My life in huh?

Knock Knock..anyone home?

2012-01-31T15:31:00.000-08:00

I haven't drown yet. Some days it feels like I have, some days a friend throws a life vest, and some days I feel like I'm walking on water. Yep, it's a roller coaster ride over here!

I'm almost afraid to admit how long it has been since I have posted on here. But then today, a new friend mentioned she read my blog. How embarassing that I haven't posted since the middle of last year. Hey, at least there is a reader though right?

Our journey began with Central Auditory Processing Disorder. It was a journey we started with no map or snacks. It was one heck of a trip. A fork was in the road and Emmie was diagnosied on the autism spectrum last year. Now our bumpy journey is like a jerky train ride.

I have so much to say about the autism spectrum, about our daughter and her sensory issues, and about our life in general. For now, I have to go get her out of the kitchen floor where she is currently standing on her head singing.

My life in huh is now my life of everyday surprises.

Subtitles

2011-06-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, we are on a never ending waiting list for a Neuro Psych eval. I say never ending because each time I call Sutter to follow up on where we are on the waiting list, we seem to be pushed back a few months. Now, they tell us it'll be September. Nice huh?

Enter the special needs playgroup~a group of moms with children with various needs that come together during the week so the kids can have some social interaction time and the moms can talk to someone other than Elmo. In Elmo's defense, he is obviously a great talker but sometimes there's only so much you can take if you are over the age of 5! Anyway, one of the moms recommended another doctor who not only would do the Neuro Psych eval she would also file all the paperwork with our insurance company. I wouldn't have to go see the moron pediatrician for a referral! SCORE! I called her and it seems she can see Emmie in JULY!!! The doctor sent me the intake forms and it took me nearly three hours to complete! But, the "Book of Emmie" is now in the mail to her and we are all ready for a July eval. I seriously can not tell you how excited we are!

Lately, Emmie has been having some real off days. A few days ago we went to the library to pick out some summer reading books and the kids picked up movies. Emmie loves watching movies! She came home and watched her movie in her room. Later that night at bedtime, she was watching the same movie, this time with subtitles. I thought maybe she turned them on and didn't know how to turn them off. So, I asked her. Nope, she said she couldn't hear what the movie was saying if they mumbled or moved a lot. I asked if she could read what the words said and of course, not really. Now, anytime she watches a movie she watches with subtitles. This is a new development and although she has had several normal hearing screenings, we will be making her an appointment for another one just to be sure. I'm hopeful this Neuro Psych eval will shed some light on what in the world is going on!!!

Anyway, we are going on vacation soon! YAY! New post on traveling soon :)

A day in the life..

2011-06-13T23:03:00.000-07:00

As much as I say I'll blog regularly, it just doesn't happen. I have really good intentions, but life somehow, always gets in the way.

Emmie had her first sleep over, well first one without her big sister there, over the weekend. I can not tell you how excited she was. I mean, the sleep over was on Saturday and she was packed on Tuesday. I, of course, had to re-pack her because I think she thought she was going for a year! I took her to her friends house around 5 pm and saw her around noon the next day. Her friend had a sporting event and I came along to cheer her on. After, we had lunch then swam at her house for a few hours. Although Emmie got 8 hours of sleep at the sleepover, she slept an entire 15 hours last night. Any sort of change or over stimulation like going to a sleepover completely and totally exhausts her. She had a blast though and I know we'll be having many more sleepovers in the future, but it breaks my heart to see her so tired over the situation. There is nothing that could have been done...you know, it's just part of having a special need.

Which brings me to how our night ended. Emmie came down from her bath sporting white and blue capri pants and a pink and white striped shirt. She always chooses comfort over fashion and could simply care less if she matched. I rolled my oldest daughter's hair with her dad's dress socks. Yes, you read that right! Thank you YouTube! LOL And had one sock left over. Emmie decided it MUST go with her outfit and put on the one sock. I wanted to take her picture, however asking her to take her picture lead to a complete meltdown. Another day in the life I suppose....

Hello!

2011-05-21T16:05:00.001-07:00

I could write a novel over everything that has happened over the last few months. But, if I don't have time to really update here I certainly don't have time to write a novel! One day..perhaps.

Emmie has had a rough school year and sadly we have NO idea what we are going to do next year. Education in California is just plain awful. She's struggling in so many areas, but those that make the laws seem to think shoving more kids in a classroom and cutting the school year by 30 days is the answer.

We have also had two trips to the Neurologist and an EEG since I last updated. We think she's having absence seizures, although the EEG was normal. It actually wasn't a clear picture of her day because the process was so exhausting for her that she slept the next 24 hours while she was wearing it! We are currently waiting 8 months for a NeuroPsych evaluation before an MRI can be ordered. I have spent the last few months thinking over and over that she was misdiagnosed in the first place. But thanks to the awful Pediatrician we have, no one will listen.

Finally, any change in her schedule now makes her ill. For example, this morning I had to take her older sister to school at 5:45 am for a Band event. I woke her and her brother up because my husband is on night shift. We came home and the kids went back to bed. But because this was a change in her routine, she has been sleeping all day. Right now, she's curled up under a blanket with her koala pillow pet sound asleep. She woke up long enough to run to the store to purchase a birthday gift. But, she spent the time huddled inside the shopping cart.

I'm not sure what the summer is going to bring us. But, I'm pushing for the lazy Pediatrician to do more. After all, the only thing I need her to do is write a referral..she doesn't even have to talk to my child. Oh yeah, she doesn't anyway!

I didn't forget you..

2011-01-28T23:06:00.000-08:00

So, you are thinking, "wow, she totally forgot about this little blog!" I promise I didn't. I will update this weekend with all the adventures of life with Emmie. Trust me folks...it's never a boring trip!

No words

2010-09-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

I have sat here for over an hour trying to figure out the "nice" way to begin this post. I can't find it in me to say anything positive at this time. We have had some major regression, frustration, and little understanding. Major.

The more later...

2010-08-30T23:11:00.001-07:00

I am on another roller coaster ride. Tri-Care approved the 50 visits. However, what they approved was 50 twenty minutes visits. Em's speech therapist has recommended 45 minutes visits 2-3 times a week. Tri-Care will not allow us to bill two visits at a time and have a 40 minute instead of 20 minute visit. We are trying to figure out what our plan Y is...I think we have been through the rest of the letters of the alphabet!

We are in full swing at a new school. I'm not sure what to think yet. It's educating a new staff on Emmie's disorder and it's overwhelming for me. The Resource Specialist and Speech Therapist have experience with CAPD, which is a bonus for us. The classroom teacher, however, does not. I am really trying to be patient. She is a very nice lady and seems to be willing to learn how to teach Em, but I am so use to people who already know her. We'll see how it plays out. We do have a plan B for this one!

More coming...

2010-08-18T12:10:00.001-07:00

I have so much to tell you. First, we did finally hear from Tri-Care. We have been approved for 50 therapy visits. It amazes me that it took this long. The only reason we were approved now instead of a year ago is in Emmie's latest report are the words "receptive language"...are you freaking kidding me? I think as a society we are getting dumber with each passing day. Now, we are working out the logistics of the visits and she'll be starting therapy soon! Yay!

We decided to move Emmie and Jensen to Travis Elementary. I'm not thrilled with that decision, but a lot of tears went into it. More info on that later.

Today was their first day of school. Emmie didn't want to go and I stayed for a few minutes to get her settled. I'm picking her up in an hour....God please tell me she had a good day.

More coming...

I hope you are listening

2010-07-26T00:43:00.000-07:00

Still no word from TriCare...

I have had a horrible headache for two days now and I honestly think it is because I am so stressed about what will happen in 4th grade. The decision has been made to allow Jensen and Emmie to attend Travis Elem. I'm not excited by this decision by any means, but I can't see putting her back at Center. I am going to miss her Learning Center teacher like you would not believe. She has been such an important part of Emmie's development and I can't tell you how many tears have been shed over this decision. But, I have to take the step forward and pray to God that it was the right choice.

So, the process begins of taking Emmie's "binder" and recreating it for the new school. If the transfer of records goes as it usually does, the new school will have no idea of any allergies, medical information, or about her disorder. So, I am prepared to share this information within the first few days of school with both the school office, Resource and Speech Teacher, and her classroom instructor. I pray I will get the support needed to make Emmie's year a success. I hope God is listening to this prayer.

Invitation, no thanks

2010-07-20T14:08:00.001-07:00

I was hoping the next time I posted we would be beginning private speech therapy. However, still NO word from Tri-Care about the approval of services. The Case Manager emailed me a few days ago to assure me he was keeping up with the case and he would call or email as soon as he heard something. Luckily, I have a solid full time job lined up for the fall because we'll have to start paying for therapy for Emmie to be successful in the 4th grade.

It's so frustrating these days having zero support. Which brings me to another problem...invitations. Em was invited to a local Vacation Bible School. I'm not letting her go for many reasons. One, I don't know the people and/or church (it was a neighborhood kid that invited her) and two, I don't like putting her in unfamiliar social situations. I know they will come up, trust me, these days the world is ONLY about social situations and how you react to them. But, right now, I can control most of her environment. Putting her in that situation could be a positive or a negative...and it's a chance I don't want to take right now. Not a few weeks before school starts! I know when the mother came down to ask if I had any questions, she probably thought I was being a pain. But, I didn't have any questions because Em isn't going to attend. It's hard for people to understand why, so I told her we had family coming into town (which we do! The Mother in Law, her boyfriend, and Doug's Grandmother is coming). But the real reason I won't let her go is the uncomfortable feeling I have about putting her in that situation. I didn't explain this to that mother although I probably should have. Maybe when the time is right. I should make Em wear an advertisement for her blog on her shirt everyday so people will visit her blog and understand what our life is like in "huhs".

Carrington and Jensen are doing fine...enjoying everyday of summer vacation outside riding bikes, talking to friends, and eating their weight in ice cream! They aren't ready to start getting up at 7 for school!

Since my last post, we found out that Doug is getting promoted! We are so excited for him and his accomplishments. He has worked so hard for us and he certainly deserves this promotion! We are hoping the promotion comes with better work hours (and secretly PCS orders!) but we'll see.

As for me, there is so much going on. We still aren't sure where the kids will go to school. I have been offered the job with the County, but still not sure which site. That will determine where the kids go...but it's still the hurry up and wait game. I will be working my butt off (literally) and transferring to Kansas State University hopefully next summer. I'm excited! There are many reasons why I am transferring and even more reasons why the major is changing. These reasons are mine and not something I'll post here for all to read..well..all three of you! LOL

Anyway...off to enjoy the day!

It's been awhile

2010-07-10T15:25:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since my last post. I hope you enjoyed seeing Emmie! She loves her shirt and wears it often.

A lot has happened since my last post. We received the full report from Carol Gray, the Speech & Language Pathologist, that completed Emmie's most recent evaluation. She was given the SCAN-C, Lindamood Auditory Conceptualization Test, Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language, Woodcock-Johnson III Cognitive Abilities-Verbal Comprehension sub test, and the Token Test for Children. Mrs. Gray also completed a parent interview, reviewed Emmie's previous eval, and observed her during a clinical observation during the three day long adventure. Most test were administered during Emmie's first eval with The Listening Center and some were new. Either way, the results were not surprising. She obviously needs speech and language pathology...intensive speech and language. It was the conclusion of Mrs. Gray that Emmalyn has a Receptive Language Disorder.

TriCare has been given the updated IEP and report from Mrs. Gray. According to the Pediatric Case Manager, we now have a strong case. Apparently TriCare doesn't recognize CAPD, but does recognize a Receptive Language Disorder. Hello TriCare.. CAPD IS a Receptive Language Disorder. I think trained monkeys are running our insurance company. According to the Pediatric Case Manager, we should know something early next week about the approval of services. According to Mrs. Gray, Emmie needs 2-3 times a week therapy. My luck, TriCare will approve once a month. We'll see. I have hope, but it's slowly fading.

Emmie, now, is limited on her dairy intake. I noticed she was having digestive problems when she consumed most dairy products and took her to the Pediatrician. The doctor, based on Emmie's symptoms, thinks she has a pretty severe case of lactose intolerance. She doesn't have an allergy, but she is intolerant to dairy. She is on a daily medication, which the doctor recommended. However, the company that manufactures the children's version is no longer making it because they didn't find a huge need for it on the market. Supply and demand, you know how that works. So, I purchased 6 months worth from the company in the hopes of locating something else that will work for Em. I now monitor her dairy intake..which is difficult because EVERY thing has dairy in it in some form. Some dairy items she can ingest with no problems, but others we have had to change. It's a trial and error process. The problem I am having is when she goes places..for birthday parties, or when someone in the neighborhood offers the kids a treat...they don't know she can't have dairy and obviously if you are offering her a cupcake...she's 9..she wants the cupcake!! It's a learning experience for all of us.

I don't want her to feel different. She is obviously different and knows that she isn't like her friends. Which, when you are 9, is a problem because you want to be just like your friends! So, I have tried my best to make her feel special, not different I guess. She gets her own special shopping trip to Trader Joes, or The Nugget Market. She gets to pick ice cream JUST for her or try different milks because SHE has to pick a special one just for her. So far, it's working!!! I have found a "milk" that she will drink and she enjoys. We are using Lactaid regular milk, and Trader Joe's Soy milk. Trader Joe's brand is the only soy she likes. She will also drink almond milk, which has always been a staple in my house! We have found a few "treats" that she enjoys and Carrington and Jensen will also enjoy! The tofu ice cream is non dairy and all three kids LOVE it! SCORE one for mom!!!

Summer is fading fast and 4th grade is on my mind everyday. I was offered a job with the County as Paraeducator, but not sure which site. If I'm offered a job at Center, that's where Emmie will be and I pray the extra speech and language that TriCare may approve will help us get through 4th grade. If not, Emmie also has a spot saved at Travis. Although I'm not excited about Travis, we'll see. Scandia is certainly NOT an option and I'll homeschool her before she goes there!

More later :)

2010-06-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

Summer has begun!

2010-06-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

Today was Emmie's last day of Third grade! She enjoyed a fun and fattening ice cream party in class today! I am hearing she can eat her weight in caramel syrup and sprinkles! She also received her report card today. The report card is no surprise, "Emmie is helpful and caring.....Emmie tends to rush through her work...her scores are inconsistent....." blah blah blah. I have never liked report cards. To me, they don't show what my daughter is capable of or really where her weaknesses are. I just receive random numbers on a page. For example, in the section of Language Arts it says, "read grade level text fluently" and she scored a "2" for approaching. What exactly does that mean? It has never really made sense to me.

We have had a lot of huhs and whats lately. But I'm going to chalk that up to the over stimulation of the last weeks of school. Those last weeks are nuts! So, we'll see what the next few weeks bring us.

On another note, Emmie has completed her second evaluation for Speech and Language. We met with Carol Gray, a speech pathologist, and over three days she completed a full battery of testing on Emmie. We are waiting for the report from Mrs. Gray in the hopes of resubmitting that to the insurance company. If you have had children in California schools then you know fourth grade SUCKS. I'm not sure we can survive fourth grade without the extra speech therapy. We'll see what happens.

Summer is here!!!!!

I need to carry PECS!

2010-05-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

So, since my last entry, we have had part one of a new Speech and Language Evaluation. I say part one because when Tri-West processed the eval, they only approved half of it! What? So, this coming Wednesday, I will be paying for the rest of the evaluation. Tri-West has denied our request for speech therapy. Go figure. I am hopeful that this new evaluation will provide us with another way to show Tri-West that they NEED to cover, at least partially, speech therapy for CAPD. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one in the world that GETS IT when it comes to CAPD and the treatment that she needs. I know there are more people out there, hence the release of a new book called "The Sound of Hope"...HELP, throw me a preserver....someone.

We have also had our last IEP for this school year. Some of her goals were updated and I have to admit she is struggling more than a lot of people see. But that's okay. The summer provides me the uninterrupted opportunity to help maintain what she learned throughout the school year.

Today I was reminded, again, of what Emmie's abilities are. She has been sick for the last few weeks. At first, I figured it was her allergies..she has horrible allergies. I really think she is allergic to California. But after a few days of medications, no change. So, hmm..maybe a cold. A week and a half of cold meds and nothing. We took her to the Pediatrician on Friday who assured us it was a cold. The family hasn't been sleeping because Emmie wakes us up with her coughing and she's just miserable. Today, I took her to the ER. Her heart rate was high, pulse ox was low and guess what? She has bronchitis. Just a cold, huh? But, that's not the part that frustrates me..although I think if a Pediatrician can't recognize a child with obvious problems...well, where did she get her medical degree? Anyway, the nurses, tech, and doctor all speak to Emmie like they would anyone else. Emmie isn't hearing most of what they say and can't answer fully because she didn't process what they just said to her! I think when someone has a language disorder, it should somehow come up in their medical file! A little pop up of some sort when they log in to say "Language Disorder" so they know to speak slowly, rephrase, or even use pictures! I don't think that's too much to ask a medical facility. I guess I need to carry PECS everywhere. We left four hours later with two medications. She's sleeping right now and I should use this opportunity for a nap!

News

2010-04-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

I spoke too soon yesterday, although we have some news, it still isn't good news. I heard from the Case Manager today. He said he spoke to the Pediatrician and they put in a referral for speech therapy for the Aptitude Habiliation Service program with the speech therapist I have requested. However, we also have a roadblock. The Aptitude Service is not listed under our insurance company. There are two speech therapist listed under our insurance company. Tri-West has a fifty mile radius, so if there is a speech therapist within that fifty miles..that is who we will see. There are two problems with this. First, out of the two offices listed only one has experience and resources to handle CAPD. Second, the Tri-West website lists these offices as "49.99" miles away. Nice try, Tri-West. They are actually OVER sixty miles away from the base! So, I certainly don't have my hopes up on getting this referral approved. The waiting game continues....

No news is good news?

2010-04-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

Emmie's binder of information has been turned over to the Pediatric Case Manager. I included information on CAPD, emails from a speech therapist who wants to work with Em, IEP, and all of her evaluations, tests, and results. Now we play the big fat waiting game. I am beyond frustrated with the waiting games. I have to prove my daughter needs assistance. I feel like I'm always fighting. And with each fight, I fight it alone. We have no one on our side. I have heard from the Case Manager once, to ask a few questions. Other than that, no news is good news, right?

On another note, I think we are going to have to go back to the intensive multi-sensory work with Emmie. She was making great progress, however, we are on that wonderful roller coaster and right now it's all up hill. She's struggling and we need to come up with a new plan, maybe hop on a different ride. Maybe this time I should wear a helmet.

It's her birthday!

2010-04-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

Emmalyn celebrated her 9th birthday today. For her birthday, she wanted clothes for Dexter, the quirky Koala. Of course she wanted other things, her list was like a novel, but number one was clothes for the poor naked Koala. As you can see, Dexter is now sporting a knit sweater and matching cap. He's a happy little fellow. Dexter is an unusual friend. He apparently loves to travel and often, during the day, goes on little trips around the house. Emmie will leave him on odd places for his "adventures." He has traveled in the closet, in my computer bag, on the stair railing, and under pillows. He's very worldly. For her birthday, she also wanted to go to lunch. She choose Hometown Buffet because she could pick whatever she wanted, plus they had ice cream! Off to lunch we went, complete with Dexter in her bag. She ate so much she said if we didn't leave at this very moment, "I am going to explode and you'll have to clean me off the walls." Yeah, she's weird :) She had chicken and jello, fries and pizza, ice cream and a cupcake. And, of course, Icee's! She drank nearly three of them! You only turn 9 once in your life after all.

I think, overall, she has had a nice birthday. She got things she wanted, including a trampoline, ball for her zhu zhu pet, a wizards blanket, purse and hat from Claires, and a new design sticker for her wall. And of course, she got to eat whatever she wants...which never happens when Mom's around!

