First, we had a meeting May 6th to talk about Kennedy's progress last year and the suggestion was brought to her ARC meeting that Kennedy could possibly benefit from an iPad as she has the most trouble with writing--either legibly or without getting tired after just a few words. I was told to work with Kennedy this summer about learning letters on the keyboard and just getting her more comfortable with typing. Well we did that. And despite multiple emails---many even un-returned-- I tried to figure out what was going on with the iPad since the first day of school. While I understand teachers are busy, I can't just sit by and watch my child have such difficulty with school when a piece of technology could be so beneficial for her. I even offered to purchase an iPad if they would help us with the Apps (some of the apps they suggested for Kennedy were big bucks--like $200 bucks-- yikes!) I was told specifically not to buy one and to let the school do it---but no at the school would give me any information on anything. Then, I receive an email stating that Kennedy is going to have to go through an assessment to see what technology would be beneficial for her. Ok, no one said anything about that in MAY. And we had an entire month of May, a summer, and all of August to get any assessments done, but here it is, nearly September, and no progress has been made. So I emailed the new principal about it, and what do you know, the next morning I was receiving phone calls to set up meetings and plans were being made for Kennedy to try out an iPad in another classroom, and so on. We have her team meeting on Thursday so hopefully good things will come from the meeting. I just want Kennedy to be a school that is looking out for her best interests and if it's not her current school, then perhaps it's just not the place she needs to be. While I would hate to pull her from a school that she's been at for 3 years now and away from her friends, I need to do what's best for her in the long run. I'll just have to make some decisions after the meeting on Thursday.
On a happier note, I sent a referral for the Michelle P Waiver for Kennedy last week. Before I had my current job, I had no idea about this program, but I think that it would be FABULOUS for Kennedy. Basically, it's somewhat like the program that my work participates in (and we work with this waiver program also), except the clients can live with their parents/guardians. It would help Kennedy get the services she needed, such as speech, OT, and PT and also as she got older, the program would help her with supported employment and other things to become more independent. She should be getting an assessment scheduled within the next week or two and the approval process takes a LONG time, but it will definitely be worth it if I can get her approved. This is definitely NOT something that is just passed along freely to families of special needs people so if you know someone with special needs people (kids or adults-- mental or developmental disabilities), I'd LOVE to talk to them about this AWESOME program or make sure that they go to the Medicaid website for the Michelle P Waiver.
And here's the best news I've heard in a LONG time........After a long, stressful week of attempted to study spelling words last week and after an exhausting and eye-opening day today at work, Kennedy and I got home and I was going through her backpack and what do I find.......
....a PERFECT spelling test. Not only were all 6 words SPELLED right---they were written by Kennedy without any scribe needed!!!!! So of course, we called all those near and dear to us to spread the news and headed out to Dairy Queen with my mom to celebrate with an ice cream celebration. Kennedy already knows 3 of her words for this week since we got our list on Friday so I'm hoping that after all the celebration tonight, she realizes that spelling tests can be very rewarding.
So needless to say, the last month has had its ups and downs, but it looks like things are starting to work out in Kennedy's favor and all our hard work is beginning to show results! Hopefully I'll have more fabulous news to blog about soon. Stay tuned.... :)
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