OK, I lived through the night and made it to Mindworks yesterday,lol. It was a two hour ride, but well worth it so far. Basically yesterday we spent the whole time going over histories, reviewing what had been done and what hasn't, looking at my daughters school work, and generally getting to know everything about each other. I felt extremely comfortable with the psychologist and confident that she was well educated and not afraid to send me to her superior should a situation that she wasn't comfortable with arise. She told me right at the start that if she felt it necessary after some more evals. and testing she may well send my little guy on to her superior, simply because she is very much more experienced with very young children. I like a doctor who isn't afraid to say they feel someone else can do better for me or my child, it shows intelligence and compassion. The place was clean and neat and totally kid friendly, I mean totally. The constant running in and out of the office, taking out every toy that was there and the constant coming in for hugs from my daughter didn't even phase them. They had crayons and markers and stacks of paper to draw pictures, and a big magnetic board for them to hang them up. Ok she didn't even flinch when my little booger decided for some reason he should spit at her, she simply told him that made her feel bad and that he should say sorry. He did, too. So all that aside it went well.
For my little guy she agreed he was still so very sensory that OT was needed and not just a little bit but an entire program. She felt he needed another full psychological exam, along with speech/language and behavioral evaluations. She said he was not at all ready to be placed in a public school classroom, especially since he is a runner and as she says, public school teachers are not trained to deal with a child who will meltdown, let alone one who will get up without warning and run possibly out of the room or building. She said I really couldn't be doing more than I am now, but that I need help. She was very nice about it and said what I already had been complaining about, that I am not an expert, a teacher, a psychologist or a therapist and there are things that need to be done that I couldn't be expected to know ho to do, my words not hers, she was more tactful,lol. She said it wasn't fair that I should have to be everything to this child and not really get time to just be his parent and she was apaaled that no one has stepped in to help us. The plan is this. Because after the child find screening the school said they will do the evaluations, we will let them take the lead and do what they are going to. It's free this way and she understands how expensive this can all be. After that she will review exactly what was done and then they will do anything she thinks wasn't done that should have been or wasn't done correctly. This sounds good to me. At least I will know what results I can trust and the answers to alot of my questions. Then when it is all done we will know exactly what he needs as far as therapies and what type of school enviroment he will need.
She also is getting in touch with a woman they work with who is a school consultant. It is her job to know the ins and outs of the different school systems and what they offer and what they actually have as far as special education and help. This way we will know if there is an appropriate program for my son or if we need to look at private schools. This will put aside my biggest fear, that he will get placed in a class that is not good for him or meeting his needs.
Then we moved on to my daughter. She looked at the work samples and listened to the whole long story and decided that she absolutely needs further testing. The test that have been used to evaluate her so far were for the most part the WISC tests and these can be very broad and not necessarily pinpoint where the problem actually lies. So she will get a different IQ test (Stanford Binet) and a psychological eval. (looking closely at emotional age) and several tests that are designed to look at each step of the reading and writting process and because she thought about it later she is throwing in the one we all have been wondering about the visual learning tests...yippie! I really got a good feeling from this place and they were very careful to be sure I was all right as well as my kids. We reviewed the possibility that she could go through all this and it could be revealed that she is right on that borderline and would I be able to accept that. This seemed funny to me( I guess some moms wouldn't be) and "of course I could" I said. That would be great news and then it would just be a matter of support and constant vigilant eye to be sure she continued to progress forward, I could relax alot. Either way it turns out will be better than not knowing what is going on like now.
The school in the mean time called and told me that they have scheduled an eligibility meeting for the 29th, giving me no time to have all this done, so I called them this morning and told them to put it on their schedule for the August meetings. They didn't like this,of course not I might have information they don't want to hear, but they finally agreed.
So all in all I was very pleased with the appointment and feel confident that I might finally get some answers and more important some help.
21 May 2007, 9:10 am