And I know you are thinking..what in the world is she wearing? Well, if you know Emmie, then you know she wears whatever is comfortable. She doesn't much care about it matching. This is actually her third outfit of the day. She started with a lovely pink dress, complete with purple pj pants and little mermaid socks. Outfit two was cammo capris, a brown shirt, and zebra print socks (which she wore to lunch). Now, she is wearing a brown shirt, blue plaid pants, a polka dot jacket, the same zebra socks, and black shoes. She has her own style :)

So...Happy Birthday Em! I'm so glad we didn't have to clean you off the walls :)

Frustrated.

2010-03-26T22:28:00.000-07:00

I'm frustrated to say the least. A friend referred me to the Pediatric Case Manager at our hospital. I had heard that he works hard to help our children get what they need from the insurance company, community, and school. I called him today. Although he seems to be a nice gentleman and really seems to want to help, he was honest. He said not to get my hopes up on getting Speech Therapy covered for Emmie because CAPD is a hard one to get our insurance company to recognize. I appreciate his honesty, but I'm so frustrated. I don't ask a lot from our medical facility and insurance. I'm not a problem child! My children (knock on wood) are rarely sick and require treatment, usually we only need a once a year check up. We don't use off base providers or require the insurance company to pay for anything off base. My daughter has a known disability and I don't understand why it's so hard to get her speech therapy! I'm not asking the insurance company to fully foot the bill, but geez people.

So, now I am suppose to submit all the paperwork I have on Emmie to this Case Manager and see what happens. I can't help but feel like it's a waste of time. I don't think I'm being unrealistic, asking for assistance in paying for speech therapy. I know the school is doing the best they can, but let's face it, with budget cuts and higher class sizes...she's wasting her time by being pulled out of class. We should all be in it for the children, and yet, California's government could really care less. It's about money.

I am just so damn frustrated with the Air Force, the insurance company, Doug's command, and the school system. I don't want an easy fix, I just want ONE person on our side!

In 15 plus years, our children will be the ones running this country. We should be scared.

Short and sweet

2010-03-22T00:48:00.000-07:00

The winds are blowing in California, as we welcome Spring with blooming flowers and trees. A lot has happened since my last post to you. First, I passed my No Child Left Behind exam to become a Para educator. I haven't had any sub jobs yet, but am very excited to learn more about the field including ways that I can incorporate learning modalities at home too.

Tomorrow Doug has an important meeting, which I can't tell you about yet. Let's just say that we aren't happy and hopefully we will have some closure soon.

Anyway, we are continuing our program at home and hoping everyday for more awareness of Central Auditory Processing Disorder. CAPD is real, people. It affects so many children and so many go misdiagnosed. Em is making progress, but I know in my heart that she could be further along that she is. So many budget cuts and the people that are in charge of those very cuts have no idea how it's affecting the children. These children, in ten plus years, will be the ones running this country. We should be scared. They are not getting the education they need and deserve.

Test

2010-03-01T00:13:00.001-08:00

I was hoping to get new photos of the kids today, but I will admit we were super lazy today and it was great! I am so overwhelmed lately and we all needed a day of nothing.

Time is going by super fast and before you know it the time will come for state testing. I do not like state testing, although I understand the need for it. I mean, you have to know where students across the board are ranking in order to ensure the educational system is "working". But, I always think that I know my children and I know there is no test score on a piece of colored paper that is going to change that. This year, I am excited about the testing. See, my oldest has never had a problem with test taking. The bar graph always exceeds the above average category. My son, ha, could really care less and feels it's just more work and his teacher is out to get him and that is why she is making them take this never ending test. His little bar graph is also usually high. Then there is Emmie, her bar graph is sometimes barely a bar. Test taking is overwhelming for her. It's too much all at once and it drains her.

This year, however, her wonderful Superwoman of a Resource Specialist approached me about a different test. Same basic grade level material, just set up a little different! I am so excited to see how she goes this year! Usually, I open the test scores when the kids are not around, read them, and then tuck them away. We don't discuss them or really put any sort of weight on them. They are what they are and certainly not a test to show me my child! Anyway, this test is called the California Modified Assessment. Larger fonts, shorter passages, extra white space so it's not overwhelming...the whole design is actually something you can tell someone with knowledge of how a special needs child thinks put together! Check it out and let me know what you think.

http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/ag/ag/yr07/documents/bluenov07item14a6.pdf

Later taters!

Memorizing

2010-02-23T23:34:00.000-08:00

Hello from rainy California! One day it's sunny and warm, the next it's cold and raining! California really has only two seasons, hot and wet. That's it.

Today is Tuesday, although all day it felt like another dreaded Monday. I picked up a new Fluffy book..you all know I love that guinea pig! He's such a little smart mouth critter and I "heart" him! Emmie enjoys him too..bonus! You know, not all children's literature is created equal. Some days, she'll bring me a book to read and I dread it. It will be a book she enjoys, but it's blah to read. Other days, she'll come down the stairs with a gem of a story and I have to admit..I get a little giddy!

Today, I showed her teacher a Jan Brett poster that the wonderful author and illustrated autographed for our upcoming PTA silent auction. She read a few Jan Brett books to the class to get them excited about the auction. Mrs. Brett has a way with words, but her art is breathtaking. She really thinks of EVERY detail and her stories jump off the pages! Her teacher also enjoyed a wordless book from another fabulous illustration, Robin Glasser. The art in a book is very important to me. It helps tell a story all on it's own!

Today wasn't all peachy. I was annoyed this afternoon. A volunteer reads with the kids in the classroom for testing purposes. She told me today that Emmie did a good job reading with her and she knew all the "big" words. She also said that she reads it to Emmie a few times, then reads it together before Emmie reads it on her own. I was nice, which if you know me, you KNOW it's hard sometimes. But, I was annoyed. Emmie 101...she doesn't LEARN the words, she MEMORIZES the words. I have told her teacher this and her "Team" is aware. She is a smart cookie. If you read it to her the first time, she makes a mental note of the "hard" words. The words she thinks she isn't going to be able to pronounce. The more you read it to her or "with" her, the more she is able to memorize the word. So, when it's time for her to read it..usually, it's smooth as butta' (usually, there are times where she is still not able to memorize the word and stumbles through it). Some people think..well, at least she knew the word, who cares? NO!!!!! She still doesn't "know" the word. Because tomorrow, if you give her the same story she isn't going to know the word. She needs to LEARN the sounds that word makes, the sounds you have to put together to make that word. Often, if she reads it a second time the word because another word in her memory that begins or ends with the same letter or letter sound..or sometimes it becomes something completely different. Tonight, the word, "rule" became "glue" when she read it. Memorizing the word is not what my daughter needs and I'm frustrated that despite my attempts to explain this to people, teaching her is STILL not being done properly!!!!!

Jumping off the soapbox. Expect new photos soon...as soon as my Ark is built!

Conference

2010-02-21T22:52:00.001-08:00

So, I went to the conference. Nerves and all! I was actually very surprised and had a nice time. The conference began with a wonderful Key Speaker who not only has a special needs child but also works in the field of mental health. She brought a lot of great information and insight to the table and was a very delightful lady. After the speaker, we were given a short break to visit the informational tables. I have to tell you, I had NO idea there were so many resources in my own backyard! I'll tell you more about them as I plan to develop my relationship with each one I feel will be helpful. After a few minutes, we broke into two groups. My group began with the "Navigating thru Medical Systems-Tri West, DGMC, SNIAC, and North Bay". It was an interested workshop. I learned a few things about Tri-Care (our insurance company). I was disappointed with the SNIAC though. The rep made everything look good on paper, but I know that system is flawed and he seemed clueless on it. He wasn't very helpful or informative. Although, through the open forum and this one family that spoke..I had the feeling that if we wore our rank on our lapel, things might be different. After Workshop one, we broke for lunch, which was provided. During lunch was a funny little "stress and relaxation" session. The two ladies were Military Family Life Consultants and they offered advice on how to reduce your stress. It was light hearted and needed! After lunch, we went to Workshop two, which included "Navigating thru the Educational System-SCOE (our office our education), Parent Advocate, and STOMP". OMG! This workshop was great! Most of the speakers were military families or have worked with them for many years, so they actually KNEW what it was like to go into a school or to not see the same doctor twice. This was the best part of the whole conference! I even won a set of books! They are Special education law and advocacy books. One of them has been on my Borders wish list!! YAY!

I wasn't sure what to expect with the conference. But the parents were great and the speakers were good. It was informative and I learned a few things..which is always nice!

The same boat

2010-02-19T13:38:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, our base is hosting a Special Needs Conference for the families enrolled in the EFMP program. EFMP stands for Exceptional Family Member Program and is basically a computer database program that labels the families as having a special need. Just in case we get orders to a new base, they can review our EFMP and see if the base can support the family. We all have read how that works in my previous rants about the program. It's a completely flawed system and sadly the people running it wouldn't know a special need from the man on the moon. Anyway, I'm excited about the conference. I am curious as to what the Conference has to offer, what information, what programs.

I have to tell you that I'm hesitate to go. Often, disabilities like Emmie's, get the cold shoulder because it's not something you "see". You can't look at Emmie and tell that she has a need beyond most 3rd graders. And if you spend time playing with her, chances are, you won't notice either. But if you spend time with everyday activities, around the house and doing schoolwork, you'll notice somethings different. It frustrates me that disabilities like Emmie's get swept under the rug and not taken seriously. Our insurance won't cover any additional programs for Emmie. Not even a dime for anything that will help her be successful in school, help her auditory memory skills grow, help her processors move faster, NOTHING. But let's label her as ADHD and we'll have workshops for her, we'll have support groups. I'm sure you'll hear my ADHD rant soon, don't worry, I'll warn you first.

I'm just frustrated. I am working my butt off, along with her teachers, to help keep her head above water. It would be nice to get support, nice to get validation, nice to get a "hey, we didn't know this was a problem..what can we do to help." Instead of looking at me like I'm crazy. But, I'm going to keep an open mind about the Conference. I'm going in the hopes of meeting other people who are in the same boat and can relate. I'm going with the hopes of finding a resource that will help Emmie. Reluctantly, I'm going to walk in the room and put on my pretend smile and see what happens.

Lucy's operation

2010-02-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an exciting day. A dear friend had to have surgery on her back and neck..she pulled through just fine and didn't even lose any stuffing! You see, Emmie's turtle Lucy, sprung a leak! Remember, she got her turtle for her birthday from Build a Bear and the wonderful company also performs surgery if the stitches come out. So, yesterday Lucy got dressed and we drove her to her operation. The young man working was very nice and told Emmie he would fix Lucy right up! We, of course, shopped because the poor turtle needed a new outfit. After all, she was undergoing a medical procedure! A few minutes later, the young man brought Lucy to Emmie and explained that Lucy pulled through the surgery just fine. The back surgery was a success, but she may be sore and to be careful when you squeeze her. The next surgery was tricky, but Lucy was a trooper. Emmie was so excited to have her dear friend all stitched up! We left with a new Valentines dress and black high heel shoes for Lucy. That turtle has her own dresser drawer.

We are all recovering from the traumatic event of Lucy's surgery. ha ha I swear that turtle lives better than I do!!

The million dollar question

2010-01-27T01:20:00.000-08:00

How does Emmie think? Well, let's see. The other day we were on our way to take her big sister to clarinet lessons. We were sitting at an extra long red light when Emmie noticed there were pigeons sitting on the light pole. Yeah, those rats with wings! I made a comment about them sitting all in a row, that it wasn't a group of them but a row of them. Emmie, very matter of fact, informed me it was because they were having a family meeting. After a few seconds and the continuation of the conversation, she realized that they weren't facing each other so they couldn't be talking to each other. So, what else could they be doing? OF COURSE! If you are sitting all in a line together and not talking to each other then you must be watching a movie! Did you know when pigeons sit on light poles they are watching a movie together? Yeah, me either!

The things you learn when you live with Em. Just remember that one day if you are on a game show and the question is asked.."what do pigeons do for fun?"

Speeding by

2010-01-20T23:04:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else feel like there aren't enough hours in the day? It seems the days rush by like a speeding car, but the tasks to complete are so overwhelming they are spilling out the trunk!

So, alas, I left you with a message of a medical discovery. No, discovery health hasn't called me yet..but I'm waiting! haha Okay, okay..so maybe I was being a bit over dramatic when I said I had a medical discovery. Someone has already made the discovery, but I JUST discovered their discovery! Mouth full!!

Emmie loves apple juice. Seriously, if I could hook up an iv and pump apple juice non-stop, she would be on cloud 9! Well, I discovered the best apple juice for her! It's a new one from Juicy Juice with DHA. DHA stands for Docosahexaenoic Acid. DHA is an awesome omega 3 fatty acid and essential for brain development. According to Dr. Sears, "it is found naturally in most tissues throughout the body, and is especially concentrated in the eyes and brain. Fats are a major component of the brain cell membrane and the myelin sheath around each nerve. So, it makes sense that getting enough fat, and the right kinds of fat, can greatly affect brain development and performance." His research goes on to say some poor school performance, because of ADHD or other developmental disorders, have been shown to have insufficient essential fatty acids in their diets. Now, this wasn't the only thing I have read about DHA and omega 3, I have don't extensive research on the topic. However, Dr. Sears is "reader friendly" most of the time, so I use his research to share to you. So..what does this mean for Emmie? We haven't had her DHA levels tested and I'm sure it will take an act of Congress to even get her doctor to listen to me long enough to say D-H-A..so, until the miracle occurs, I have to find creative ways to increase her omega 3. Now, Emmie drinks her Juicy Juice with DHA daily. It has a lower sugar content than most juices because they use filtered water. So, it's healthy and there are other benefits other than the great taste! I also have been adding milled flax seeds to some of her foods. She is unaware of this change because the milled seeds really have no taste and don't modify the foods. I use flax seeds in some of my foods, such as smoothies, but lately have been adding it to oatmeal and other treats. Emmie has made great progress this year and with creative ways to increase her memory and school performance, we will continue to see growth!

I just realized I needed to post photos...coming soon :)

New house=new PECS

2010-01-09T22:36:00.000-08:00

I know what you are thinking...but you are thinking about the wrong kind of pecs! I am talking about the Picture Exchange Communication System! Nice try, though! haha. There are many ways to use PECS, including for verbal and nonverbal children. However, I use them as a reinforcement and reminder for Emmie for everyday activities. We will soon expand our PECS system, right now however, we have finally hung up some basics for her in our new home.

By the front door, her pecs consist of "AM" activities. Backpack, homework, lunch, jacket. The restroom features: flush, wash hands, brush teeth, get dressed, brush hair, dry hair, pick up clothes, pick up towel. Her room has pick up toys and put clothes away. And finally the upstairs has no running, no climbing, and get socks (she always forgets to get her socks in the morning). Our homework area has random pecs including snack, put your homework in your backpack, and read. More pecs are coming soon along with photos..have to locate the camera in a random box in the garage first. Yeah, I said I would keep it handy throughout the move but somehow in the disaster of packing it was packed in some box...somewhere!

I have also made a medical discovery. Yeah, I can see the look on your face. One eyebrow raised, head to the side like "what in the heck is she talking about?" Okay, so it's not actually a medical discovery. But it's medical related and I discovered it about Emmie...does that count? lol I doubt Johns Hopkins will be knocking on my door anytime soon, but I found some very interesting research that I will be sharing soon!

Later!

The laugh

2010-01-08T21:33:00.000-08:00

It is a miracle. Emmie made a 100% on her spelling test. I have come to realize that her short term memory is blah. She can keep, as I have mentioned, about nine words in her working memory but we have never really be sure about how much she can recall from day to day. All week we have practiced her words and she has missed a whole slew of them. The first practice test yesterday was a total bomb, but later the second she only missed three. Then today, one hundred! Wow.

Emmie is currently sitting in the living room floor in a clothes basket. Lord only knows why. She is practicing her evil and happy laugh. Today was a good day for her. Yesterday. sucked. There is no other word for it. We had tears, we had sleepy kid, we had down in the dumps Emmie. That's our roller coaster.

Tomorrow is a new day. I hope we end up with the happy laugh kid because the evil laugh is getting on my nerves! Off to bed!

I forgot to tell you..

2010-01-06T23:17:00.001-08:00

I forgot to tell you...Emmie got a new art table to go with her new room. It's a "real" art table purchased at a store that sells paint brushes and special paper. She believes she is a real artist and plans to not only be an artist when she grows up but also a teacher and chef. She has it planned. She said yesterday as she helped me stir the potatoes, "In the AM, I can be a teacher. Then I'll take a nap. In the PM, I'll be a chef. I can be a artist on my days off." She is planning ahead.

Well, with her new art table has come art (imagine that!). Being the real artist she is, she is selling her artwork. She created a beautiful flower and sold it to her dad for 25 cents. An hour later, she called her Paw-Paw (my dad) and sold another picture for $1.00. So, if by chance you are approached by Emmie, be prepared to pay a fair market value for her beautiful creation! I have to admit, I talked her down. She wanted to charge $100!!

I read a quote once from Picasso that said, "All children are artist, the problem is how to remain an artist once they grow up." I don't see that as a problem, after all, she sold her first masterpiece at the tender age of 8!

The big move

2010-01-06T22:58:00.000-08:00

Do you know while most people were enjoying the holidays with family and friends, opening gifts, creating wonderful recipes, and having their break from school..WE WERE MOVING? Oh my gosh! What a HUGE undertaking it was. On December 28th we picked up the keys to our brand new house on base. Finally, we are in a four bedroom home. The kids were out of school until the 3rd, so we had one week to get the house packed, moved, cleaned, unpacked, and ready for school. Whew! We did it. Barely. It is a miracle sometimes that couples can stay married after moving. ha ha I love my husband dearly, but there are moments during a move that we test each other! But we survived and are, for the most part, unpacked. There are a few random boxes in the house and the garage needs major organization, but we are "functional".

One thing I wasn't prepared for was the toll it would take on Emmie. She is excited to have her own room and excited to have new neighbors and a playground so close by. But it was emotionally draining for her to move. She doesn't do well with change and I know that, but I wasn't fully prepared for this move. There were tears, moments of complete shut down, moments of sleeplessness, and even moments of just plain not understanding. Anytime there is a change, there is usually a spurt of regression from the progress we have made and this time was no different. She had a day or two where it seemed she didn't understand anything that was said to her, there was no confusing it for something else, she just didn't understand period. And excited as she is to have her own space, her own things decorating the walls and shelves, her new art table...she still needs to feel that security and safety of having someone near. It is not unusual for her to awake after hours of sleep to inquire about where her brother is or where her sister is, or even to talk to them in her sleep. Security has always been a huge issue with Emmie, however she has slept in her own bed which is a great progression.

With a child with a special need, even if it is an invisible need that can't be "seen", there are transition issues. A lot of people don't understand or think they do. I hear the "oh she loves her new room". Yeah. We know that. But what people don't get is they aren't here for the rest of it! They see happy Emmie, Emmie with a smile, Emmie talking about her room and her things, Emmie being around her friends...they don't see Emmie "in the dark". Emmie away from the hustle and bustle of school. They aren't the ones wiping tears at midnight or trying to find another way to explain something to her for the third time in ten minutes.

But that's okay. Just like the move, we'll survive :) Hopefully with a few more boxes unpacked!

Sleep anyone?

2009-12-21T22:39:00.000-08:00

One thing I have noticed about being the mother of a special needs child is their sleep pattern. I think I have mentioned Emmie's sleep before, although my brain is sort of "holiday fuzzy" right now, so it's possible I haven't. Sometimes she sleeps a lot. I mean like she goes to be at 8 and doesn't wake up until 9 or 10 the next morning. Sometimes though, she wakes up in the middle of the night. Tonight was no different. She went to bed at 8, as usual. About 10:15, she comes in the living room where I am, complete with a Santa hat on her head. She is obviously still waking up. The glassy look in her eyes gave it away. She said, "Mom". And then continues to tell me that I don't have to worry about her, that I need to worry about her brother when he plugs that thing in the other thing. I, of course, look at her like she's nuts! I assume she is talking about the Wii remote because we had a conversation about it before she went to bed. I asked what she was talking about and she goes on and on, just mumbling. I sort of chuckled and so did she. I said, "Emmie, it's way past your bedtime." I got a simple okay and she marched back down the hall and into her bed. My wonderfully strange child!

