Again I apologize for the long time between updates. I have found out that it's not that easy to balance everything I have on my plate and still have time to sit at a computer and write my thoughts. I have so many thoughts and things to say, but never the amount of time it takes to put them down. Someday I will have the perfect balance between all that I want to accomplish.
So with that being said here is my update...Things have been going pretty good lately. We've had a few therapy sessions and I feel like they have went well. Eric was able to attend the last session. We have a few concerns with Hunter in school and wanted our therapists advice on how to handle those concerns. At the beginning of the school year I went to the school and asked if Hunter could have OT services at school. The school has an OT on staff and I figured this would be perfect since I wouldn't be taking him out of school once a week and neither of us would be missing anything throughout the day. I've run out of PTO at work, so when I have to take time off I either take it unpaid or I work extra hours to make up for the missed time. This isn't always easy when there is somewhere to be almost everyday. I can't stay late on Tuesdays, Hunter and I have cub scouts (Much to say about scouts later) Lexi has dance class Monday and Thursdays. Eric can take her on Mondays, but Jack has hockey on Thursday so I have to get her to dance. Some people would say don't let your kids be involved in so much and then your not so busy..That's not how I operate. I want my children to experience as much as they can in their childhood. Being a kid is suppose to be fun and if you are stuck in the house and missing out on what could end up being your calling is not a way to live. I want them to look back on their childhood and say they truly enjoyed being a kid. So needless to say I wear our time thin and crab about it later. LOL Oh well such is life. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Back to the school subject..(sorry I'm random) At the beginning of the year when I asked about OT they wanted to know Hunters diagnosis. When I told him that he had Intergrated Sensory Disorder, they said that didn't qualify for needing serviced because his grades were not in jeopardy. I mentioned in "Our story" that Hunter is a very smart young man..He skipped first grade and his readying class is a 7th to 8th grade level. So it stands to reason that his grades aren't in jeopardy and he's not failing. I took this news with a grain of salt and chalked it up to the federal government having to put limitations on things..I understand all of this, but now that my child is suffering I don't like it one bit. I have continued to bring Hunter to his appointments throughout the day and he continues to make progress, which is good.
We've started to have more issues with homework. It's almost like his homework is overwhelming. If he would sit down and focus he could get a week's worth of homework done in 20 minutes, however he crabs about it and makes excuses for 2 hours and still doesn't have it complete. It turns into a huge fight and usually ends with him stomping up to his room and hating me and Eric for some reason or another. It's days like this that I wish homework didn't exist. He's also been "stuck" about a reading assignment that he had months ago. They had to write a 300 word paper about a book. He couldn't seem to get more then 123 words onto the paper. This was an at school assignment so I didn't get the chance to help him with it. He is so upset at the fact that he had to do this. He makes excuses that don't really make sense to most of us about it, but fails to mention the real reason he couldn't finish this assignment. Because of his sensory disorder gravity pushes on him harder then the rest of us. It hurts his hand to write that much, he has to work so much more harder then the rest of us. He pushes so much harder, pencil leads break and paper rips. When we brought this situation up to his therapist he put it into a really good perspective for us. He's analogy on the subject is that Hunter's brain is like a computer that's really fast. He processed the information quickly (good Internet connection) but his printer is slow. I've had a printer like this before...takes forever for the document to actually print. This is Hunter. Makes complete sense to me. With that being said I knew that something needed to be done at school so that he's processor and printer were on the same wave length. I waited to bring this subject up with the school until after his conferences. I wanted to see how his grades were and talk to his teacher about my concerns. His conferences went well. There was some lower then usual grades, Spanish he got a C+ and reading he also got a C+. The way his reading score was broken down was "adventures in writing 35%" Participation 93% Assignments 71% Story test 100% and Vocabulary tests 95%" Because there is a big enough discrepancy between the reading level and the writing level I might be able to get him some "special accommodations" at school. We've thought of ideas such as when there is a big paper to write he can dictate it or type it. They have a great dictation program called dragon slayer or something like that. In order for me to get these accommodations we have to go through a special education evaluation. I'm not sure if he's going to qualify for this...I have my fingers crossed that we can squeeze in between the guidelines. If we can't get him to qualify we can try to get a 504 plan. Then they have to make the accommodations for him. I talked to the gal that's in charge of special education and they are going to discuss Hunter at their next meeting and see what they can do. I let them know that he has an Anxiety/Depression NOS diagnosis, and a behavior/mood disorder NOS along with the sensory disorder that is causing issues such as ADHD, and that he touches the spectrum of autism, but is not diagnosed with it. They asked if a medical Doctor diagnosed him...NO, we see a therapist and an OT, and PT. Because I don't medicate my child there is no reason to go to the medical doctor. Don't get me wrong I love our pediatrician, but we see the medical doctor for ear infections, strep throat, and yearly checkups. The pediatrician doesn't have the time to sit down with us for an hour every week to properly diagnose what Hunter has. The process to get either an IEP (individual education plan) or the 504 plan at school could take 3 months....I guess I should have pushed for all of this sooner in the year. Fingers crossed that we can get him the help that he needs to succeed in school and not be forced to fail before he can succeed. Because he's smart the law doesn't consider him special. Of course I think he's special (hehehe)
I'll hopefully have an update soon about what we have found out....
I had much more to say but as I type this Hunter is freaking out and yelling at us about gluten....He has chips that he can eat and freaked out because Jack is eating them...He has told us it's not fair, Jack is crap, and told Eric to shut up...Today is going to be a long day! I just about to the end of my rope with this....Most days I'm not sure I can make it to the next day with one more freak out. Some days I just want to walk away and never come back. I know that this is not the right answer and that I'd never ever ever do that, but don't think the thought hasn't crossed my mind. I think it would cross anyone's mind if they dealt with this everyday. It's sad to say that the house is so much more quiet when Hunter is away for the day. No one yells, fights, hits, and freaks out about anything. I thought this is how life was suppose to be. Kids fight I understand that, but they shouldn't fight every second of the day, and make the day miserable for the rest of us. I'm torn between my beliefs and what others think I should do. Am I doing my child a disservice by not putting him on medication? OR am I doing the right thing by going the natural route and trying to fix what is causing the problem instead of just covering it up. That's my view on medication. I want to know why you need the medication and what is causing the need for it. It works that way with everything. Thyroid issues for example...Why do you have the thyroid issue, not how can we cover it up...I don't really agree with covering up issues especially when the side effects to some of the medications are worse then the issue you have in the first place. (sorry another tangent)
I just wish I didn't have to work so much...If I could stay home even part of the day I would have more time to dedicate to what I know is right. We would have amazing gluten free meals, food in the fridge all the time, a clean house and exercises, homework, and chores wouldn't go undone because mom has so much to do in so little time. Someday my dream will come true...Once I can afford to play the lottery I'm going to win. LOL
We'll I better stop here and get to the grocery store before Jack's first hockey game! I can't wait to see him play, it's going to be so cute! To bad Eric can't be there, he has to flood our hockey rink tonight...So the life of the parent continues.
I hope everyone has a great week! Join my in my goal this week....Take an extra moment to appreciate a good time. Stop for a minute to just enjoy life. The dishes can wait, the laundry will be fine, take a deep breath and be happy that you are alive to enjoy the good and the bad times in life. Life is truly to short (thanks for reminding me dad, love you) (another topic).
~Amber
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