophia, her teachers, her therapists and her parents did this year.  I have to say that we all did pretty good! Sophia made nice gains in every area: Physical therapy is going great, she is very confident walking with her walker and is getting better at steering it. She is also improving at going up and down a ramp, which is great since we got approved for a handicap parking permit and Sophia will be able to practice her walking everywhere we go. Both, the orthopedist and the PT see her walking independently some day, and I do too.
In the area of fine motor skills, the progress is a little less extensive than the physical but it's still progress. Sophia now tries to place a wooden piece of a puzzle in the right place instead of just dropping it but still needs a lot of assistance to do it. We are going to work on helping her to use her fingers to grasp objects so she can use a spoon to feed herself and pick up a bottle to get a drink.
As far as communication goes, the process has been incredible! The communication system we use is called PODD and you can read about it here. Sophia now accepts and understands why the PODD is in her personal space, before it seemed to be in her way and she would swipe it off the table. She smiles to show us that we got what she wants, like more food, a toy, a tv show or that she needs a diaper change. She is not pointing at pictures on the book yet but we are labeling gestures and sounds that she makes with a symbol on the book to show her that we understood what she is trying to say and to show her that she also can use it to say what she has in mind. It's a slow process but we knew that, we are all working together modeling all the time and are confident that her expressive language will someday catch up with the receptive.
The social part is the best! Sophia is loved by everyone in the school, from the staff to her classmates and kids from other grades. Sophia loves all the attention she get from these kids at lunch and at recess and if for some reason there's a change in the schedule and she can't go to the cafeteria or the playground, she makes sure to let the teachers know that she is not happy about it. I'm told that the 1st and 2nd graders form a line at lunch time and wait for their turn to get the chance to say they love Sophia using the PODD! I am so moved by this! Kids have the sweetest heart.
So the meeting went very well, we all talked about what we need to do to help Sophia reach her goals for next year, I thought everything they are already doing plus the new plan are reasonable and I am confident that they will listen to me should I have any concern or question and we'll work together because I know we all have one purpose in common: to help Sophia to reach her potential.

Oh yeah, and she lost that front tooth, finally!