The first year of her life she didn't sleep. Now, nearly 9 years later, her sleep patterns are still out of whack. I'm going to chalk it up to her CAPD. Maybe, in her sleep, her brain was able to fully process what was said about the Wii remote? Maybe it woke her up because at that very moment, when it clicked, she knew she could provide an answer or explanation but by the time she came in here, it was gone again. Who knows.

But, as always, she is tucked safely back in her bed until next time.

A word

2009-12-20T01:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the last day of school before winter break! It was an extremely long day full of sugar, sugar, and a side of sugar in the classrooms. At lunch, we had the 5th grade singing Jingle Bells as loud as possible. Lucky me, huh? But now, as I sit on my couch in my pj's with the sounds of the dryer in the background, I am thankful that we are officially on winter break and the only off pitch sounds of jingle bells is coming from the TV!

I can not tell you how excited I am to have winter break! It was time! Of course our break will be spent packing and moving to the new 4 bedroom! Emmie has promptly requested that she be allowed to have her own art desk in her room. The one with the light and pencil holder she saw at a local art store. Santa won't be bringing it since his elves have finished making their gifts before we found out about the move. Maybe after the new year.

Emmie and her love of art has had me thinking a lot lately. I am not an artist, big surprise huh? But, I know how important it is to her and how much of a difference it has made in her life. Not only does it nurture her creative side and allow her an outlet, but it also allows her something to be good at. Art isn't pass or fail, it isn't about coloring inside the lines, or making sure something is spelled correctly. Art is about expression. Color where you want, how you want, and with whatever tool you want. It allows her to be perfect in her own way. It doesn't come with a red x over the missed problem or the mark over the work she misspelled. It allows her to be free.

It is very important that we nurture what our children love and what they are good at. I have never been one to push the kids into something. I'm not the crazy parent at soccer games, or the one making the child join three different after school activities. I just want them to be kids and be happy! If my son loves playing with skateboards and could care less about joining the basketball team, so be it. If my oldest wants to play the clarinet instead of creating friendship bracelets, Let her. And if Emmie wants to put paint on paper and call it a duck. Guess what? It will be the best duck I have ever seen. She won't need validation from anyone else. She knows she's good at it and that is all that matters.

So, because of her love of art and because of the doors it has opened up for her education, I have been researching Art therapy. I believe I will apply for an art therapy program in the next few years. I'm excited about it, even if some won't understand.

Remember the sentence structure problem we were having? Well, we have started a journal and we are making progress. I also bought this lovely book called "The Aspiring Writer's Journal" at the Scholastic Warehouse Sale. Seriously, why didn't I know about these sales YEARS ago? Anyway, it's a book for older children. However, it provides some great writing prompts to help me get Emmie started some days. Some prompts are too advanced for her right now, but I am having an interesting time digging out my creative soul that has been buried for some time.

Writing prompt for today for mom. "If you could have one word to be your guiding light, what would it be and why?" One word huh? Is that possible to have one word? I am from the south and we often have 15 words for every one word for a northern. We talk. Okay, honestly, we talk A LOT! But, my one word, if I had to come up with one word is "Serendipity". I love this word. A happy accident is my life. It is my guide. My husband and I met as friends. It was a happy accident that we became more than best friends and married. It is a happy accident that we have three amazing children and one fat, lazy cat. What is your one word?

It was going to happen

2009-12-09T22:11:00.000-08:00

Today has been a long day. Wednesdays are the days the kids get out of school at 1:05, however it always seems like this is the longest day of the week!

Emmie had a rough day. Today in school one of her friends made fun of her reading level. This little boy and Emmie have been good friends since school started this year, but lately he has been having a rough time. A small roller coaster of emotions and Emmie has tried to be patient. Apparently, he was making fun of her because she is still in the one's (her reading level is 1.9-2.9). She was upset about it but I spoke with her about mistakes and how all people make them. She seemed okay with the fact her friend made a mistake, but she isn't likely to have a warm, fuzzy feeling about him anytime soon. I knew, one day, someone would make fun of her for being "behind". Kids will be kids after all. I am thankful for how the teacher handled the situation and how Emmie handled it. I am very proud of her for not getting too upset and for understanding.

She rushed through an assignment during class today. Which is no real surprise. Getting her to slow down and take her time has been a constant struggle. One day I will find a balance for her, but right now, we'll just go over the work the second time. She did, however, do an awesome job on her homework! Today was a worksheet of subtraction-not her fave! It was subtracting three digit numbers. I heard zero complaints, no tears, and right answers! That my friends is progress at it's best!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get some holiday shopping completed. Emmie's speech teacher is Jewish, so I'm hoping to put together little gifts for her, but I'm afraid I'm just not going to have time :( Fingers crossed though!

St. Nicholas

2009-12-06T22:43:00.000-08:00

Can you believe the weather? Well, if you are in California, then you know they are calling for snow tomorrow! Snow in California? There seems to be something wrong with that! I'm excited nonetheless. I'm not expecting our Midwest winter like we had at Scott AFB, IL but I'm hoping it will be enough snow for the kids to actually get to see it!

Our family celebrates St. Nicholas Day. It's an European tradition and one we have carried on since my husband celebrated it when he was little. Legend goes if the children were good throughout the year then St. Nicholas would come and leave fruit and nuts in their shoes. If they were bad, then they would receive potatoes and nuts from Black Pete. So, before bed, the kids tucked their shoes next to the front door in the hopes they had been good. They woke up to candy and treats in their shoes. St. Nicholas is a bit optimistic I guess.

Nothing new going on in the Porter house. School is getting more difficult for Emmie as the year progresses. I have noticed certain behavior changes in her when the work gets too difficult or when a new concept is introduced. We are working through it, but it's interesting to note. She often tries to talk her way out of the work. Most of the time, with encouragement, she can complete it or sometimes it takes hours and hours with many breaks in between. She did come home on Friday wanting to learn Sign language. It seems to be a passion, so I may use this to my advantage as a reward for her.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday preparations. We are preparing not only for the holiday, but also the move. UGH, can we say stress??

Poor Fairy

2009-12-02T23:30:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it's December already. Is it just me or does it feel like the older you get, the faster time goes by? It doesn't seem like Christmas should be right around the corner just yet.

A lot is new in the Porter house. We were offered a larger house yesterday and will be moving a few days after Christmas. We have been in a 3 bedroom for over 5 years now and we have quickly grown out of this house. We call it our Dollhouse because it's so tiny. So yesterday we got the call that the new housing will be opening and to come pick our house. We did and the kids are very excited to be moving, but I'm freaking out that we are moving SO soon.

Emmie is sort of excited to have her own room. Even when she did have her room, we would often find her sleeping at the end of Jensen's bed. She needs her safety net and I'm interested to see how it goes. We have had some good days lately and for that I am grateful! I have been working on sentence structure more than anything lately. She needs help building sentences so we have been using a journal back and forth. I need to incorporate it more into her homework routine, but it's been difficult to do that lately. I use to be able to slip the extra work in and she didn't know the difference. Now, however, she can read the homework sheet her teacher sends home. So, on Wednesdays, she knows that her homework is only a math worksheet, reading, and multiplication fact practice! "It doesn't say journal on here"...OOPS!

I had to laugh at her tonight though. Emmie is the sort of person that gets very concerned about things. She worries. She has had this lose tooth for awhile now and tonight it finally came out. We wrapped it up, put it in her little pillow, and I tucked her into bed. A little while later she came in the living room, very worried. She was very concerned about the Tooth Fairy and if the cat would attack her because he doesn't know her! I assured her the Fairy would be safe and the cat would be calm. No worries, Tooth Fairy has already visited and safely landed and left for more teeth hunting :)

She is getting too big for her britches, as we say in the South!! Just like the months fly by, so does the times when the kids are little!

Barely

2009-11-29T21:32:00.000-08:00

Hello. Have we met? Just in case we haven't, pull up your chair, grab a cuddly blanket, a warm up of tea, and stay awhile. If we have met, then you realize what a crazy life I lead and I am forever grateful for your patience. If you really know me, then you are saying "get off your butt and post already". Yeah, I love you anyway.

We have been on Thanksgiving break this week. I can not describe how wonderful it has been to not have to be anywhere, not have to do anything, and just cuddle up on the couch and watch movies with the kids. My husband is on night shift, which sucks, and leaves him sleeping during the day and working twelve hours at night. So, me and the kids have been flying solo. We had a lovely Thanksgiving followed by a dessert social with great friends. Being military, the holidays are tough. But somehow our military family comes together and gives us the taste of "home" we crave. After all the pies and treats were consumed we headed out for some Black Friday shopping. Pure torture. Seriously, who's idea was this? Having a massive sale one day of the year for the entire world? We survived, barely.

The week with Emmie has been interesting and frustrating all in one. She had a heritage project to work on. It was an interesting project, but with the lack of stability this week, it was a difficult project. Sometimes I wish teachers would understand that we want the break too and please reserve projects for school days! She finished it, barely.

She has had a roller coaster of a week. Some days she's been right on, other's she's lagged behind. Missed words, misunderstandings, missed conversations all together. Then there's that one bright spot where you can have a conversation with her and she "gets" everything you have said and is able to respond appropriately. The bright spots get us through, barely.

I'm curious to see how her spelling words will go this week after having a break. Usually it takes her time to "reconnect". But I have faith that she'll transition back into the swing of things. Do you think she's excited about going back to school? Barely.

More, I promise. Okay, by now you are thinking my promises mean nothing since I keep saying I'll keep up this blog and I seen to fall behind. Trust me, I'm holding on to life by the seat of the pants...barely.

In a race car

2009-11-17T07:12:00.000-08:00

I have a friend that reminds me that I have neglected Emmie's blog :( I promise I haven't. However, over the last few weeks I have become the Treasurer for a very disorganized PTA. Well, disorganized before we started with an entirely new PTA this year. It has been very time consuming and exhausting to get the "books" in order from the mess that was left. Not to mention, none of the previous presidents filed taxes! What? How can someone NOT do that? Anyway, that has taken more time and energy that I would like to admit.

Emmie has been plugging along. Some days are still awesome and some days still suck. She is working on her multiplication facts. I remember when I was in 3rd grade, my teacher played this multiplication tape over and over and over. I hated that tape and thus hated multiplication! Emmie, however, is enjoying it :)

She just sat down on the couch, her hair is brushed, teeth brushed, and she is dressed for the day. She turned on one of her favorite shows, "Franklin" which reminded her that she was suppose to tell me about her AR level. I feel like I live in a "If you give a mouse a cookie" book. If she sees Franklin, that will remind her about reading. If she reads, then she'll have to....haha, I love those books. Anyway, seeing this little turtle reminded her that her AR level went UP! Up! Up! She is now a 1.9-2.9. To know a year ago she could barely read ten sight words and there seemed to be no way possible she could ever read even the simplest of books....and now we are moving UP!! Wowza! It has been a road, and although sometimes I wish there weren't as many potholes as they are, it's been all worth it. I'll stop and change my tire from time to time, recharge, and we'll move on. Because she's speeding by us!!!

Donna

Turkey!

2009-10-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

Here's the turkey! Emmalyn had to decorate this turkey anyway she wanted. So, she decided on egg shells. The day the project came home she made a shopping list! She chose each color paint she needed, along with Modge Podge, and we headed to Michaels. With the help of tons of friends who saved their eggshells (THANK YOU!!), we started on this wonderful project. She painted the egg shells the colors she wanted, then painted the turkey's body black so the eggs would stand out. The turkey's egg shell body is brown and she also used some black and tan. She painted the feathers green, purple, orange, yellow, red, and blue. Of course he needed yellow feet and a yellow beak! His gobbler is red and he has a green and black eye. Each shell was painted and left overnight to dry. After the shell was dry, she used a small bowl to crack large pieces of the shell into. She used a brush to spread a little Modge Podge (that stuff dries FAST!) then placed the large shells she broke onto the Modge Podge. She used her fingers to "smash" the shell after it was in the Modge Podge. This was done a million times (okay, not really, but she felt like it!). Then, one layer of Modge Podge was put over Mr. Turkey to seal his shells! This photo does NOT do him justice..he is the neatest Turkey! I am very proud of her creativity!

She has had a long day...it wasn't a good day for her :( So, I'm off to bed to recover from the afternoon. Busy weekend ahead as little ghosts and goblins will arrive!!

Two steps

2009-10-25T16:45:00.001-07:00

I have so much to say but not sure where to begin. First, my brain is officially drained thanks to Philosophy! This course, although very interesting, is kicking my butt! I am starting to wish I could drop out of college and get a job, but I know I would feel guilty because I really WANT to finish college. I think I'm starting to doubt my path in life.

I am frustrated at the world. People. I am frustrated at people. Our local Borders bookstore had a Halloween event on Saturday for children. Of course Emmalyn wanted to go and she was very excited about it! The other two could have done without it, but went anyway and spent the time surfing books. Emmalyn isn't your typical 8 year old. She still enjoys doing the things the "little" kids do. I was so disappointed at the event at Borders. First, Borders is known not to have a great special education selection and I have complained many times. Second, this event was the most unorganized! There were a wide range of age groups represented but Emmalyn kept getting put in the "big kid" category. So the activities she would have enjoyed, she missed out because she was a "big kid". The two hosts were delightful women who seemed to have zero patience for a large group of children and spoke too fast for Emmalyn to follow along. The entire time was spent with me explaining what these women had to say to Emmalyn. I think if you are going to host an event like this you should require RSVP's so you can be prepared for the number of children and their ages. I also think you should ask on this RSVP form if your child has a special need or may require extra "help". As much as I think people understand children with special needs, I am thrown two feet backwards after something like this. I want to make some invisible tag on Emmie that says "speak slowly please!" or "I know I'm 8 years old, but please don't treat me like an adult..I like to play and have fun too." Frustrated.

On another note, Emmalyn's spelling tests are continuing to improve. Last week she missed two, this week she made a 100% again. I'm struggling with these tests though. If Emmalyn is able to study just before the test, or even the morning of the test, she does fine. Why? Because she memorizes the words. She says them over and over until they are embedded in her working memory. She isn't making the 100% because she actually KNOWS the word and it's spelling. So many people can't understand that. Some think 100% is a 100% no matter how you get it, but I don't. The ability to know and understand the word is far more important than just knowing how to spell it. Two steps forward, three steps back...

I am so proud of Emmalyn's ability to be creative. The third graders had to complete a huge turkey project this week. The teacher sent home a paper turkey and the students were to decorate it with anything (with the exception of anything sugary and sweet-we have ants!). Emmalyn created an egg shell mosaic on her turkey! I don't want to give too many details (photo and details will be posted tomorrow) until you see it! I admire her ability to see colors and to see the world the way she does.

Until tomorrow...Gobble Gobble

Slow as a snail

2009-10-20T21:29:00.001-07:00

So, it was merely days ago I mentioned that I suck, right? I know. I don't feel like I have time for anything these days. It feels like the days and nights blend together and the month is speeding by without me noticing.

My husband's shift work is killing our family time. I love my family dinners, but with him getting home after 7 pm, dinner is usually on a foil covered plate in the microwave for him. I miss sitting down together at the table, of course me and the kids still do that but it's not the same, and talking about our day. We go through each kids day at school, interesting thing that happened, what they learned, etc. I do not like shift work!

The kids are okay. Carrington will be starting her Honor Band practice tomorrow at the middle school. Even though she isn't IN middle school, I'm a little freaked out that she is even going there for a practice! Yikes! With time going as fast as it is, she'll be graduating before I wink! Jensen is fine. Trying his best to stop talking in class, which is odd that he is the one getting in trouble for talking because he is the quite one. Emmie, ahh, Emmie. Academically, we are still on track. We are still working hard to get her spelling words down and her reading at grade level. Something we do have to work on is getting her to SLLLOOOWWW down. She probably knows the material she is working on, in fact, I would be willing to bet she knows the math worksheets in class. However, because of her CAPD, she doesn't want anyone to know she is different really. Not different than the other kids in the class. She wants to be finished first. She wants the teacher to be proud of her and to her, finishing first means the teacher is proud and she is "smart". But, by her rushing through her work she is also missing half the page! It's a cycle, folks.

On another note, she is working on an awesome art project that I can't wait to share. In third grade they complete a turkey. It's a pretty good size paper turkey and they are to decorate it however they choose, with whatever their choose (except sugary items because of ants). Emmie came up with the idea on how to decorate her turkey and I think it is going to look GREAT!!!! I'll share photos when it's done!

She did it!

2009-10-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

Last night was the School Board meeting. I admit I didn't want to go. The weather was horrible and I just wanted to climb into my pj's with a cup of tea and do homework. But, both of my daughters were presenting at the meeting. My oldest daughter is one of two Student of the Month. Carrington helped lead the Pledge, told a little about the elementary school, and introduced students. She did a great job! Emmie has been practicing her speech all week. I had to alter it twice, not by much though. One alter was taking out the word "Academics" which was proudly pronounced "Ox-a-demics" each time she read it.

As Emmie sat in her seat she was very confident. Until about two minutes before 7 pm when the School Board walked in! Emmie knows the School Board President and when she walked in the door, her nerves got the best of her! She said she didn't want to speak, she didn't want to do it. But, once Carrington got up there to talk she seemed fine. When it was her turn to speak, my heart was in my throat. Here is a child who couldn't read or remember her first grade sight words when she began second grade! It wasn't until the middle-end of second grade that she could read a basic kindergarten level 1 reader. The moment of truth...has all the work paid off? Will she stumble on words, will she forget them all together? NOPE! She did AWESOME!! There were two words she stumbled on..only TWO. But luckily Carrington was there to quickly help her. Emmie's speech was over a half of a page long. When she was finished, I had tears in my eyes and she gave me a high five! She had climbed a mountain. She had read her speech perfectly and words like "masterpieces" and "tropical paradises" rolled off her tongue like there was never a problem. This, friends, is a miracle before your own eyes!!

The kids left the meeting with Dad right after their speech. School Board meetings can get a little "nasty" so I didn't want them there. I stayed for a bit, but left before the meeting is over. Today is a new day. We nearly floated away yesterday, but the skies look a little better. Our goal now is getting Emmie to slow down when she is working in class..more on that later!

Smart cookie

2009-10-12T20:36:00.000-07:00

The kids are tucked into bed and all is quiet in the house, except the sound of my husband clicking the Playstation buttons! Men and their toys!

It has been a few days since I last wrote and frankly I am just exhausted. Friday I was concerned about Emmie's spelling test. That morning she practiced and still missed six words. Last week was a review of the previous five weeks so I thought it would come easier. It didn't. It was literally like she had seen the words for the very first time. It was a long week. But Friday came. Apparently when she went to Learning Center to take the test, a fellow classmate had an accident and had to be taken to the nurse for new clothes. Hmm...Emmie certainly used this to her advantage as she was given a few more minutes to study the words. I tell you she's a smart cookie and this was a strategy for her. What she does is says the word over and over in her head. For example, one of her words was "second". So, during this brief study period she said, "s-e-c-o-n-d, s-e-c-o-n-d" over and over. She is really good at "crash" studying and guess what folks? She made a 100%. I am proud of her and frustrated at the same time! She isn't always going to have that few extra minutes and I wish she would have used the knowledge and confidence she had before school to take the test.

Overall, she is doing very well in school. The papers that are sent home show she is improving in her timed math facts. We were struggling in subtraction and while we still have our bad days, she is coming along nicely. Her reading is improving as well. She is at the point where she wants to read chapter books like her friends. The wonderful school librarian recommended two and we have started reading about Amanda the Pig.

I am proud of how far she has come in this short amount of time. And I realize we still have mountains to climb. I am just exhausted and wish some of those mountains would turn into molehills before my eyes!!

It's a hard knock life

2009-10-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I am a slacker. Yes, I know it's been a few days since my last post. Yes, I know you have been waiting. Thank you for reminding me. To find a moment to sit down and type is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There is no extra time! College is HARD work folks! Whew!

