IFSP --- again.

Being a mother is never boring. Never.
You get one enrolled for Kindergarten, go on a special dinner date with your husband and talk incessantly about your brood, you have a party for your children's birthday, and then you wake up early on a Thursday to develop another IFSP for your son. Whoa slow down. What the heck is an IFSP?  Well, if you follow this blog, are a close family member/friend, or work with me - you know what an IFSP is... But, let me briefly describe my understanding of the document (which should be quite good as I have written one, helped develop several, followed a couple hundred, and read thousands).  An IFSP is an official-legal document, through the NC State Early Intervention Program, that serves as the "plan" for the child and family's service delivery.  It stands for Individualized Family Service Plan. Within the document is the supporting material that identifies the need for services, information about the family, goals, and service delivery techniques.  It is a fascinating little document that originally had a star on the front page, way back in 2004 - but has advanced to a caricature of a young bumble bee.

With that being described and said, let's discuss my Thursday. I got home late Wednesday night - yes, Terrence and I went on a date (garden to table benefit dinner, a couple of glasses of wine, lots of professionals to talk to, no kids - aka Heaven). Still with no kids in the house this morning, I still got up at 6:15 to start my day. I did a little housework, then got to my parents by 7:00 to get Easton.  When Easton and I got home, we cleaned a little more, ate some breakfast (grapefruit and organic sausage), and got ready for the day.  At 9:00 Allen, our Service Coordinator, and Cindy, the psychologist from the Early Intervention Program, arrived to my home. We sat down and started this craziness. In true Carly fashion, I plan to laugh about this... while sharing it with you.

Now, while developing a plan for your child and basically your entire family these are the emotions you will encounter:

1) Denial and Disdain: You say my child is delayed and you can help. You are not my child's parent. Get real.

2) OMG you are so right, he's delayed... he won't get married or ever have a dog! 

3) Oh, he will totally have a dog... and he will name it Allen. Yes, Allen. It will be a horrible little dog.

(Christmas 2035: Easton, please don't bring your Maltese, Allen, to our party... it bit your niece several times last year.)

 4) I can't hear you, I'm not even listening... A run would be nice, is that a gray hair, oh no I forgot to pay the cable bill, I wonder if I could drink wine now...  Oh crap these people are still here.  Hiya.

5) Oh wait, you people are here to help us... God bless you. Easton's future dog will probably really be named Fido, it will be a Lab (with the middle name of Allen.) And Easton is getting married, to a successful princess astronaut.







6) Then, you see the real reason these early interventionists are there... For Easton.







Early Intervention is terrifying... but it is the reason I wake up in the morning.  Because in reality, I am an early intervention speech provider too. I know what it is like on both sides of the therapy table.  And it is fun. Both sides of it. So Easton let's get geared up for a seriously awesome ride. Thank you Allen and Cindy! We love you both!