Feels Like Starting Over....and Other Ramblings

We're coming up on the new school year's IEP meeting and I couldn't be more nervous. New school year, new *school*, new teachers (as in 4 of them!), new classmates...new new new new!

I don't want to rush into a judgement here but, I've gotten little vibes here and there that tell me that *this* IEP team may not be as easy to work with as last year's. I think that to an extent they wonder exactly why does Trace have an IEP in place. Granted, he has made some incredible strides over the summer that have helped him to be a little more open socially, but there are still other issues and LD's to contend with. I blogged before about the equine therapy he's doing and I believe, thru the therapy, he's becoming more confident in himself and his skills/talents. He's reached out to a few boys in his class that his teacher refers to as his "crew", lol, they eat lunch together and play at recess. I'm beyond thrilled that he's come so far since last year when he walked the playground by himself, picking up rocks or trash or whatever else he found. Yet, at the same time, put him in a social setting outside of his "norm" and all of his Aspie quirks come out to play. He's stretched out more shirt sleeves and shirt hems than I care to count...he get's anxious/nervous and he'll pull his sleeves down over his hands and twist and pull, same with the shirt hems.

Don't even get me started on his sensory integration issues. Oh my word. The boys had to get haircuts Friday evening because they were having pictures taken the next day with grandma, so off we went. Trace has always been a little skittish about haircuts but not too bad, and Landon is just fine as long as you don't try and wash his hair. But, Friday night? Holy moly, Trace was off the charts skittish...he shied away from the clippers (the sound *and* feel of them) and when the lady tried scissor cutting, he would pull his head away every time she combed up a section to snip at. Bless her heart, she was very understanding and finished his cut and said it was no problem...sigh... Landon however, once he realized she was *not* going to wash his hair was just fine and sat perfectly still. Go figure.

Anyhow, back to what I started with on this entry. Nervous, anxious...I haz it. I'm almost treating it as if I'm starting the whole process from a blank slate. I've been scouring the interwebs looking for new information, finding some of the same information that I've already collected and reading it all again as if it were brand new to my eyes. Thankfully it's been a reminder to me to stay on my toes with the teachers and IEP team members. I'm also learning about certain assessments and testing that I can request that have no been done but probably should be....and I'm learning how to make these requests as an advocate, not just a parent.

Which leads me to my final thought in today's entry. Over the last few months, as I started my research anew, I decided that I want to write. Not a book, no....more like articles/papers, regarding ASD's, Aspergers', advocacy, experiences we've had....a whole variety of things. To accomplish that efficiently, we need a computer at home...specifically, I'd need to get a laptop or netbook etc. Does anyone here have a preference or referral? I need to be able to do word processing, interwebs browsing, some pictures....oh, and it needsto be cheap. Right now, we can't justify the purchase (what with speech therapy and equine therapy etc etc)and, as much as I dislike doing so, we're going to have to put it off until we can save for it.

So, opinions guys? Pretty please? =)