Doug is back at work and shift work sucks (or as Carrington says, "inhales"). They decided to put him in the Inpatient Squadron because he is "new". Umm, he has spent more time here than most people and more time in an Inpatient Unit than most during their active duty years. But whatever. We'll deal with it.

Carrington is one of two "Student of the Month" in 6th grade and has been working on her speech to read at the Board meeting. She also had an audition today for Honor Band and she made it! She was very nervous but when it comes to playing the clarinet, she's awesome! Jensen isn't feeling well tonight. His teacher had them doing exercises on the playground and I think he pulled a small muscle in his chest. He has been complaining about it since right after school. At first, we thought it was his asthma because they had run a mile. But, even after his inhaler it's still there. We tried some motrin for the pain but he just can't get comfortable. We'll see how he feels in the morning then go from there. Poor guy!

Emmie...excuse me, Emmalyn, is doing fine. She has proclaimed that she has outgrown Emmie. We'll see how long that is going to last! Classroom work is going, as far as I know, well. I have received compliments on her behavior and her ability to assist another student with his behavior. Apparently this other student listens to Emmie *cough* Emmalyn and follows her lead. I am proud of her ability to help others without seeking praise or reward. She does it just because he is her friend and she wants to help. Homework has been blah, as usual. We really haven't doing anything exciting to supplement her work this week because she has a few paragraphs to practice. She, along with Carrington, will be presenting at the School Board meeting next week and she has to read a few paragraphs. We have been struggling with it so that has been our homework. I am having issues-but not going to discuss them yet.

Anyway, all in all it's pretty boring here right now! Boring can be good :)

Oh dear!

2009-10-05T21:06:00.000-07:00

Are these weeks flying by or is it just me? It seems like time is on fast forward! Of course there is typically a day or two that will drag on, but more seem to begin and end in record time! Here we are finishing up another Monday. Oh, and Emmie's new saying..."Oh, dear". She sounds like a little old lady..oh, dear, oh, dear.

Today Emmie had a pretty good day until homework time. Spelling words this week is a list of review words from the first five weeks. I thought..hmm..this should be easy. Wrong. It is literally like she is seeing the words for the first time again. Enter the CAPD. But that's okay, we'll do what we have to do in order to ensure she knows them by Friday. So, homework was the dreaded spelling triangles. I didn't push her much today since she struggled with the words this afternoon. But, she has been wanting to read a chapter book. I think it's because most of the students in the class are reading chapter books and she wants to fit in. Really, she is barely reading Little Bear without too much prompting. However, I thought we would give it a try. She has to read them eventually. We spent some of Saturday, after the ducky race, at Borders. While I think their special education section sucks, they have a nice children's section. It was so hard to pick a book! We settled on "Cam Jansen: The Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds". I read the first chapter to her tonight and asked her a few questions which she was unable to answer. We'll re-read chapter one tomorrow night. I know she wants to read it so bad, but I just don't think we are "there" yet.

Emmie was also asked to present her classrooms art to the School Board next week. She will have to stand up in front of a crowd, read a paragraph, and show off some of their art. I have to admit I'm nervous for a few reasons. First, Emmie has to stand up there and read a paragraph! But, we'll practice all week so my nerves aren't too bad. Second and probably the biggest worry is how they will react. You see, our district is going through something right now. The teachers are wearing their strike buttons, as I have mentioned. This week they vote on "to strike or not to strike". I have heard about these School Board meetings and been witnessed to some of the behaviors that adults should NOT have at them. I'm worried for her and how the adults will behave. It's a sad, sad world when I have to worry about how an adult will behave at a school board meeting....I should be worried about the kids. Geez. I don't like California's educational system at all!!! Anyway, say a little prayer that this is resolved quickly and without anger.

Well folks, I'm off. We are down to one car, since Doug's is in shipment, so we have to get everyone up to take him to work. I run in the morning, but he has to be at work at 6:45 am. UGH!! Early morning for ALL of us!

Feathered Friends

2009-10-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful Saturday we had today! We spent the lovely day in Old Sacramento. The city hosted a Duck Race benefiting the Special Olympics. I sold little rubber ducks along with thousands of others! All together a little over 12,000 ducks were sold! Then, they were all dumped into the Sacramento River and raced from bridge to bridge! It was so much fun to watch the little yellow friends floating down the river, with a little help from the Police and Fire Water Rescue Squad :) We spent the entire day in Sacramento, but rest assured, tomorrow we'll start spelling words for the week! Sleep well :)

Spelling Smelling

2009-10-02T22:03:00.001-07:00

I just realized it was 10 pm! I have been working on this huge paper for my Philosophy class and lost track of time completely! I usually stay up pretty late, but tomorrow is a long run day so I'll be up again at 5:30 am with the hopes of at least 5 miles (although I'm secretly hoping for 6!).

Today was Spelling test day! This morning when we reviewed her words, she was struggling with two words. I really thought she would miss "clowns", for some reason she keeps forgetting the n and adding an e! So, she went to the Superwoman's class for her test. Superwoman told me that Emmie tried to get her to start with the word clowns, but she said no :) Oh, Rats! Well, I am VERY happy to tell you that Emmie made 100% on her test! She still struggled with a word or two, but Superwoman told her that a good way to figure it out is to write the word the two ways you think it's spelled and see if it looks right. YAY!!! I am not exactly sure what is working, but I'm not complaining! I wholeheartedly believe the extra multi-sensory work we have been doing at home contributes to her ability to remember the spelling of the words.

We have a busy weekend! Tomorrow is the Sacramento Duck Race benefiting the Special Olympics. I have been selling ducks and can't wait to see all of them dumped into the Sacramento River for their race! We will be in Sacramento all day tomorrow and Doug goes back to work on Sunday. YUCK! I do not like shift work!!

Enjoy the weekend friends, I'm off to bed!

A break

2009-10-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today was a day full of memories, sadness, laughter, and the sobering thought that life is too short. One year ago today we lost a dear friend as her battle with brain cancer came to an end. She fought a brave fight and if you knew her, you know she was one stubborn ol' peach! It doesn't feel like a year has passed because to this day she is still so much of a part of our lives. It's hard to explain but it feels like yesterday she was sneaking chocolate kisses to my kids when I wasn't looking or giving our custodian hell on the radio at work. She was one of those people you meet and from that first hello, your life is changed. :) We love her.

Since today was a hard day, we didn't do much homework. I usually require Emmie to do more than the typical 3rd grade homework. But, for once, I have to admit I didn't push her. I did the standard spelling pre-test with her, finished reading "Houndsley and Catina" (which by the way was the most adorable story! I can't wait to find book two!), and that was it. No math practice, no activity..just took a break. I think we all needed it. I took some time for myself and went shopping. I had nothing in mind, just thinking of my dear friend it seemed like a shopping trip was the perfect way to end the day (of course if she were here it would have been a margarita after the shopping trip!). It was so nice to get out of the house and away from everyone. I just needed time.

I hope you each take a moment to tell the ones you love how important they are..even when you think they already know it. Trust me, life speeds by.

Our boring ol' life

2009-09-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

I have received some lovely notes on Emmie's star photo. We had such a great time with the photo and can't wait to take more. Of course there are tons of ideas running through our heads. I have an awesome camera, but I have to figure it all out, which is the hard part! I would love to go in and take a photo like that of all Mrs. Buck's kids. After all, they all ARE special little stars in this world!

School work has been blah. Nothing exciting really. We did try a tactile activity yesterday with her spelling words. She was able to use hair gel (double bagged an entire bottle of blue hair gel) to "write" her words out. She had a great time writing the words in the gel and it was a GREAT activity for her to "see" and "feel" them. She is only struggling with about four words this week, which is nice. For some reason, every time she spells "tables" it gets spelled "tadoles". She has this small dry erase board and she loves taking a practice spelling test everyday and using that board. So, we have been doing that every afternoon. So, spelling we are plugging along with. It's hard work for both of us! The math worksheet tonight was "easy peasy". It involved regrouping three digit numbers and she breezed right through it with no mistakes. Reading..of course we have been doing a LOT of that. Remember we read the book "Pumpkin Soup" the other night? Well, there is a part two called "A Pipkin of Pepper" and it was just as cute as the first book! Both were adorable fall time books and we enjoyed them! Tonight we started on a new book, a chapter book. It's titled "Houndsley and Catina". We read chapter one which is about Houndsley the dog and Catina the cat. They are best friends. Catina is writing her memoirs, which happen to be over 70 chapters long! Houndsley reads them and the book isn't that good :( But he doesn't know how to tell his friend. I adored the first chapter! Illustrations are fabulous too! I can't wait to read the next chapter with Emmie. I love to find books that give you the "can't wait" feeling! And today, it seems like it's harder and harder to find GOOD children's literature. We also read a story they are reading in class called, "The Keeping Quilt" before she had to take the test on it.

She has had more focus recently, more drive. She has always been a go-getter type when it comes to her schoolwork, but lately it seems like she has something to prove. She also is working towards treats so I am putting together a token system, which I have mentioned before. She will be earning tokens for 100% spelling tests right now, however we are exploring other options for tokens. Prizes will vary, ice cream, stickers, new book, time in the Motor Room with Mrs. Buck's class (her favorite reward!), etc.

Things are going pretty good right now (knock on wood).

She shines

2009-09-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

"Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done" -Amelia Earhart

Emmie is making more progress than many thought was possible. Some said "she never will", while I fought for the "Just watch and see!". She is the keeper of her own stars, the master of her own fate. Everyday is still a struggle, everyday will be tough. But she has her big girl boots on and she's ready. She's ready for whatever life many bring her. Don't tell her the stars are her limit when we know there are footprints on the moon!

Not as clueless as I thought!

2009-09-25T23:04:00.001-07:00

The weekend has arrived with a bang! Today I spent most of the morning with Emmie's class. It was their station day and they completed language arts activities. The activity I was leading was a spelling tile game, which I named the Spelling Magic game because it sounded like more fun that way! They were given tiles labeled 1-12 and had to match the beginning and ending sounds using the tiles. Once you had all questions answered and the tiles in the spot you thought they went, you closed the boards and turned them out and like magic..colored tiles appeared instead of numbers! You then had to check to see if your pattern matched the book. If it matched, you answers all the questions correctly. It was a fun little activity and the students worked very well together.

I was worried about Emmie's spelling test. It's Friday-test day! However the activities began right when class started, so the spelling test couldn't be completed until after their fun. I tried to email the Superwoman, but to be honest, she has been locking her door in the morning because she can't seem to get her morning routine started because of interruptions. Her caseload is so overwhelming this year and despite me stopping by her office four times today, I never once saw her! She really needs a long vacation! But, Emmie completed her test later in the day. And the result was..........drum roll please.................100%! She struggled with a few of the words at home, so I wasn't sure how she would do. Add in the fact she completed a handful of spelling and language activities for the morning and she was stressed! Apparently she asked Superwoman to give her the ones she was struggling with first so she wouldn't forget them. She did give her one first, but she mixed the rest in there according to Emmie. We still have to work on the "b" and "d" reversals. I'll certainly add it to our list. And on top of her busy day, she also won the Pizza with the Principal drawing! So Wednesday she will have pizza with her school principal in her office along with a handful of other winners :) Lucky duck!

So I have come to the conclusion that I may know what I'm doing here! Maybe I have figured out, with the help of so many other wonderful people, what will work and what IS working for Emmie. The only problem I am running into is getting others to understand what it is she needs. But, the multi-sensory activities have required extra prep work and brain storming on my part..but obviously it's worth it..she's successful! So, I'm not as clueless as I thought I was. Although I am always looking for new ways to teach Emmie..my ears are open for your suggestions, comments, and questions :)

It's Friday Eve!

2009-09-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

Thursday's are the most wonderful days of the week! They are sort of like a pre-celebration day because after Thursday comes Friday! I am looking forward to this weekend. I have a long run scheduled for Saturday and maybe sneak in a rest day on Sunday. Emmie has a birthday party to go to on Sunday so hopefully it will be an easy day :)

Yesterday Emmie and I went shopping. She needed a gift sack and birthday card for a the party and I need a few things so we headed to Target. As you know, she has been wanting to purchase something for Mrs. Buck's class. Seriously, she has been driving me NUTS about it! We spent hours in Target..up and down the isles. Toy isle, Book isle, snack isle, arts/crafts isle and then back again. She found a cute little McDonald's play set but decided the plastic cookies were too small and someone might choke. Then came the wooden cupcake playset but of course it's made of wood and "Mom, they can't wash it" and "Mom, what if someone gets mad and throws it?". Then she got on the shaving cream kick. They needed shaving cream (it's a great kinesthetic activity) but it needed to be "non-toxic" but coming from Emmie, "It has to be okay to put in their mouth, just in case". Does anyone make non-toxic shaving cream because we had NO luck. Finally, on the way home from Target she decided a game might be nice. I spoke with one of the Aides who said they enjoyed playing games as a class so today I ran up to the store to find a game. My husband was with me. Bless his heart. He wanted so badly to buy "Whack a Mole". Umm..NO WAY! I wouldn't even buy that for US to play..can you imagine where those little plastic mallets would end up? Jensen would end up whacked in the head! Carrington would get whacked in the nose. I'm not psychic, but I'm certainly making a prediction! We settled on Lucky Ducks a game that helps with colors and shapes with these adorable little quackers! Emmie was so proud to take it to the class today. It really fills her heart to do something for someone else.

The weather was lovely today! I ran at 5:30 and almost looped back home to get a jacket, but knew if I did come back towards the house I wasn't going back out! So, I just sucked it up and kept on running :) The day went as usual. Short handed at work, won't even go there! The kids had an okay day. Jensen didn't have a lot of homework and sat down and did his reading without fuss. Score! Carrington didn't have much either and spent most of the afternoon on the telephone with her best friend. Emmie, she's a character. Her homework was okay. Spelling pre-test, she missed four which I completely expected. Math flashcards, check. Reading, check. Then we played Spelling scrabble with the new Scrabble Apple. She thought it was fun to find the letters from the apple and by the end the four she missed went down to two :) Tomorrow is a busy day for her as they have a fun activity planned for all morning! Can't wait to tell you all about it.

I have to tell you a quick little funny though. Since Carrington was on the phone so much today of course Emmie also wanted to be on the phone. She said, out loud, "who can I call?" My husband quickly replied.."hmm, call someone who cares!" Of course he was just joking but little Emmie thought long and hard about who cared. She had a short list of people, but upon realizing it was alittle late to call some she decided to call Aunt Rachel..after all, she cared and that was dad's rule. Emmie had a short chat with her :) We haven't talked to her in awhile and Emmie passed the phone to me. It was a nice to hear from her and we had a lovely chat :) It was a nice surprise!

The first day of fall? Yeah right!

2009-09-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

Oh my how I love Wednesdays! The kids get out early from school every Wednesday at 1:05 so we have the whole afternoon :) Today was another HOT day in California. Yesterday was the first day of fall and I think it's going to be a miserable season! The kids haven't been able to play outside much. I don't like them to go outside when it's so hot out, seriously yesterday it was over 100 degrees! Anyway, so we all came home today and took some time to cool off before homework.

After snack and water, we sat down for another Wednesday list of homework. Wednesday was Read Naturally homework. Read Naturally is where Emmie reads a passage for fluency. I am suppose to time her, however this passage was another 3.0. We read it twice and on the third time I timed her for the first three sentences. She was able to answer the comprehension questions, however when it came to "re-telling" the story, she was only able to accurately re-tell one or two facts. She wrote more but it wasn't something she read in the story. That's another part of the CAPD, she sort of makes it up as she goes along to where and how she thinks it fits. We worked on another wipe-off spelling test. She did okay, misplacing "addrass" for address, "spet" for spent, and "agaen" for again. We also read an adorable little book called "Pumpkin Soup". It's a story about a duck, cat, and squirrel who all have their own jobs during the process of making pumpkin soup. The duck, however, wants to try a new job. An argument ensues and the duck leaves. The poor cat and squirrel realize it wasn't a big deal and they want to work together..duck comes back and they all work it out. Totally cute little book and perfect for fall (well, a state that is having NORMAL fall weather!). A big bowl of pumpkin soup would have been nice, but at 99 degrees I want pumpkin ice cream instead of soup!

Emmie and I had some shopping to do. Lately she has been wanting to go everywhere with me, so she rode to Target. On the way, I pulled out the small spelling flashcards I made with Boardmaker. Emmie gave mom a spelling test :) I pretended to sound out the words and even spelled one or two wrong. She had the best time correcting me!

I am hoping the temps cool off soon. I do not like hot weather, yeah I know, that's no surprise! This weekend I'll be working on a token system for Emmie. They use it in the classroom she visits for students to earn computer time. I plan to use it for her to earn time to go with that classroom to the motor room. She LOVES going with the students to the motor room and asks me everyday if she can go. But, because she is pulled out for Resource and Speech, I don't like her to go often. But, it certainly can be a reward for her since she enjoys it so much. I may even start a token system at home for her chores and work, maybe she will earn a special treat or since she loves to cook, maybe she can earn the privilege to plan and make dinner one night. Not sure yet, still ironing out the details :)

Tomorrow is Thursday-which I am told is like Friday EVE! WHOOHOO!!

Yawn..off to bed

2009-09-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. And I'm not being sarcastic. I woke up at 5:15 and heading out the door for a run. I usually run at night, but with Doug going back to work soon I figured I would get use to early morning runs instead of late night ones. The weather was perfect! No one was out running or walking and really I expected a person or two to straggle on by. I was home and showered before it was time to wake the kids up. I love being early :)

I spent the morning with Mrs. Buck's class. Seriously, I don't know where she hides her wings because she is certainly an Angel!! Her class has some of the most amazing little pumpkins and although they do have some disabilities, these little ones never fail to make me laugh or teach me something! I now know why Emmie enjoys going in there so much :)

Emmie had a good day. Nothing unusual at school and her homework went by like a charm. Today was the dreaded spelling triangles. She doesn't like writing spelling words and the triangle just makes her mad! But, she did them without compliant. The homework didn't come with a cover sheet, so I'm not sure what is due tomorrow, so we also completed an addition page that was attached. Although, I have a feeling that isn't due until Wednesday. A quick practice with addition and subtraction facts! I found the neatest addition/subtraction helpers at the Dollar Tree the other day! She loved them :) We finished "Spelling Spencer", the spelling puppet. He was fun to make and I already have ideas for the next puppet friend! I used the Crayola website to download a puppet template and Emmie painted him with Crayola kids paint. I then cut him out, wrote spelling words as his "bones" and laminated him! A few holes, string, and craft sticks..and we have a puppet ladies and gentleman! And finally, because she LOVES to use a dry erase board, I gave her a quick spelling test with the board. She loves to write words, any words on there and erase them. She did pretty well and Superwoman said she did a great job on the pre-test in her class today! We also read a book and I have to say Emmie impressed me! She read the first 21 pages out loud by herself..with only moderate corrections!!! Houston-problem is being resolved! I know she will always live with her CAPD. I know some times will not change and I only expect her to do HER best. But by golly, we are making progress!!!

Not sure yet what tomorrow holds for homework. I really haven't decided yet. I think it's because I'm exhausted from getting up so early! Something tells me maybe we'll type words on the computer, different fonts/sizes/colors? Maybe even spell our words in sign language? In sand? Make some gak? Who knows! But whatever we do, we'll have a blast..and who knows, we may even learn to spell a word or two :)

Ahh, Saturday has arrived!

2009-09-19T22:23:00.000-07:00

Sweet, Sweet Saturday! I love getting to sleep in and not have to worry about rushing out the door for school so early. This morning was lovely as my husband took the kids to the skate park to ride bikes and skateboards while I sat on the couch and did nothing for a bit! I love that man!!

We had our usual Saturday errands, grocery store, clarinet lessons, Wally World. Then went to dinner at one of our favorite places, Mels. Emmie ordered the chicken soup and cornbread, however she only ate maybe a bite of the soup and she was done. She said she felt fine but something is going on...again, can't figure it out yet.

