Just when you think......

A few months ago we took my son to be tested/registered for kindergarten. They didn't want him to attend this year due to some of his issues. We fought for him to attend. After all its the right of every kid to attend school because if we didn't send him you can bet your butt the school would be on our case. He has Sensory Processing Disorder. Some days it is tough to deal with him. I do want to clarify one thing. The school didn't want him to attend not because of his issues but because they didn't want to take the time out to teach him. They wanted me to send him to a pre school instead. Huge difference. Huge. That's why I fought so hard so he could attend. Over the last few weeks I have watched him struggle with writing,struggle with reading flashcards. Around Christmas time we thought maybe he was dyslexia. We asked the intermediate unit who tested him for other stuff. Their response? He's too young to test for that and they don't start testing until the kids are 7. That would be 3 years wasted. You would think they would test early just to rule it out. Whatever happened to "no child left behind"? UGH. Anywoo yesterday Bubby had an O/T appt(can you believe she called me up at 1:15 to see if she could meet with him at 2:15) and she was trying to get him to write the letters after she did. The same things we have tried with him and it doesn't work. She then tried to make the letter a little at a time and then he would repeat it. He was able to do it but still can't make the letter on his own. We were talking about this and we think his brain isn't telling his hand how to do it. I have said all along that I don't think he won't do it but he can't do it. We are now back at square one. I'm not sure what to do now. I need to find a place that can test him for this first. Hopefully after I get some sort of diagnoses we can figure out what to do. If I home school him I could forfeit his services thru the school. They already told me that I would loose the services if I sent him to a private school. The other option is to not send him to school and the county would continue to provide services for him but I would loose his speech services. The county doesn't think he needs it but the school says yes he does. I have to proceed carefully so he doesn't loose any services and figure out the best plan for him. I could really use some advice. If anyone has been thru this before or knows someone who has please comment.

I will be spending the rest of the day looking up laws of our state and different programs...

One more test

Today I am off to take my son to his hearing appointment. Last week when he was being tested for learning disabilities they decided to also test his hearing. The audiologist isn't in the office on Wednesdays and couldn't test him. I was hoping they could test him last week to save me a drive back there. The intermediate unit is an hour from my house and a bit of a pain to get to it. But as parents we do things we don't want to do and fight to get our children services they need. The intermediate unit has all but said he is not going to get any services. It looks like I am going to be doing a lot of fighting. Ugh. I'm just waiting for the official word. The reality is the only way he is going to get services is if he fails this hearing test. Kind of sad. I just hope he cooperates with the audiologist. Oh and sits still. Not his strong point.

Have a great Thursday.....

Evaluation day

Yesterday my son finally had his evaluation with the county intermediate unit. I knew as soon as we walked in there he was not going to qualify for any services. As soon as they started asking questions,I JUST KNEW IT. It's the same old dance every time.  I'm not sure if it is just my state or all states but ours only gives services if the child scores less then 21%. My son scored 37%. I'm stunned that my state finds any thing less then 50% acceptable. Whatever happened to "no child left behind"?  I mean didn't we get that drilled into our heads for years? They seem to think he would benefit from a preschool setting to help him with his issues. You know the ones he doesn't have. Sigh. Here's my theory on sending him to school. If he has issues and is in a classroom with 20 other kids, he is going to be a distraction to others. The teacher will have to stop class and correct his behavior. Therefor other kids are going to miss out on learning and he will be labeled as difficult. How is that helping him or others? It's not. And that's the problem. They also don't think he should go to Kindergarten next year but should go to preschool. Umm...Isn't that the same thing??? They also want him to come back for a hearing test next week. I guess just to rule that out. Luckily after facebooking yesterday my friends chimed in with some advise. Places they have sent their sensory kids.  In the next few days we will be looking into other options.

Wish us luck.......

Tomorrow

After waiting almost three months my son goes for an evaluation tomorrow with the intermediate unit. Those of you new to my blog my son has struggled with food texture/sensory and processing issues since he was a couple of months old. It has been a long battle trying to get him services. The early part of his life because he was still a foster child we had to take him to the doctor the state insurance recommended. She was a quack. No offense to state doctors but I have never been to a doctor like that in my whole life. First off her office was in an old Victorian house and looked like the 1960's threw up there. Nothing was updated. Horrible. The one day we were there for baby shots she wasn't feeling good so she didn't give him a shot. Yep you read that right. We had to go back another day. Who does that? She never picked up on Bubby's reflux even after I told her several times that he spit up excessively. That's where some of his issues started. After we finalized Bubby's adoption we were free to change his doctor. Unfortunately our doctor wasn't covered under our new insurance and took him to a pediatrician some friends recommended. I would tell this doctor time and time again about his eating habits. I was told the same thing, he will get over it. Give him time. After months of things not changing I was able to get Bubby evaluated for our state's 0-3 program. He qualified for services. He was actually doing really well with the program. When children turn 3 they reevaluate the child to see if they still need services for the preschool program. The state didn't feel like he needed services anymore. WHAT??? They felt he would outgrow his issues. Not only didn't he outgrew them he also developed other issues. Hubby thinks he might be dyslexic. I have been working with him for months on numbers and letters. There are always a few he just can not get. Even if you show him the flashcard and tell him what it is. Two minutes later he still can't tell you what the letter/number is. As frustrating as it is for me, I can only imagine how frustrated he must be. The last two weeks he has been so out of sorts. Rubbing his head on the carpet,putting things in his mouth, and being a wild man. I am hoping that maybe they can finally tell me how we can get him over some of his issues and get him ready for school next year. I'm terrified that his issues could keep him from attending school next year. They will be testing his motor skills,speech and sensory. I was told they might be testing his hearing as well.

Praying and keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow turns out to be a good day!

Invest in the Vest.......

My four year old has decided that everyday must start wearing his fishing vest. One of the first things he does in the morning is look for that vest. It doesn't matter what he is wearing either. Everyday. Sometimes it's under a sweatshirt too. It drives us nuts. My good friend and neighbor gets the biggest kick out of it. We decided a couple of weeks ago to post everyday on facebook when he wears the darn thing. Three days ago he decided he needed something else to go with the vest. An orange hat. In addition to the vest,it's now an orange hat. Case in point.......

Notice how his marker matches too?

We've had had two days were he didn't wear the vest. I thought great this phase is over. Nope. Yesterday while we were out shopping he found a vest we just had to buy. I thought this vest would push Hubby over the edge. It's a little different.

We asked him why that vest. The penguin has a rocking guitar. How do you argue that?

He looks very umm.....festive, right? No matter what he wears he's still a cutie to me. I would like to point out, I do make him take the vests off before we go out in public. I don't want all the other mom's to make fun of me. HA!

Has anyone else child went through a phase of wanting to wear the same thing over and over again? Advise?