School Meeting

This Thursday we had our IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting at our neighborhood elementary school. It was Ray, me and 11 people from the school or school district. The process was...interesting. The PT who assessed Abbie was out of town, so the PT who came up with the goals and gave recommendations has never seen Abbie. She recommended 30 minutes per week of PT, which did not meet our expectations. We were able to get them to raise that to 60 minutes per week "for the initial phase."

That was kind of the flavor of the whole meeting...goals that were not appropriate (i.e. things that Abbie has been able to do for a long time), and just not a clear understanding of her needs. I know Abbie really wants to go to school, and we will continue this process by visiting Jefferson Elementary, which has an orthopedic unit specializing in complex needs kids. However, the therapists at the most recent meeting work at that school, so I don't know what we will see there that will stoke encouragement and confidence in me, but I am praying for something major or else we will have to find another option for Miss Abbie.

On Friday we visited the neurologist. I spoke to her privately first so that I could tell her about the upcoming surgery, as well as the "cortex override" conclusion by the orthopedic surgeon. When she reviewed the seizure activity log, there was a large cluster of them in mid-July. That was the week where Abbie was assessed by a different Dept. of Ed. person each day. She was stressed out, and it showed in her seizure activity. We are going back up to the original dose (5ml) of Trileptal at night, but staying at 4ml in the morning for now, so that we don't make her sleepy. Please pray this works so that we don't have to try other meds. I honestly think the seizures are part of the healing process, as things reconnect. Abbie used her switch very well to communicate during the appointment, which is such an improvement over her usual "evasion by sleeping" approach to the neurologist.

The twins started school this week, and I am thrilled to pieces about the teacher they will have this year...what a difference that will make! Chase started work at Zippy's on Friday. His conclusion after a summer that consisted mostly of lounging: "I've determined that it is much more difficult to stay vertical for 7 hours than it is to stay horizontal."

I've had beautiful days to walk and worship, and all is well here.