When we got home and they showered, Emmie has decided she wants to purchase something for the class she visits during her recess time. She has such a heart of gold and wants to thank the teacher for letting her come in to work and play with her students during recess. She looked at the shops we visited today, but couldn't find just the right thing. So, when we got home I pulled out some of the catalogs that I have been receiving with Boardmaker, PECS, and other products geared towards special needs families. Seeing her flip through the book and describe what each student in the class enjoys was priceless. She has such a wonderful connection with that classroom and they are always in her thoughts. She picked out a pizza play set because she says her and two other students play "cooking" when she is in there sometimes and they need pizza! I said okay, I would email the teacher to confirm that is appropriate and we could order it. Emmie likes to save soda cans, and if you know my husbands Diet Coke addiction, then you know we have a TON of soda cans. Well, she washes them out, saves them in special bags, and we take her to the recycling plant. Because she does all the work, she gets to keep all the money collected. The pizza set is about $20, and there were two more sets of food on the page. She wants me to order all three and then her pay me in her can money! I tell you, heart of gold!! I told her to keep her can money and I'd order the pizza set for her to give to the class, if the teacher ok's it! She just wants to give, give, give :)

We started on spelling words for the coming week. She was able to read all the words, expect two (two out of sixteen isn't bad!). I made her cards with Boardmaker (again, I can not tell you how much I love that program!). It is such a benefit for her to see the picture that goes along with the word. It allows for a visual picture of the word she is spelling and provides that extra connection when it's time for the test. We also started on our art/spelling project for the week because it's going to take a day or two to complete. We are making a spelling puppet, which she has named "Spelling Spencer". Tonight I printed the puppet parts and she used Crayola paints to paint the parts! Spelling Spencer is now on the counter drying, awaiting his spelling "bones" and lamination! Michaels, today, had their Crayola products priced at 3 for $10! I picked up fabric markers (I see spelling pillowcases and napkins coming soon), color explosion paper and markers, and the neatest "travel" water colors! I'm so excited about the different projects we can do with these wonderful products. I love Crayola!

Tomorrow will be a lazy day, hopefully. I plan to run in the morning, which will be strange since I have been running at night. Kids will probably lounge around the house while Doug watches some sort of football game. I have an errand or two to run, but nothing major. Lazy Sunday it is :) (OH, I almost forget...new photos of Emmie coming soon. She has a photo idea, so we are going to try it out soon!)

Friday!

2009-09-18T23:19:00.000-07:00

Thank Goodness it's Friday! I am so glad this week is over, it's been a miserable week. I had a parent from Emmie's class speak to me yesterday about the class. Apparently I'm not the only one having trouble with the classroom. In a way I'm glad it's not just me, but then again, I'm sad that it's going like this. I'm still mulling over options and how I am going to approach this situation.

With Friday comes a spelling test! Emmie predicted she would miss 10 our of 16 words. I am happy to report Emmie's prediction did not come true! She only missed three words! She missed "paint" which she spelled "pait", "weigh" which I believe she spelled with an "a", and "danger" she spelled "dadger". She could not hear that "n" in the word at all. On Thursday when she took the pre-test she missed 8 words, so to go from 8 words down to 3 overnight..PROGRESS!! I have printed out the words for next week already using the Boardmaker program and they are laminated and ready to go! I also made an extra laminated set for the Superwoman to use in class. I have found the added visual helps Emmie remember the words and sometimes the spellings. She pictures it in her mind when you show her the graphic image paired with the word. The Boardmaker and Writing with Symbols program are wonderful additions to our supplemental education and I feel they are helping Emmie make progress.

Not all is peachy with Emmie right now. Something is going on at school to where she doesn't want to go to lunch recess. She goes to first and last recess and I believe it's because there is a teacher outside that she feels comfortable with. However, during lunch it's a few Noon Duty Supervisors that she isn't familiar with. The new population of students aren't exactly the nicest bunch so I fear she is being teased. She created an alternative plan for herself though. She goes into the County class, which is a wonderful little class of students with moderate to severe disabilities. The teacher is the most amazing woman and her aides are the kindest people I have ever met. Emmie loves going into their class and helping :) I hear she has a gift for helping her friends in this class and we are very proud of her. Spending time with her friends really makes her day and makes her feel important. I am thankful she has a plan and the fact she came up with it herself and even asked permission from the teacher is very mature for her!

We need some good book suggestions for the coming weeks. I'm so tired of buying books at the bookstore that turn out to be horribly written with no real theme or message. So, if you have a great book on your list that would be appropriate for Emmie please send a message!!

Boring ol' day

2009-09-16T22:57:00.000-07:00

Nothing exciting today. Although, after school I did have an interesting little chat with Emmie's teacher. I don't know what to do. Part of the problem is the class itself is so overwhelming. There are so many students in one classroom, first of all, and second there are so many students with issues-be it behavioral or educational. We ironed out a few details. For example, many people think when you ask Emmie to read something of grade level that she can actually read and comprehend it. Don't get me wrong, sometimes she can! However more than half the time she is making it up as she goes along. For example, let's say she's reading a paragraph and comes across the word "our" (for some reason she can not remember that word). Because she doesn't know that word, her brain is going to work over time in that short window to come up with an O word that she does know...so the word may look and sound to her like "out". So, if the sentences was, "That is our house" she reads it as "That is out house". Assuming she can remember "that", "is" and "house" as the proper words. I just think CAPD is hard to explain and hard to understand. I can't give the teacher a list of all Emmie's "symptoms" because there are too many and some we discover daily. I am hoping we have ironed out our differences and can work from here.

Homework today was boring. The classroom homework was to read a passage for fluency. The story was a level 3.0. Seriously? We are barely getting through a level 1.8! It's a passage from the "Read Naturally" Series, about a paragraph long and the students are timed while reading then a score is marked on the number of words and the number of correct words. We read the passage sent home a few times with miserable results. Finally, I pulled the mom card and said NO way are you reading it again! It was to painful to watch her struggle through the entire passage. So, I put that one away and pulled out two 1.8 passages to read. Ahh, much better. Out of about 119 words per passage Emmie scored at about 40 in one minute with an overall 117 words correct. I have to start somewhere and I pray the teacher understands. We also practiced our spelling words-this week is going to be difficult! Subtraction flash cards, math workbook page for reinforcement, and story time. Boring! I don't think she learned one thing from homework and I do not like that at all.

I often wonder if I know what I'm doing. Sometimes I feel like I'm clueless and flying by the seat of my pants. I pray that I'm not totally screwing this up!

It's not looking good

2009-09-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Today wasn't any better than yesterday. First, Emmie had to give up 5 minutes because she had to go to the bathroom. Apparently, if you go during class you owe the teacher 5 minutes of recess or 5 minutes after school. I know I have talked about this before, and still don't really understand it. How can you punish a child for needing to pee? Emmie said it was an emergency and she had to go. Because of her urinary reflex when she was younger, I certainly don't like her to hold it and she shouldn't have to. Emmie isn't the kind of kid to have to go often and certainly not the kind to disrupt the classroom or play in the restroom. I just think it's wrong. Again, only my opinion.

Another frustration has been stewing for some time now. I'm going to give you the short version. Our last Wing Commander decided to play musical schools. We have three elementary schools on base, which belong to the local school district, so we had both military and civilian children that attend all three schools. He decided that two of the schools needed to house only military students, while the third (our school) needed to house only civilian students during this school year. Like most things in California, it was for monetary reasons only and he did not put the children first in ANY of his decisions. So, this change was made. Students were shuffled, families uprooted, and all hell broke lose. Then, like our military leaders do, he moved. His kids didn't have to go through what ours are now. Big surprise huh? Students that have been going to the same school for years were now forced to hop on a bus and ride to a new school. This also added more of a course load on our Resource and Speech Teachers and added more behavioral problems to each classroom. Coupled with the class size increase and lack of prep time which equals grumpy teachers and we have a hell of a year.

I am frustrated because Emmie isn't getting what she use to get from her education at school and what she needs to be getting. I know the staff is trying their hardest, but when you have to deal with behavioral issues it over shadows the kids who are really trying and really struggling.

Also mix in the contract negotiations. For anyone who hasn't heard, California is broke and they seem to keep taking money away from our schools instead of working hard to preserve the future of our country! Our teachers sport fancy little "Strike" buttons and we are now at (rumor has it) Strike 3..which means a strike is in our near future. I admit I am not the most educated person when it comes to contracts and what each side (teachers and district) are asking for. I understand the cost of living in California. However, as a military family, we live on a LOT less than the teachers do. We didn't ask to be here, but I do want a quality education for all of my children. Sadly, California doesn't care.

In a perfect world, people would care. Parents would raise their children with compassion, with respect, and with the desire for education. That way our staff wouldn't spend so much time dealing with problems and could actually teach. My child would have her time in Learning Center and in Speech and I would feel like we are making progress. I wouldn't have to worry about her falling behind because our beloved teachers are waving strike signs and screaming on the side of the road. As a parent, I'm pissed that my kids are getting cheated.

So, thank you Col Dummy for having your own agenda and not putting our children first. Thank you Air Force for sticking us in this horrible place. Thank you insurance company for telling me since my child receives speech at school, you won't pay for her to go elsewhere. It is because of all of you that I'm bitter.

Anyway, homework tonight was fairly easy. Especially since some little brat pushed Emmie into a desk while she was getting her backpack. It was so hard she had blood running down her leg when I picked her up. She went to the bathroom to clean it up and put a band-aid on it, but it was bleeding through by the time we got home. Again, more behavioral problems! We did the 5 sentences from the spelling words (blah) and a math worksheet. I also added in the Cheez-it spelling, which was so much fun. During the day, I used small snack size bags and put the letters inside for a spelling word. Then we got to unscrambled the words! I love the new Scrabble Cheez-its!! We also read one of Emmie's favorite books, "If you take a mouse to the movies". Easy Peasy!!

Now, I'm going to crawl back in my bitter little corner....tomorrow friends.

Exhausted!

2009-09-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

I feel like taking a nap every afternoon after school. Seriously, I don't think I have ever been so exhausted. I was sitting with Emmie, doing homework after school, and it was all I could do to keep my eyes open! Work is stressful and spending hours preparing homework for Emmie is wearing me out...but of course I'm not going to stop now...it's working :)

Today is Monday and you know how I just love those right? Yeah right! Last Friday Emmie spent time in what the teacher calls "Homework Club" for forgetting to return her reading log. I know it's important for her to remember, but she isn't the one in charge of her work when she is home..I am. I stapled her Friday work together and completely forgot to add the reading log. I emailed the teacher and she assured me Emmie would get credit for it, but she needed to remember to bring it. Okay, I can see her point..but I'm not sure she can see mine. I'm the parent and her homework is my responsibility. Especially something that I have to maintain everyday. We do so many other activities on a day to day basis that I feel punishing the children for a parent's mistake was wrong. Anyway, problem resolved but I'm still alittle irked by it.

Emmie took a pre-test in school today. I guess she missed Learning Center then went back later after their assembly. I am so sick of this (more on that tomorrow). Anyway, back to the subject, she missed 10 of the words. She was upset by it and said she would never get them right. I assured her she would work hard this week and do her best :) After school it was time for homework. Her classroom homework was to write her words three times each around a triangle. Can I tell you I dislike that homework? Again, I digress.....I also added a worksheet on analogies, which is something she needs to work on. Also we read the cutest book called "Russell and the Lost Treasure". Russell is the most adorable sheep with this long sleep cap. I also had her do a short story report on the book. I got the template for it online and once completed it looks like a flower. Adorable! She struggles with comprehension, so this was a fun way for her to tell me what she read! We also did scratch and sniff spelling words. I typed out her spelling words on blank flash cards and traced them with "smelly" 3D glue from Wal Mart. I made them while she was at school, so when it was time for them she was able to use her fingers to trace each letter while saying the letter, then sounding out the word. The bonus-she had to name the smell! Strawberry was our favorite! A GREAT kinesthetic activity. We also practiced subtraction flashcards-BLAH! And started reading a story they are working on in class. The Superwoman started a neat homework sheet for me so I know what Emmie is doing in class and Learning Center so we can reinforce it at home. I'm super excited about that!

Busy day, as always. I will warn you, tomorrow will be a complete post on my frustrations with this whole educational system (along with our homework for the day!)...but don't say I didn't warn you!

What a day!

2009-09-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

Only in California could it be 102 degrees one day and raining and windy the next! Today we woke up at 7 to thunder and lightening and rain, rain, rain! It was so nice to hear the pitter patter of rain drops on the roof! Luckily, the rain stopped before we headed out the door.

Our Saturday was spent at a local classic car show. Our school custodian, Mr. Luis, has an amazing orange 1955 car (he would kill me if I said the name wrong, so I'll leave it at "car")! His lovely wife and their adorable dog was there too :) It was a treat to spend time with them! Soon after we arrived, Moose and his son and girlfriend showed up. We spent time with GREAT people with an awesome lunch at Dave's Famous Cheeseburgers. My friend Chris and her family came too! We had the best Saturday and could not ask for a better one!

After the car show, we spent an hour or so in the bookstore. I had to find a way to squeeze something educational in the middle of all our fun plus I had a coupon. We ended up with a book for Emmie about making Pumpkin Soup (it's a children's book, not a recipe book!). Then off for a quick stop at Michaels for card stock. I have this awesome activity planned this week for her! We are going to make a spelling word puppet! My husband doesn't enjoy the craft store as much as I do, big surprise, so he took the kids for ice cream..which gave me a few extra minutes to browse the store! Yay!

Emmie made a comment today to me that having the pictures on her spelling words helped her to remember them! Score one for Boardmaker! She is still so excited about her spelling test yesterday and is already talking about the next test. I am so thankful she's excited and not dreading it..it certainly makes for easier homework sessions!

Well, I'm exhausted from an awesome day! Take care friends!

Can you believe it!

2009-09-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

I have taken a few days off and my friend reminded me today! Sorry guys, we have been horribly busy going through the motions of the day. I have been putting a lot of effort into Emmie's work this week and Carrington and Jensen have both been swamped with work. But, here we are thankful for the weekend!

Today was the Freedom Walk on our base. All three elementary schools met at the local baseball fields for a small ceremony to honor those who lost their lives on 9-11 and those who are bravely fighting for our country today. Because we were leaving the school so soon after we arrived, I emailed the Superwoman and asked her if Emmie could take her test as soon as we arrived. We arrived at school shortly after 8 and Emmie went into the Resource Room to complete her spelling test. About 8:15 she emerged with her test in hand. Guess what? Emmie made her very first 100% on a spelling test!! Can you believe it?!?! She worked so hard this week and it worked! And the best part, much better than the 100%, after school she could STILL spell the words! That, my friend, is progress! This week, instead of completing the regular 3rd grade homework, we added multi-sensory activities. I used the Boardmaker program so she could visually "see" the words, we created "magic" spelling words with paint and white crayons, and even scratch and sniff words. My goal was to tag team as many senses as I could in order for her to remember the words! Emmie was so excited and we were all proud of her, so of course we celebrated with ice cream after school! We went to Foster's Freeze in Vacaville and Emmie decided on a Caramel Shake. Yummy :)

Tonight we are just watching a movie and relaxing. Tomorrow will be the start of next week's spelling word practice!

Sometimes, it's quiet.

2009-09-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Today was Tuesday, but it was more like a Monday. You know, I don't think it matters what day you actually start on..it still seems like Monday! I was awaken at 5:30 by my daughter's alarm clock. She decided she wanted to get up that early because she wanted to shower before school instead of at night. Whatever, I don't care when you shower as long as you shower..but 5:30! Geez! So needless to say, it's been a very long day.

Emmie seemed a little "off" today. Breakfast was quiet and when she was getting ready for school she wasn't her usually bouncy self. I kind of chalked it up to her being tired. Even in line for school this morning, she wasn't playing with her friends like she usually is. She just stood nicely in line. I saw her again at lunch. Today was the first day I have ever seen her sit by herself. She assured me everything was okay and she ate her lunch just fine. She did aggravate Mr. Luis (our awesome school custodian) a time or two..but other than that, she seemed just blah. Her speech teacher said she had a good session, although they played a board game. And after school, her teacher said she had a great day! She was focused and adding the extra visuals have really helped her. She came out of class with two stickers, a prize from the lottery, AND a Splat award (no clue what that is, hoping to clarify tomorrow!). So, obviously she had a good day?

After school was spent with homework, as usual. She wrote her spelling words in triangle form, although I will admit that I drew the triangles for her. I photocopied a page from her math workbook for her to complete just for general practice, Math flashcards and a 3 minute timed addition "practice" test, a neat little art project with tinted glue and watercolor pencils, AND reading! She had a full day of homework. She didn't complain, and even took a trip to the store with me for pretzels for her class project and more flashcards. They will be adding multiplication soon...Lord help me!

This guy called me today from Pediatrics, I have no clue who he is. But he informed me that our last claim was denied (DUH!). Really? And I can file an appeal but I need to include a copy of the report from The Listening Center and IEP, and he has a copy if I need it. Seriously? And, he adds, speech seems to be a "shaddy" area for Tri-Care so hopefully if we keep trying it will eventually get pushed through. Where do these people get this from? Is there an dumba$$ 101 manual that I'm not aware of? I have to be missing something....

Anyway, I digress...obviously Emmie just needed a day to herself. A day to be quiet and still and soak up whatever was around her. Tomorrow, I'm sure she'll be her usual bouncy self!

Labor Day

2009-09-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying the long weekend, so not much work has been done. Today, we did run some errands in Davis and stumbled upon a store called "Teach your Children, Inc". It was a small teaching supply store snuggled in a shopping center. We found an addition and subtraction wipe off mat! They are place mat sizes with addition and subtraction problems and you can use a No. 2 pencil to write in the answers, then wipe them off. Perfect for our homework practice! I also picked up a few containers of play foam. I think sometimes Emmie "over" thinks things and tries to hard, so I am going to try to have her play with the foam as we practice her spelling words. Maybe it will help take her "mind" off of the letters and letter sounds and help her remember them. I'll try anything!

We started Emmie's spelling words for next week today. The Superwoman gave me an extra copy of the spelling book, so we have a few extra days to practice her words. She did pretty well the first time we practiced them, although I would love to know how in the word she got "chaech" from "change". But overall, she did an awesome job the first time around :) She better not miss 6 words this week!! haha I also created her spelling words with the Boardmaker program today. I'm still learning my way around the program but so far, I'm loving it. Her words are small squares complete with visual reinforcement. I also covered them in contact paper so they can be handled and used without fear of smearing the print. I am so excited with the endless possibilities that comes with this program and how it is going to assist her everyday learning style.

Tomorrow is another day off from school! YAY! Wishing you a happy, relaxing Labor Day!!

Six words

2009-09-04T23:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when we were practicing Emmie's spelling words, she told me she would miss six on her test today. "Oh no", I said, "I bet you won't miss six!". She assured me she would despite my encouragement. She had worked so hard this week on her words, so I thought she would miss maybe Saturday or January from her list, but surely none of the others. After school, I popped into her classroom to see her spelling test. She takes the spelling test in the Resource Room with Superwoman, but brings the test back to class so the teacher can record the grade. I went into the class and asked about Emmie's test. The teacher pulled it from the pile and guess what? She missed exactly SIX words! Some she just missed by one letter, such as "catch". She forgot the "t" in the word, which when you say the word you really don't hear a clear t sound. I had to laugh because she certainly predicted her score! She did, however, get 10 correct! She is something else!

We have the list for next week, so we will be starting tomorrow on those words. I'll make flashcards so we can play spelling match/memory, which she only wants to play with Dad because she totally kicks his butt in that game! I'm not sure what else we'll do this week with her words, but with it being a three day weekend, it gives me time to come up with something multi-sensory to help her practice. Doug brought home a small tape recorder which he used in meetings while in Germany, so I have a feeling that will be put to some good use with recording spelling words or stories for her to follow along. I think it's important to increase her auditory awareness if she can follow along with an oral reading of a story, such as a book on tape. I am fortune to have an extra spelling book from school which allows me to combine the activities at home with the activities at school. I think home-school connection is key to a student's performance and success, especially when you have a student with a special need. I look forward to creating ways for her to succeed every week :)

I am hoping this weekend will be "low key". Monday is Labor Day, so no school for me or the kids! I have some homework to complete and we'll work on spelling words and read, but nothing pressing to take care of. I also received the Boardmaker program in the mail and it has been downloaded! So, I will be squeezing in time this weekend to finish Emmie's schedules and communication journal for home. I wish I could convey how excited I am to have this program and be able to use it to reinforce and pre-teach concepts to Emmie!!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Labor Day!

Where's all the marshmallows?

2009-09-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

My friend's son has this nose maker that says the days of the week. On Thursday it says something like, "It's Thursday, that's like Friday EVE". I was so glad today was Thursday because it was one day closer to the long weekend! Today started out on a bad note when I poured a bowl of Lucky Charms only to discover very few marshmallows in my bowl. That is a sin in my book! Seriously, there should be MORE marshmallows in a box! I think a 50/50 ratio would be a nice start, but that's just my opinion.

Today I was at the school nearly all day. I think I killed 20 trees to make the copies for the 4th grade classes! Wow, it took forever to copy and staple their spelling and language arts for the next two weeks! While I was searching for more staples, I ran into Superwoman. She said Emmie had completed her AR test on the story they have been reading in class called, "The Lost and Found". We have also been reading the story in the evenings and working on comprehension questions to ensure she understands what she was reading. Anyway, she during her Learning Center with Superwoman she took the test by herself..read the questions, read the answers, AND made 100 percent!! This is a huge step for her to be able to read the questions and answers to herself. It seems everyday she is growing :)

I received an email from the Cued Speech lady, Joan. She has been working on an intervention model for Emmie. I will be meeting her within the next week or two to see what she has developed and how it will fit in Emmie's activities.

Something else happened today that I'm still pissed about. I was in the lunchroom working and one of the other Noon Duties came into the cafeteria. She said, "There is a problem with your daughter and the teacher needs you now". Well, knowing Emmie doesn't have any sort of emotional outbursts my thoughts went to something along the lines of her being hurt. I told my friend and other Noon Duty, Chris, I would be right back and headed down the hall to her classroom. Long story short, she apparently told a little girl that her outfit looked like a halloween costume and it hurt the little girls feelings. The situation was already taken care of and the girls had "made up" and Emmie had apologized. All was well. The teacher did not say what the Noon Duty told me she did. The Noon Duty should have never been in the middle of it and certainly should have never stepped on the teacher's toes or came into the cafeteria to get me. My feeling is during the hours of 8:15 and 2:30, the teacher's in charge! And I have faith that both of them can handle it if a problem does arise. Of course, knowing my redneck temper, I said something to the Noon Duty. I am still so frustrated though. I know Emmie made a mistake, but what a lot of people don't understand is her socialization issues. It's easy to say, "oh that child has ADHD" or "this child has autism" and get people to understand their "quirky" little ways. However, how do I get people to understand CAPD? It just really gets under my skin when people step over boundaries like this Noon Duty did...I am so not looking forward to working with her tomorrow!!!

Well, that's all folks! I have a TON of homework to complete and for some reason time is ticking faster than I wish. Emmie worked really hard on her homework this week and I am looking forward to seeing her spelling test tomorrow. But after that test comes a whole new list of words. It never ends.....

Cleared up

2009-09-02T21:34:00.001-07:00

Tonight was our Back to School night and boy am I exhausted! It is possible I will be in the bed before 2 am! The kids had a blast visiting their classrooms and Doug finally got to meet their teachers and see their rooms. Of course we ended the night with ice cream :)

Spelling homework has been cleared up!! Emmie will be completing the spelling list provided by Superwoman, instead of the classroom spelling list. The spelling book she is using is fabulous! It provides worksheets to be completed for comprehension. So, not only is she learning to spell the word but she is also learning what the word means! Homework so far has been great. She completes the classroom homework, like writing the words in sentences, but we also play games with her words and do different activities to help with her memory of the spelling. She practiced her subtraction flash cards today and only missed 7 out of 24..not bad! She also kicked Dad's butt in Spelling Memory! Our comprehension still isn't what it should be, but I'm happy that we are progressing.

I had a moment to talk with her school Speech Therapist tonight. She made some wonderful points about reading instruction in our schools. I'm not going to go into detail just yet, as I am working on my letter to the school district, however I will say she's one smart cookie! If someone would just LISTEN to her ideas, we could help so many children get the reading/spelling/comprehension help they needed!!!! Her passion for her students is certainly alive!

I have so many emails to return, so please be patient! I appreciate everyone who is writing and sharing their stories with me. I promise to write back soon!

Miserable Monday

2009-08-31T21:42:00.000-07:00

Do you know how much I dislike Monday's? I think I have probably mentioned it a time or two. Today wasn't any different, alarm, kids, breakfast, pack lunches, remind them to brush their teeth and hair for the third time, drop them off at school, run, shower, work, home, homework, homework, and more homework! I lead a boring life and I love it!

Carrington only had a short math page and Jensen had the typical pile of 4th grade homework! Emmie had more spelling. Although, I have to admit, I am confused on her homework. Remember, Emmie has a "team" of people that offer support including her Resource Specialist "Superwoman" and two classroom teachers. Today, I received her usual homework package complete with 15 spelling words. However, once home, she emptied her backpack and there was a spelling workbook with a note from Superwoman saying this is the book her spelling will come from. So, somehow, I ended up with two spelling list and spelling homework? I'm baffled! Of course I'll clarify tomorrow on which list we will be using, but for tonight we used the classroom spelling list. She wrote the words 5 times each. I added a word search that I created using one of the websites I linked before. She had fun finding the words and it really helps her learn to spell them as she searches for each letter. I also created two sets of spelling flashcards so we could play a spelling memory/match game. She beat me by ONE match!! She also re-read a story from the reading text and began the subtraction flashcards. The note from the teacher said they will be adding multiplication in September/October. Yikes! I'm not ready for that one yet! She didn't seem to become tired during the homework session and of course there were built in breaks between activities. Whew! One day down, four more to go!!!

Oh, and I have news!!! She received her Friday spelling test back today and guess what? She did great! She only missed five words!!! Can you believe it? We are very proud of her :)

The start of the week is exhausting..more later :)

You are loved.

2009-08-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

I read this tonight, it is a reminder to me to show Emmie she is loved, everyday in every way..not just the good parts but for everything she is and everything she does. We love you Em!

YOU ARE LOVED

really
truly
just as you are.
And you don't need to look outside of yourself
for validation anymore....
you are held and known and treasured

for ALL that you are
not just the good parts.

Let that truth remind you to be compassionate
with your own heart.to extend to yourself, the
compassion you give to others.

There is nothing to fix.
Because who you are
however human
is always enough

to be loved
right now.

Daddy's home

2009-08-29T21:35:00.001-07:00

Daddy's home! YAY! Doug arrived late Thursday night and we are adjusting to having him home again. The past three years he has been gone at least 6 months out of the year, so it's nice to see his boots next to the door again. I am very lucky in that our kids don't usually have a hard time adjusting to "family" life again. Some families have behavioral issues and issues fitting everyone back in the family comfortably once the active duty family member returns. Doug, however, fits seamlessly back in the routine.

I am so frustrated with Emmie's school situation. I don't think me and the teachers are on the same page, or even in the same book. But we are all learning, I guess. I am planning to send a message to her Resource Specialist aka Superwoman and ask her help with talking to the teacher. I know Superwoman has one heck of a case load this year with the new students so I don't want to take too much of her time, but I need help and have no idea how or where to begin. I have tried, but it doesn't seem to be working. Fingers crossed.

I received a lovely email today from a lady who found this blog. She is a missionary to deaf children here in the Dominican Republic and found the blog because of the mention of Cued Speech. She had wonderful things to say about her experience with Cued Speech. I was so surprised that she emailed me and I'm very grateful the blog is getting around! It's really nice to know that there are other people in the boat with me! Of course I'll be responding to her soon :)

Life is pretty busy here right now as we get Doug unpacked and settled back in. Things will calm down soon :) Promise!

Spelling sucks

2009-08-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight's post will be short because DADDY'S COMING HOME!! YAY! We are rushing to get ready to leave for the airport. I am very glad my husband is finally coming home. But the timing sucks! Why is it they schedule these planes on school nights and after the kids should already be in the bed? Anyway, luckily they will be bathed and in pj's when we head to the airport. No missing school tomorrow!!!

Tonight's spelling homework was a practice test. Emmie sat at the table and I read the words out loud, along with a short sentence. She repeated the word each time and wrote her answer. Test #1 didn't go so well. She missed 14 out of 18 words. We studied for a bit more then took another test. Test #2 was a little better and she missed 11 out of 18 words. I wasn't upset, or surprised. You see, the first few days of spelling homework we completed just as the teacher had requested. We wrote sentences containing one spelling word and at least 6 words long. We created triangles with our spelling words. Last night we actually used multi-sensory activities. Had we used them earlier in the week, maybe she would have scored higher. I am going to have to talk to the teacher again and try to work out different homework activities. I don't want to modify her spelling list, but I do want to change the work. We will complete spelling activities and turn them in, but they will be more "hands on" so it triggers visual and auditory systems. It is so frustrating because I know she worked SO hard.

We'll see how next week goes. I am trying to keep an open mind and keep telling myself this is our first full week of school and we are still all learning. Next week will be better...I don't really want to home school!!!

Spelling

2009-08-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

Emmie's homework this week has been mostly spelling words. She was given 17 words, plus two bonus words which she can't remember and they weren't written on her spelling list she brought home. With CAPD comes many spelling challenges because Emmie doesn't always hear the subtle changes in letter sounds and has problems combing certain sounds, among other things. So, I knew spelling in general was going to be hard work this year. She learns best with repetition, going over the same word over and over again. But, to be honest, it's boring! Since I don't sleep much, I stayed up for hours surfing for ways to make spelling words interactive and fun! Multi-sensory learning is so important for Emmie and many other children. I was determined to find a way where Emmie could feel excited and confident in her spelling. Last night, we had spaghetti for dinner using alphabet pasta...it was the perfect way to get in a quick spelling lesson while eating dinner together! I also found the following websites, please check them out, especially if you have young children. We had already made flashcards with this weeks words, but tonight I created a crossword puzzle for her with her spelling list. Tonight, I'm going to work on putting together "finger spelling" flash cards with her words so she can practice spelling them using American sign language as well as writing them and saying them out loud. I think signing them along with the auditory and written component will help her "tag team" her senses! We also played spelling hangman, spelled our words with Scrabble tiles, and created an mp3 of the words for her to also listen to. She thought that was funny! Next week, I am planning to use the sign language again as well as the idea for "magic spelling". Since she loves the television show "Wizards of Waverly Place", I think the magic words will be a blast! Basically, you take white construction paper (I'll probably cut the paper into strips) and write one word on each with a white crayon. Then you paint over the strips with watered down tempera paint. And like magic, the word appears! I am so excited!

Homework was horrible tonight. She had to use four of her spelling words and create a question using each word. Then, answer the question. Now, if you know Emmie, then you know she is the QUEEN of questions! She is typically asking me, "Mom, I have four questions", then continues with exactly four questions. It could be silly things like "do the clouds every eat?" to "Can we have pizza for dinner", you really never know what you are going to get. But having to create questions using a spelling word, oh my gosh, it was painful! I secretly wanted to say forget it and just have her write sentences, which is what she kept coming up with. I think we need to practice the who, what, when, where, how even more. She completed the four questions but it took us over an hour. Homework also included practicing addition and subtraction flashcards. Emmie excels in math and was looking forward to practicing. We took a break after the spelling word questions, though. Then, when it was time to work on flashcards she was able to focus. She quickly went through the addition cards with adding 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. We are planning to practice 5, 6, 7, and 8 tomorrow along with beginning the subtraction cards. We also had to read from the storybook they have been reading in class. The teachers were kind enough to send me home a copy. Emmie has been trying her hardest to remember which page they stop on. Yesterday, she wrote it on her hand. Big no no! Today, I sent her with a small index card with a simple "Today, we read pages _____" so she was able to just fill in the blank. I am very proud that she remembered to fill it in and we read up to page 34 tonight. I'm sending her with another small card tomorrow, although I would like to find a better system for her keeping track (I'm open to ideas, please!). She is requesting a pink card for tomorrow, how dare I send in yellow!

By the time we finished homework, she was exhausted. She has to focus and work so hard during the school day. I wish there was something I could do to make it easier for her, but at least we are trying to make it fun. I can't wait to see what she gets on the spelling test on Friday! Fingers crossed that all our multi-sensory incorporation pays off and she "gets it".

Spelling websites, that I have found so far:

http://www.teachingfirst.net/spelling.htm

http://www.spellingcity.com/

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/

http://www.sd5.k12.mt.us/elrod/multiage/Spelling.html

On a nerve

2009-08-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

In a few days, my husband will be home. As I have mentioned, he is in Germany because the Air Force screwed up and sent him instead of listening to our daughter's needs. Can you tell I'm still alittle bitter about the situation? I know, I'm working through it and exploring options for my rehabilitation. I can not tell you how glad I am that he is coming home. It will be so nice to have extra hands and eyes when it comes to schoolwork! After a long day at work, it's exhausting to sit at the kitchen table after school while the kids work on their homework. Not to mention I still have to juggle all the everyday "mom" chores. I can not wait to say, "Hey Doug, wanna fold that laundry for me"! Because I know he will be happy to lend a hand, always, and I love him for it!

School today was okay. Emmie's teacher informed me that she was chatty today, which doesn't surprise me, especially if they are doing a lot of auditory activities. I think the teacher handled it beautifully by also writing the work on the board. However, she did mention that she didn't write exactly the step by step directions and with Emmie, she needs step by step by step! But, on a positive note, she did say that she noticed once Emmie "understands" what is expected she completes the activity correctly. Obviously, we still have struggles but she tries her best. It was encouraging for me to hear that the teacher is trying to learn more about Emmie and about CAPD. It's so hard to explain to people what CAPD is, because when you look or talk to Emmie, she's a regular everyday kid! But, I think we are making progress and the teacher is realizing Emmie's needs during the class day and is willing to help her succeed.

On another "classroom note", I have a complaint and trying to work out how to approach it. Remember the mom I spoke of that is in Emmie's class, she is seriously on my nerves. Her child is a fourth grader and she still finds it necessary to be in Emmie's classroom. Today it was to put up a bulletin board. First, my child has enough distractions she doesn't need more. And if you knew this mom, you would know she is a distraction. Two, I have had horrible experiences with her comparing her kids to mine. I hate that. Hate is a strong word, and I hate when people compare kids. Our daughters were together a few years ago and all year it was one thing after another, from her trying to compare test grades, reading levels, etc. Her daughter struggled, while mine excelled. I just have this eerie feeling that she is trying to see how Emmie is doing. And finally, she loves to gossip. I don't want her around my kids and there is no reason for her to be in the classroom, especially when their are parents of children in there that would have put up that bulletin board. I haven't found the way to approach this yet, but I need to soon. I just want to say MOVE ON and worry about your own kids class! UGH. I am running out of nerves!

Tomorrow is another day...

Monday

2009-08-24T22:51:00.001-07:00

It's Monday. I'm not fond of Monday's. After a nice, relaxing weekend waking up to the alarm is annoying! The kids were up and dressed, fed and ready to go about twenty minutes before usual! Wow, bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready for their first full week of school.

I realized today that not a lot of people understand CAPD and how it affects Emmie's everyday life. Her homework was to write her spelling words using a triangle method. I am assuming the teacher drew an example on the board and Emmie copied it. I haven't graduated from Secret Spy School, so I am not sure how to decipher Emmie's "triangle code". So, I THINK she did it correctly but I really have no idea! Homework this week seems to be a lot of writing. Emmie struggles in spelling because she is unable to distinguish between certain letter sounds. Homework also includes reading which is something we do every night anyway. The problem is the book they are reading in class. BLAH! We re-read what is read during the school day and I have to take Emmie's word on what was read, since I don't know. The AR level on the book is 2.9, we are SO not at that level yet! She stumbles over so many words and doesn't seem to have the comprehension of what was just read. I feel horrible because I don't know what to do in order to help her. I am lost.

I feel like our life rafts were taken away and we are left with nothing. Paddling in this lonely ol' pond of water with a hole in our boat. Some days it feels like the boat is fine, other days it's filling with water quickly. How do we get out of the boat? How do we get the help she needs, the support she needs? We have no family even remotely close to us for help and support and no real system in place to support CAPD in on our base, local community, or schools. I think people underestimate the effects it has on Emmie because she puts on one heck of a front. She fakes it. She gets through the day without you noticing because she has ways to cast your eyes on a different boat. Emmie could reach so much higher if she had the tools she needs...sadly, we are stuck paddling in circles. SOS. SOS. SOS.

M&M, yummy!

2009-08-22T23:54:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been frustrated and everything that crosses your path just makes you even more frustrated? That's where I am right now. I am so frustrated with school, but yet I keep telling myself that we have only had two days and to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I am so frustrated with my husband being gone, but yet I keep telling myself he will finally be home this week. I am so frustrated with the lack of resources for my daughter, but yet I keep telling myself that she will succeed and I will walk on water to make it happen. I'm just frustrated!

Everyday after school, I have a pretty in depth conversations with the kids on their school day. I try my best not to ask yes/no questions and to get them plugged in and talking! So, Friday was no different as I asked Emmie about her day at school. She told me over and over they have completed no reading assignments. On the day I met her teacher, she gave me a book that the students would be reading out of and I requested to be told if they did read from it so I could re-read it with Emmie that evening. "Nope, mom, no reading yet." Tonight, while asking her a random question about crayon colors and how macaroni and cheese crayons weren't around when I was little, she proceeds to tell me they have been reading a book in class. WHAT? A book? She describes the cover and I quickly realize it's the same book the teacher handed me. I had no idea they had started their readings yet! I asked her what story and she flipped through the book and found it. She read the title out loud and I asked her to tell me what the story was about. She turned a few pages and came to a picture. She described the picture. That's it. That is when the story ended. She could tell me nothing more of it, but what was happening in the picture. Now, if I would have known about this story we could have read it Friday and today, then again tomorrow and possibly Monday morning. This is her first classroom story and repetition works for her! I am frustrated with this situation, but on the other hand I am trying my best to let it roll off my back and chalk it up to "it was only the first two days of school, we are adjusting".

I am then told by a former mom of this class that she is preparing a project in that class. I make a comment like, "does the teacher know she has parents willing to help". Her response was basically she is particular on who helps her, this former parent does all her copies and prep work, and she doesn't know if other parents or helpers will be in the room because this parent doesn't interrupt her while teaching like some in the past. Hmm..how am I suppose to take that? I have volunteered in every one of my kids classrooms since kindergarten and find this very offensive. Just because parents in the past have caused troubles, doesn't mean we are all alike! I am frustrated because I feel like we aren't given a fair chance, but then again this is what this parent said, is it really how the teacher feels?

On a positive note, they did complete a Science project in the classroom. Emmie came home yesterday head over heels in love with this project. Of course, we had to purchase the materials to try this project at home today! We spent a whopping $0.69 on a package of M&M candies for this project! After dinner and bath, Emmie took the reins and presented "Science 101" to us. She took a small glass bowl, filled it halfway with water. Then very carefully placed four M&M candies in the bowl, M side up. Of course, I think she ate a few too, but that's all in the name of research, right? She directed us to watch closely! We watched in amazement as the candy colored coating melted away, leaving the bottom portion of the water mirroring a rainbow. Keep watching, she proclaimed! Slowly, each of the M designs came apart from the candy and floated to the top. Carrington and Jensen thought that was the neatest thing! After all, what is that M made of? I can not tell you how wonderful it was to see Emmie in "action" and so confident. The fact she was able to come home and repeat the steps was wonderful. This was tactile, something she could touch, something she could be involved in..that is why she succeeded. She is a "show what I know" kid and she rocked this project demo :) It was a great way to end the night.

Now, if I could only find a way to make spelling and reading tactile and multi-sensory enough to where she "gets it". I am frustrated, but we are trying!

The best ID ever!

2009-08-21T23:01:00.001-07:00

We survived the first week of school. Okay, so we only had school two days this week but we lived to tell the tale! I am very glad it's the weekend so we have time to relax and reflect.

Emmie, I think, had an okay day. Their desks have been moved so I will be watching to see how that goes. The first day their desks were all facing forward and I really felt that was the best opportunity for Emmie to see the speaker and stay engaged, without the distractions of the group style seating. However, today, their desks were moved to groups. Apparently the teachers were having a hard time moving around the room with the desk the other way. I can understand that, after all in California our K-3 increased from 20 students to 28 students. Eight isn't a big number but when you have an extra eight kids with another eight sets of needs...it probably seems like 20 more kids in there! I will be monitoring this seating situation.

The best part of Emmie's day occurred after school though. We stopped by to visit the Special Education teacher. We didn't see her at lunch because they cut back the hours and staff in her classroom, so it wasn't a safe situation to have her students in lunch. Not enough eyes and hands to help the kids in that large of an environment. So, to be safe, they had lunch in their classroom. Emmie really connected with one of her students last year. Apparently, this year if there is a time where Emmie needs to "work" to have a reward then the reward is going to be going into that classroom and helping out. She was so excited and has been talking about it ALL night. At dinner, she sat down and proclaimed she was going to eat all her dinner and put her plate in the dishwasher so she could have her "job". I am so proud that she wants to work hard and the reward is also helping other students! I'm not sure yet how I will implement this reward during school and if I will also carry her behavioral requirements to the house as well. I am thinking of a simple sticker chart at home, or maybe a chore that she has to complete during the week. I will have to speak more to her Resource Specialist (the Superwoman) and her Classroom teacher. But, I'm so excited for her :)

On another note, I have an awesome recommendation for you! Let me explain. I require Emmie to wear a medical id bracelet. I have done extension research on the benefits of wearing a medical id bracelet, even for children with mild communication disorders like CAPD. After all, better safe than sorry, right? I searched and searched for the perfect "kid friendly" bracelet. I found a company and emailed them a list of questions to confirm it would work for Emmie. They gave me all the right answers and I ordered her a bracelet. She has had it for about a month and it isn't working out. The band will not stay tight and the cover is beginning to peel off. I emailed them and they gave me a full refund. So, I had to start thinking outside the box. I needed it to be durable. Emmie can be a girly girl, but she can also climb a tree like a pro and dig the best hole with a spoon! I found a wonderful company called Road ID. They make identification bracelets, dog tags, and shoe id's for athletes. I found it on the Runner's World website when I was training for a half marathon, however it didn't occur to me until a few days ago that it would be perfect for Emmie as well! I ordered one and it arrived today. I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT. I can not say that enough! Durable band, Velcro closure so it grows with her, stainless steel "information" plate. The price is very reasonable at $19.99 each. And the best part is you can change the plate! So, if my phone number changes or we need to add anything, I just buy a new plate! It also comes in a variety of colors! She also likes it..which is a huge bonus! So, if you need an identification bracelet for sports, field trips, travel, or situations like Emmie...I HIGHLY recommend Road ID! I'm ordering one for myself soon for when I run :)

Whew! Thank goodness we survived....hopefully next week will go smoothly!

May I use the restroom?

2009-08-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

It's the first day of school! It's the first day of school! Ahh, visions of Nemo are running through my head! If you haven't figured it out, today was the first day of third grade! Emmie was the second one up this morning, Jensen always wakes up with the sun! She was quickly dressed in her new outfit and ready for school. We arrived at school early to a mound of chaos! This year, because of base leaderships wonderful (and I use that term loosely) idea to restructure the schools, we had about 400 new students! Of course with 400 new students on the first day come new parents who have no idea where to go! It was crazy! But Emmie found her line and both her teachers were outside introducing themselves to the students. I was very happy to see both outside taking this opportunity to speak with parents and shake the kids hands. It is certainly a major stress relief and really helps the kids start the day comfortably. I saw Emmie again, briefly, at lunchtime. She seemed to be having a good day, although I didn't have time to talk to her. See, I work in the lunchroom and remember those 400 new students...yeah, they all have to eat lunch! After school, Emmie came out and didn't quite look like her usual bouncy self. I asked her about her day and she said she was tired. Apparently the teachers talked a lot, according to her, and she was tired. I am sure they did talk a lot, explaining the rules and what to expect this year. I think it was just too much for her, but that's okay. I think she handled it well, at least I hope she did in the classroom. After asking her questions about the day, like did you have to do any writing, did you do math today, etc. I found out why she wasn't acting like herself. She was worried. According to Emmie, the teachers told them they were not allowed to go to the bathroom and if they did they would be put on the wall (which means they sit on the wall and lose recess). OF COURSE, I do not believe it was actually said that way. However, this is what Emmie heard and processed. I told her we would talk to her teacher. I figured it was something like my son's teacher last year...because the kids have plenty of time to use the restroom during recess, she encouraged them to use their time wisely and use the restroom before they came into the classroom. They were also given little sticks they had to turn in if they wanted to use the restroom during class, if you had sticks at the end of the week, there was a prize because you used your time wisely. I have a feeling that is where Emmie's teacher was going with this...teaching them to use their time wisely. Obviously, everyone has an emergency. But it shouldn't be every day when you walk back into the classroom from recess when you had plenty of time to go before. Anyway, so I sent Emmie in to make sure the students had left the classroom and the teacher didn't have a parent in there. Emmie couldn't see anyone, so I waited a minute for my other two kids to get out of school then headed in there. When I went in, there was one parent in there..but not a parent from her class. Apparently this parent has worked with this teacher for years..I know her, so I just sat on the edge of a desk and thought I would wait for her to finish gathering her projects to complete. Then, another parent walked in the door. This second parent also does not have a child in the classroom and tends to be a parent who gossips and finds out all she can about your kid so she can compare them to her kid. She also sported copies she was making. I admit I was frustrated and probably overreacted, but I left. Sorry, but I had the thought of "focus on your own kids classroom" running through my head!! After arriving home, we found out more about the kids days at school. Carrington and Jensen seemed to have a nice day and for that I am very grateful! I only got bits and pieces of Emmie's day and frankly I don't know how much of it she "got". I do know they talked about science and writing your name in a book if you don't follow rules. But the one that sticks out in her mind and that is bothering her is the whole restroom thing. I tried to explain to her, to the best of my ability, what I "think" the teacher meant. But, there were tears right before bed because she was worried she would have to use the restroom and would lose her recess because of it. UGH! I think I was finally able to convince her that she could use the restroom if she had too, but make good choices and try to use it at recess. Again, I absolutely do not think that is what the teacher said or meant. But it's hard when that is what she processed. I would have liked to know what was said and how it went wrong for Emmie. That's another part of CAPD that is like a puzzle to me. What goes wrong, when does it go wrong, and how did it go wrong? Sometimes I wish I had all the answers.

The time is here

2009-08-19T21:22:00.001-07:00

I had the opportunity to meet Emmie's new teachers today. Of course I adore Mrs. D and have known her for a few years now, just through passing in the hallways of school and the occasional chat. Mrs. W will be co-teaching with her and is new to our school. I met with them briefly about what to expect with Emmie and gave them a short CAPD and Emmie 101 folder. They both are delightful and seem to understand Emmie's needs. Both seem more than willing to work with her and her needs, and me as the parent. It certainly puts some of my fears at bay. I think this is going to be a good year for Emmie with two fabulous teachers.

Emmie's STAR results arrived today. The STAR test is the California Standardized Testing and Reporting program which basically means it's a test students takes to see where they are based on students across the state. Personally, I don't put a lot of stock in these tests. A child could take the same test two days in a role and score differently both times. I don't think this is a measure of what my child knows or a measure of my child period. It's interesting to read over them and see where their strengths were at that time, but I'm not going to put a label on my child based on these results. However, some parents live by these tests. I personally only use them for informational purposes. So, Emmie's test arrived and according to the test her highest score came in "measurement and geometry". Her lowest range was a tie between "word analysis and vocabulary development" and "written conventions". This test isn't modified for Emmie, however she does take the test in the Resource room to allow for minimal distractions and extra test taking time. Obviously, if you struggle to read the question you aren't going to pass a test. So, the results were scanned and tucked nicely back in the envelope they arrived in. I know my kid and I know she's more than just a line graph on a piece of paper!

Tomorrow is our first day of school. Emmie is nervous and can't seem to remember her teacher's name! Poor thing! I am hoping once she gets there and sees people she knows, she will relax. The problem is our school only has about 40 families returning and about 400 new families. The process of a base realignment from a clueless Commander. What ever happened to putting the kids first? Politics..that's all it's about these days.

I can't wait to tell you about our first day of third day!

They don't get it

2009-08-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

This week has been nuts! The kids start school on Thursday and I think the school will be ready. There were many times I thought there was no way the school would be finished, they still had a whole hallway of classrooms to carpet and paint. But, alas, the custodians never cease to amaze me! The teachers were allowed in their classrooms today and it doesn't leave them a lot of time to prepare their classrooms. We usually have an ice cream social, where parents and students are able to come and meet their teacher and see their school. However, that event has been canceled. Of course I realize the teachers are on edge because they have a lot of work on their hands! I understand they don't want to have parents in their classroom when it's not at it's best. But, having a special needs child, I am very upset that she will not have the opportunity to see her classroom and connect with her teacher. I think a lot of people underestimate the need for her, and a lot of other children, to have that brief face-to-face with their teacher. Add in the fact that her teacher co-teaches, meaning she will have two teachers teaching the class..one teacher will work a few days a week, the other teacher will work the rest. I am looking forward to both of these ladies teaching my daughter, but it also adds an extra level of stress on her at first. It is going to take longer for her to adjust to both teachers and teaching styles. And frankly, if one more person tells me that she will be fine, I am not going to be responsible for my actions! I know she will be fine, however, you are also only seeing the cover of the book of Emmie! Anyway, that's another soapbox.

I spoke with Joan from Cued Speech via email today. I am very excited to be working with her on an intervention model with Emmie. She is taking a little bit of time off and we are hoping to start in September. I think we will start with a twice a month class which will be affordable for me. I am hoping to increase to more, but we can't afford that now. But, we have to start somewhere. It's certainly not like Tri-Care is going to lend a hand!

Today in the mail arrived a new, shiny Mayer-Johnson catalog! I will be ordering the Boardmaker program soon :) I am hoping things calm down this week after the kids start school, so I can sit down and flip through their catalog and place an order. I am excited to add picture communication to Emmie's everyday activities and school work. The extra visual cues will do wonders for her confidence!

Some days she struggles so hard and she tries just as hard to keep up. Emmie did say she was looking forward to taking reading tests (AR) and she wants to make 100 points! I am so glad she has set the goal for herself! Every 20 points we get ice cream, wow, I may need to bump up the exercise if she goes for 100 points! We had a number of times today where she didn't understand me or didn't hear me, especially when she was helping me write her name on all the school supplies. She also keeps turning the television up when she watches a show. She has had two pure-tone hearing screenings and her hearing is fine, but I think she has trouble processing what a character is saying..especially if it's a commerical where you don't always "see" the speaker. I'm going to keep an eye on that and monitor the volume. I did find these awesome ear buds for her ipod. They fit perfectly around the ear and have an awesome volume control where they can't go up any louder than a conversational tone. No matter how loud you try to turn up the ipod, the volume will not go up when there ear buds are plugged in. LOVE THEM!!

I know I am rambling, mainly because I am so stressed about the first day of school and how Emmie's day is going to go. I know her and I know if she is nervous and anxious, she is going to make herself sick. She knows she struggles and she doesn't want anyone to think she's different, especially if she doesn't know them...like her new teachers. Luckily, I know at least one of the teachers and am able to tell Emmie what I know. Hopefully that will help, because right now, that's all I have to make her comfortable :(

A lot of love in one scoop!

2009-08-16T22:01:00.000-07:00

Good evening folks! Above is a photo of Emmie taken today at Fenton's. Yes, that scoop of ice cream is pretty close to the size of her head! Today was Becky's birthday, I have mentioned her before. She was a wonderful person and friend and Emmie was especially fond of her. We lost her last October and today had our own celebration of love in her honor. We went to Fenton's for ice cream with her husband, Moose, one of her sons, Chad, and his most darling girlfriend, Miss Vanessa! Emmie ordered the kids banana split! I know obesity is a huge problem in our country..I wonder why? That's a kids size?! WOWZA! She had a blast and of course she loves Moose and finds Miss Vanessa and Mr. Chad to be a delight. I can tell you I heard their name in more than one sentence on the way home including in the sentence, "Can you call Miss Vanessa and tell her I love her?" "Oh, can I write her a letter too?" One day, her and Chad are going to make amazing parents to a very blessed child. They are extremely patient with Emmie, and trust me, that's a hard one sometimes! But, Emmie isn't attached to many people, but anyone could love this family, and I think Miss Vanessa is a keeper!

The problem I have with Emmie around other people is socialization. She usually enjoys being around people, especially if she is attached to me. But I worry because she can't read social cues and tends to be louder than most. She can't tell when she's being too loud or too rowdy, she can't tell that you have had enough, or that what she is doing may be rude, not funny, or just funny and fine! She also has visual distractiblity, meaning she has a hard time focusing if there is movement around her. For example, if you are in a place like Fenton's where people are having a handful of conversations around her and you are asking her a question, she may not hear you because she notices the waitress walking toward the table. She may give you an answer without hearing and processing exactly what you said or how you said/meant it. I do use hand signals to show her when enough if enough, when to stop, when to listen, etc. It provides the extra visual cue in situations where it's not appropriate for me to talk across the table. Socialization is something we are working on but also something I struggle to teach her. Teaching a person to read other people and how they are feeling is pretty hard!

On another note, the President of the National Cued Speech Association emailed me. After reading his email, I laughed. He certainly understands the same screwed up system I am dealing with. Bless his heart. I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship between me and Cued Speech!

Well, I'm exhausted! It was another hot day in our house, but we enjoyed spending time with Moose and his family. And as you can see, Emmie had a sticky, ice cream blast too!

Man, it's HOT!

2009-08-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

Our air conditioning isn't working and hasn't since Thursday, however the housing maintenance folks claim it has to be over 90 degrees in my house for it to be an emergency. We are all miserable, so that is why I didn't post yesterday and why it's so late today!

This is our last weekend before school starts and I'm feeling more and more overwhelmed. I am so nervous and excited about the first day of school. My children's principal has done her best to place the kids where all the parents requested and I can not thank her enough for her tireless efforts. I now know where Emmie will be placed. She will be with a team of two teachers. One teacher I adore and I'm very excited to have this year. I have admired her for years and I think her gentle nature, her patient spirit, and her love of art is just what Emmie needs. I have to admit I'm nervous about the other teacher. I have heard wonderful things about her but it's the feeling of "unknown" that makes me uneasy. I also worry about the stability and how it will affect Emmie to have two teachers. But, I'm going to have faith and play it by ear. I'm not one of those irate parents, so if there are issues, I know we will be able to work through them. However, I don't see there being any! Positive thoughts!!

I have been chatting with Emmie's Speech teacher through email. She is also gearing up for the students she will see during this year. She mentioned she has been taking a class on teaching children to read. I am so excited to hear all about what she has learned! Emmie loves her and her Resource Super team. I know without a doubt that she would not be where she is today without these wonderful ladies! I look forward to another year with them on her side!

Sorry folks, I know this is a short one. We're miserable in this heat!! More coming..promise :)

That crazy bear

2009-08-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight was chapter 2 of "Little Bear" titled Birthday Soup. So, while I love children's literature, why is it they have to put illustrations on every page telling what the story is about? Okay, so I understand why they do it..but come on, they're killing me! You see, if you watch Emmie read, her eyes aren't always on the words while she's reading a sentence. If she starts to fumble with a word or two her eyes wonder right to the illustration. Then, instead of going back to the words she tries to figure out, quickly, what is happening and makes up the story based on the drawing on the page. For example, in this chapter Little Bear can't find his mother and it's his birthday. So, he decides to make a birthday soup for his friends, who are coming over. In one picture it shows Cat handing Little Bear an apple, while Little Bear is standing by the black pot that holds the soup. So, Emmie reads the line where the Cat tells Little Bear Happy Birthday perfectly. But in the next line the Cat is asking Little Bear if he can really cook...this is where the fumbling comes along and instead Emmie's story adds in Cat hands Little Bear an apple for his Birthday Soup. Of course the Cat was handing him an apple, but not for his soup, for his birthday! I totally get the need for illustrations, but sometimes they can be frustrating!

So, we finish the chapter and of course follow on to the comprehension questions. I asked her a few random ones about last night's chapter and she tells me the correct answers. That bear still has his fur coat and she even explains to me why she doesn't have a "fur coat". Apparently she just has "fuzzy, regular skin". Nice. I have a fuzzy child. Anyway, I asked her what Little Bear put in his soup. As it was mentioned twice in the chapter the four ingredients that he added. She was only able to tell me two plus the apple, which I had already corrected when she was fumbling over the words. Also, I asked her who attended Little Bear's birthday as he had three friends over. Attending the party were Hen, Duck, and Cat. However, because of the illustrations and the fact she really didn't remember words her answer was the Cat and a Goose. The Duck really did look like a Goose in the story, I'll give her that. But she couldn't remember reading the Duck was there. It's a work in progress!

I also had a very generous offer from a friend to purchase the Boardmaker program. I appreciate the generosity so much, but I'm secretly hoping this amazing person takes that money and treats himself to a weekend getaway or something fun to celebrate him! We'll see, he's pretty stubborn and has a tendency not to listen!! But we love him! :)

Take Care folks! It's going to be a busy weekend since it's the last one before school starts! YIKES! So much to do, so little time!!

A bear has a fur coat? Really?

2009-08-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I said I would see you on Tuesday, but Tuesday went by way to fast! We spent the day at a friends house and the kids had a blast playing together. My friend has three boys, one of who has a special need. Emmie and him are stuck like glue! It's funny to see kids and their different personalities and quirks. It's amazing to see who they mesh with and how. They were exhausted when we arrived home and we all just settled in and relaxed the night away.

So, here we are today, Wednesday. This time next week we will be double checking backpacks, ensuring hair ribbons match outfits, and sharping pencils! It is so hard to believe school starts next week. Where in the world did summer go? My oldest two are ready to go back to school and have a break from mom (of course mom volunteers and works at the school so they really don't get a break) but they are sick of me telling them it's time to read!

Speaking of reading, tonight I allowed Emmie to chose a book to read. I have to admit, I was hoping for Fluffy the guinea pig or that crazy Wombat. Of course she make a completely different selection and arrived on the couch with a Little Bear book. Me and that bear have a good relationship, but secretly Fluffy is the main man! She sat next to me and read the title. After opening the first page and reading the first line or two I knew it was going to be a long chapter. I paused her and grabbed a story strip. I am sure these have an actual name, but I call them story stripes. They are used to highlight the line you are reading, while covering up the line before and after. Allow her to focus on what she is reading and it doesn't just look like a jumbled mess! The story strip helped, but not as much as I was hoping. She stumbled on simple words like see, she, and here. A few times she corrected herself immediately after realizing she made a mistake. Which actually impressed me! But sometimes she didn't know she made a mistake like when she read "Hurray! Now I will not be cold." Well that line came out "Hurry, No I will now be cold." When I stopped her and read the sentence that she said out loud, I asked her what it meant. Her response was, "well, it means now he's cold and his mom should hurry and help him." Hmmm.....comprehension, need to work on that more! Don't get me wrong, we work on comprehension a LOT but apparently I need to stress it even more. Anyway, we finished the chapter with no tears. After we read the chapter, I asked her six questions about what happened in the chapter and she was able to provide the correct responses. Basically Little Bear was cold, his mom made a hat, still cold, add in a jacket and then snow pants. Still cold, she took everything back and left him with his fur coat! Which of course kept him warm. So, one of my questions was, "Where did Little Bear find the fur coat?" Emmie let out a big "WHAT?" I looked at her a little confused. She went on.."Did you pay attention? He HAD the fur coat on him." "On him? What does that mean?" She gives me another "WHAT? He's a bear, mom. We should read it again."

No, honey, I was paying attention. Just make sure you were :)

Boardmaker

2009-08-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

"What did you say?", this seemed to be the theme for today. Emmie asked me what day is it, for some reason she is always concerned about what day it is and if it is Thursday or Friday or if we what she will wear three days from now. So, this morning was no different than any other. "What's today?", she said before I could even get out of bed. I responded with a very groggy, "It's Monday, Emmie." And our conversation went as it typically does. "Sunday?" "No Emmie, it's Monday". Then comes the "What did you say?". Mind you, she is standing right in front of me but she just can't seem to process what I said. This happens all to often I can predict exactly how the conversation will go and nearly always what day she will think I said. It happened later in the day as I asked her to feed the cat. About three seconds after I asked her to feed the cat, her and Jensen were arguing over who was going to get him water. Emmie argued that I said she was to get him water. "Emmie, I asked you to feed the cat but thank you for getting him water". She looked at me with a bit of confusion, "Oh..I didn't hear you.". Okay, got it. No big deal. Jensen went on about his business, he's use to having a little annoying sister after all :)

There is a program I have been looking into. It's called "Boardmaker" and it's made by the Mayer-Johnson company. They have a few different versions, but I have been looking at the Boardmaker v.6 program. Their website says, "Boardmaker v.6 software is widely regarded as the essential tool for adapting symbol-based printed activities for students with special needs. A symbol database combined with an easy-to-use drawing program, Boardmaker features more than 4,500 Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) in 44 languages, all in both color and black-and-white." There are several things about the Boardmaker program that I think would benefit Emmie. First, it would allow me to make visual schedules for her so she would know it's Monday and what to expect at different times during the day. She doesn't adapt to change well and being prepared for the day would benefit her. With the picture system, I would be able to create educational and living schedules for her. For example, when we work on her summertime work here, I use a "learning card" that I made for her. She uses the visual card to reinforce that she is to "listen, repeat, and say" the words I give her. Boardmaker would allow me to expand this throughout her day to day activities at home and at school, including picture directions for brushing her teeth and getting ready for school. I would also be able to create picture stories for her to follow along with classroom work. During class, if there is a book on tape or a reading activity, Emmie struggles to follow along. She suffers from an "auditory overload" and basically tunes it out and finds something to keep her occupied thus missing the assignment and story. Being able to create a picture story will allow her to follow along using both her auditory and visual skills. It also allows you to drag and drop images and create your own personalized picture cards, so the possibilities for learning are endless. There are only a FEW things this wonderful program could do to help Emmie. The problem is this program cost $329! Granted, it's a wonderful program but far from our budget. But, I have mentioned the program in another post, so I wanted you to be familiar with it in case I mention it again...and I'm sure I will.

Again before I tucked her into bed, she always asks "What's tomorrow". "Tomorrow is Tuesday." And, right on cue comes the, "Oh, I thought today was Tuesday". "No, Emmie, today was Monday". "Well, I asked you this morning and you said Tuesday". "I said it was Monday, but that's okay, you didn't miss anything".

See you tomorrow folks...yeah..on Tuesday!

Can't fix what's not broken

2009-08-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

Last night I was online chatting with the mom of one of Emmie's friends. Emmie and her daughter have been in the same class for the last few years. She asked about our move and I explained that we wouldn't be moving to Germany because they couldn't support Emmie's special educational needs. "What's wrong with her?", she said. Um, excuse me? What is wrong with her? Nothing is wrong with her. It's not like she has a cold or a broken toe. The conversation pretty much ended there. I could have went on to explain Emmie's auditory processing disorder, but for some reason, I felt like it wouldn't have done any good. In her eyes, something was "wrong" with Emmie and I took offense to that. There is nothing we need to do to "fix her". She is fine just the way she is!!!!

A similar situation occurred to another friend of mine. Her son wears hearing aides. Apparently they were at a local Chuck E. Cheese establishment and a little girl was making fun of him for his hearing aides. He wasn't going to take it and marched her to her mother and told her what happened. This little boy is the most amazing kid to have the confidence and strength to stand up for himself (he's going into the 2nd grade). He is certainly a rock star!

What sort of world are we living in? What are we teaching our children about people who are different from them? Are we teaching understanding, patience, acceptance? Or are we raising judgemental little brats? Are they learning by how we treat other people?

I guess Dr. Seuss said it best, "A person's a person, no matter how small". In my eyes, Emmie is just a regular kid. She requires extra care, a little extra time and patience. She needs you to approach her in a different manner than some, but she is far from broken. She typically doesn't realize when someone is making fun of her and for that I'm both grateful and sad. I want her to stand up for herself like little Mr. Rock Star. But for now, she is the most loving and accepting little girl. She doesn't care what color you are, what your hair looks like, what clothes you are wearing, or if you brought tuna or peanut butter to school...she cares that you are nice to her. What a wonderful perspective she has on people!!

Dance your night away

2009-08-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Another letter from Tri-Care came in the mail today. The subject was "Factual denial with appeal rights". What? The letter, in short, states that our request for speech therapy was denied. Big surprise?!? I think not. Apparently the Tri-care Policy Manual Chapter 1, section 1.1 indicates "that services and supplies paid for, or eligible for payment, directly or indirectly by a local, state, or Federal Government, except as provided under Tri-Care, or by government hospitals serving the general public, or medical care provided by a Uniformed Service medical facility, or benefits provided under title XIX of the Social Security Act are specifically excluded from Tri-Care coverage." Please don't ask me to explain what that means. I hate to admit, I have no clue! I am reading it as if Emmie receives speech at school then Tri-Care will not support any additional speech program. But how do they make that determination? Nowhere in the letter is her auditory processing addressed. All students receive an eye and hearing exam at school but yet Tri-Care still covers one a year. All students also receive a quick little dental exam during dental week at school, but Tri-Care still covers one a year. Apparently with the medical care in this country helping our children, who happen to be the FUTURE of this country, isn't a top priority. Heaven forbid our insurance company contribute positively to the future of this country.

I am just so done. There isn't another way to explain it. The whole insurance thing has left me so bitter and frankly just plain pissed. So, do we appeal and go through more frustrations? Or do I just try to get a second job to help pay for her additional services because the military pay sure isn't going to cut it.

Anyway, okay I'm finished complaining at least for tonight. Today with Emmie was frustrating. I think because it's summertime and she is tired of being around mom! Let's face it, with Dad gone since March, I'm all they have here and we are all tired of each other! She was able to use her creativeness today. During her art therapy session, we decided to get out the oil pastels, which isn't something we use often and it tends to be a real treat for her. She created a beautiful ocean scene complete with fish and Spongebob. Yes, Spongebob lives in the ocean folks. Of course her need for tactile stimulation didn't stop there! She quickly washer her hands, rolled up her sleeves, and rolled cake balls out with me. We had a little misinterpreting, but for the most part it went well. The kids seemed to fight more today than EVER. Which I attribute to the fact we all need a break from each other.

But, the perfect end to the night is Emmie getting out of the bathtub and putting on her pj's. Which consisted of a pink and green satin night shirt that belonged to a dear friend named Becky. Mrs. Becky passed away last October, but she is with us everyday of our lives. Emmie was especially attached to Mrs. Becky and finds so much comfort in dancing around the living room in "Mrs. Becky's fancy dress", as this particular night shirt is named. So, I'll sit here for awhile and watch her dance with the spirit of Becky running through her. Trust me, friends, I certainly need a spirit lift these days!

Donna

A dream

2009-08-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

I read the most wonderful quote today. I collect quotes and poems in an old golden journal. Some of them are from my childhood and throughout high school. Some are related to the military or to my southern roots. I find comfort in the words of others. But today, I read a quote that really made me stop and think. It went like this:

"Tell me, I forget. Show me, I remember. Involve me, I understand."

EXACTLY! It was typed in a small black frame with a beautiful painted flower. It said it was a Chinese proverb. That was the perfect quote for our life with Emmie. If we tell her, she forgets it within seconds. If we show her, often she'll remember but not always all or in the order or way she was shown. But if we involve her, she understands which then leads to her remembering and progressing! What a beautiful concept!

We had an appointment this morning with the Director from the West Coast Cued Speech Program in Vacaville. Her name is Joan and she was the nicest lady! The kids loved her! All three kept commenting on how nice she was and how fun her office is. I had read about Cued Speech online but wanted to learn more about the program and if it would benefit Emmie. She came in on her day off to meet with me and encourage me to bring the other two kids. Cued Speech is a simple sound based system, which, uses eight hand shapes for consonant groups cued at four locations for the vowel groups. According to her therapy model, the auditory processing therapy is a multi-sensory approach for increasing auditory memory. Multi-Sensory is MY favorite type of learning because it incorporates visual cues, tactile information, motor planning experiences, and imagery. They have four "centers" they use for therapy. The first is a work center, where the child sits at a desk and does "teacher directed" school work. Next they move to the themed area, this month was Ocean Life, with mounds of ocean beanie babies and information next to her chair. Third is an activity of sorts, a board game, a puzzle, something that gets everyone in the floor and communicating. After all, we all learn and are engaged when learning is fun! And finally, they end with story time. She also encourages "whole family" involvement, including parents and siblings. The cost isn't bad, but to be honest, as an enlisted family I'm not sure we can afford it. After all, we are receiving zero support from our insurance company.

Today I was told by our insurance company they needed additional information but she couldn't confirm what information was needed. So I figured tomorrow I would deliver a copy of Emmie's IEP and report from The Listening Center to them, that way they have no excuses. The Tri-Care lady also informed me that the referral for speech therapy would "probably" be canceled since Emmie receives speech at school. Does the Tri-Care office have a processing issue? Seriously? I understand Emmie receives speech at school, as well as Resource support. However, she is getting pulled from class for this time. I would like her to be in a private, after school program, which can include more one-on-one instruction and possibly introduce other programs such as the Lindamood-Bell. Do people nowadays just not want the best for their kids? I feel like I'm some outcast walking into the Tri-Care office. Like how dare I care about what happens to my child! How dare I want MORE for her? How dare I use our insurance!

Why can't I find a wonderful speech therapist, who will work after school, on a very reasonable payment plan? Ahhhh, a girl can dream!!

Just Tuesday

2009-08-04T23:17:00.000-07:00

Today I received a phone call from the Pediatric Clinic. The lady explained that the referral had been on her desk since last week and she wasn't sure why it hadn't been processed. She told me the Tri Care office needed a copy of her IEP. Seriously? I explained to her that I went to the Tri Care office yesterday and what was said. If all they needed was her IEP, why not just ask me while I was sitting at their desk? Or better yet, get off your butt and get her actual medical record! That's a concept! The medical record which holds everything they can put on paper about my child, including her IEP and report from Dr. Swain. I really can not understand why these people don't communicate with one another. We left the phone call with a "I'll call you back when I hear something". Whatever.

We have a little over two weeks until school starts and I have started putting together a letter for Emmie's teacher. I want the teacher to be prepared to support Emmie and aware of her needs. I am really not sure what the teachers receive prior to the first day of school and I don't want there to be any miscommunication or no communication about Emmie. This has been a hard letter to write. I want it to reflect the areas of concern, strategies and ways to help her in the classroom, as well as her strengths and the areas she particularly excels in. I don't want the teacher to feel like I'm telling him/her how to run their classroom, but I also know Emmie is going to need certain things in the classroom. She will need to sit close to the teacher/speaker, little to no background noise, not seated looking at a window or near the door, no busy wall displays to minimize visual distractions, the use of a planner, to receive all important information in written form, pre-taught certain concepts, etc. Finding a way to tell the teacher everything I want to tell her/him, without overwhelming them or offending them, is HARD! I guess I'll figure it out, but if you have any ideas on how to present this information, please share!

Emmie had a good day today. Although lately I have noticed an increase in her inability to discriminate certain sounds. From time to time, there has always been a problem in this area, but here lately it is more noticeable. It happened three times today, where a word was misinterpreted for something different. Also, I noticed today was a few more of the "huh?" than usual. But this I have noticed comes when she is tired, after a long day or after a lot of reading or schoolwork. She goes into auditory overload and the huh's are plugged in. She is getting enough sleep, often 10 plus hours. I am wondering if we need to have quiet time during the day for her to rest. When Carrington and Jensen got too old for naps, we would have "quiet time" while Emmie napped. They would go into their rooms, or find a comfy spot on the couch and would just relax listening to music, reading a book, or coloring. Something quiet for 20 minutes or so. I guess I'll have to keep my eye out on her over the next few days and see if quiet time will benefit her.

More tomorrow folks!
Donna

Not again.

2009-08-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

Last week, I mentioned we went to the doctor in the hopes of receiving a referral for Speech and Language services to help supplement what she receives at school. Today, I got an email that our referral was processed. I was excited and quickly logged into our insurance website to read the referral. And guess what? They screwed it up! Big surprise huh? The insurance approved one evaluation and 50 visits to The Listening Center for "speech and hearing services". The Listening Center does not provide speech and language pathology, instead they provide the program called "Tomatis". Long story short, the Tomatis program is a listening program where students wear earphones and listen to music at different pitches in order to help retrain their processors. I have read wonderful things about this program and am even considering it for Emmie. Dr. Swain of The Listening Center was the wonderful lady who preformed Emmie's first evaluation. However, again this wasn't what I asked for from the doctor. So, I load the kids in the van and head to the Tri-Care office at the hospital with the printed referral. The customer service rep took my id card and referral and said she would have to speak with the Nurse. Fine, speak with who ever, I'll wait. Ten minutes later the Nurse arrives at the desk. She explains there has been a problem. Seriously? DUH! Apparently there were actually two referrals placed in the system. Two? "Yes, but one is still under review", she explains. One referral was for The Listening Center and the other referral, which is under review from the Medical Director of Tri-Care, is for a sleep study. What? Sleep study? Where in the WORLD did that come from? The nurse had no idea and chalked it up to a "clerical error". It seems there are a lot of those going around. I explained to her that The Listening Center does not provide speech therapy services and she hands me a blue sticky note with her phone number. She says she will take care of it and I'm suppose to call her on Wednesday for an update. So here we are, clerical error? Nice.

Besides that, the day was okay for Emmie. There were a number times where she misheard me, like I asked her to bring me the "Sprite" bottle and she brought me a spray bottle. Or when we were in the car and she was singing along to a country radio station and she wanted to know why they were saying "beer" when actually they were saying "dear". I guess I'll chalk her day up to a "clerical error". It is certainly frustrating. I just want what's best for my daughter. Why in the world is that so hard? Maybe the world has auditory processing disorder and Emmie's the only one that doesn't!

Praying someone, somewhere, will understand soon. I'm running out of hope!

Sometimes, she wins

2009-08-01T22:34:00.001-07:00

Some days, as hard as it is to admit, you give in to your kids. Today was that day. Since summer began, we take the daily opportunity to continue Emmie's school work. Every morning (sometimes later in the day), I send Carrington and Jensen to their rooms to read quietly and Emmie and I work on different activities. Her superwoman Resource Specialist provided a package of great summer time activities for each of her students and I purchase the Auditory Processing Kit from Lingui-systems. It took awhile for me to develop a daily plan of activities and I certainly don't envy teachers who do that on a regular basis! Wow! Anyway, some days we focus on auditory memory where Emmie receives three (four seems too many still) either related or unrelated words with a one second pause between each. She then has to repeat the words to me in order. Ever few set of words, I am suppose to have a 45 second pause before she repeats the set. She hates this exercise! It's one of my favorites only because I know she will have to rely on her auditory memory so much as she grows and learns. Some days we work on auditory discrimination, an example would be me reading aloud two words with even intonation and Emmie has to respond if the words are same or different. I have learned to cover my mouth when I pronounce the words because she's a smart little cookie and can tell how I am forming the letters, even when I try very hard to not move my lips, teeth, or tongue any differently! Because her brain can't always process different sounds, this activity can be difficult for her but she actually enjoys it! An example would be the words "Cake-Coke". Anyway, we have 8 different auditory based sections we work on together. After each day's activities, we read a story provided in a book from the Superwoman. She has enjoyed the reading part, the stories and themes are simple and only contain a few pages. I have also added, in the recent weeks, Art therapy to her lessons. She thrives in art and it allows her to build her confidence. But I didn't want to just hand her crayons and let her color every time, so I have a masterpiece coloring book. A coloring book filled with pages of Famous paintings, such as Van Gogh's Starry Night. She not only colors the painting, but we also talk about the artist. What was he feeling? What colors did he use? What colors would you use if this was your masterpiece? Why? It is important to establish a positive language environment and since she has so much confidence in her art, this activity allows her to build her language "file".

She works extremely hard to complete all her lessons and she's been a real trooper over the summer. We have taken a break from time to time, maybe a few days here or there, but she has been working Monday through Friday for about 30-45 minutes each day. We have built up to that time, when we first started it was only 10 minutes! But today, knowing she had such a horrible day yesterday, when it was time to do her work I wasn't sure how she was going to react. I told her it was "Time to Listen" and when she looked at me, her response said it all. The hand on the hip, the curled lip, and the words..."Mom, can I PLEASE just do math today". I stood there a minute wondering where to go with this one and finally I said, "That is just what I had planned for today". Of course, it wasn't, but sometimes you just have to give in to your kids! Math, like art, is something Emmie thrives in. Math doesn't change (of course I know it will get harder as she gets older) and right now the rules are the same. 2 + 2 is going to equal 4, this time and next time. Stability. She likes stability. So, I let her win today. Let her work from her Hello Kitty math workbook and be on her way. Of course, we also spent an hour in the bookstore today. I don't think she realized that when I asked her to read the story with me that she was actually doing something besides math today. Oh well, she can't win them all :)

Later,
Donna

Bad day

2009-07-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

Did I mention some days are better than others? Well today was horrible. Emmie had such a hard time today with everything. Everything I said had to be repeated, often more than once. We went shopping for shoes since summer is coming to an end and school is around the corner. Emmie seemed to fumble with every pair she tried on. She missed most of the conversation in the car and instead sat in the backseat singing to herself. She struggled to interact with anyone. You know how it is when you go to a restaurant, you sit down and the waitress comes over to tell you the specials, but she is talking so fast you barely got her name? That's how today was for Emmie. Everything seemed to be going too fast around her and she just wanted it to slow down. I could feel it. And socially, today was just as hard. Carrington and Jensen are typically very patient with her. But with her difficulties she often tries too hard to fit in. Emmie wants you to know she can do what everyone else can do. And today, they had it with her before breakfast. She often tries to hard to play with them. They would be happy to include her (okay, sometimes they just want their baby sister to go away and play dolls) but for the most part they're cool with her tagging along). Today she was loud and in their face. They went outside to ride the ripstick, this clever little skateboard, and Emmie was tagging right along. "Hey guys, Hey guys.....watch me, watch me". They tried their best to humor her and be patient, but it didn't last long. Finally, Carrington said to her "Emmie, we just want to ride and play before dinner". She was nice, but I know Carrington just wanted to yell at her and actually I was surprised she didn't.

Everyone has a bad day and today was Emmie's. I'm not sure what triggered it or if I should just chalk it up to "just one of those days". I can't help but feel sometimes the days are too over stimulating for her, she goes on auditory overload? Am I totally screwing this up? What should I have done today? She needs to be included in the everyday "life of a family", but should I have just stayed home with her and seen what happened? Maybe next time we'll try that. Maybe we'll try to ride in the car with the radio off, maybe I'll make conversation cards for her-something visual for her to see and follow along like a game? The Boardmaker program would really come in handy, but we can't afford it. (More on that program later!!). What do you think?

It was a long day and I'm exhausted. I can only imagine how Emmie feels. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

In her own words

2009-07-31T00:40:00.001-07:00

Tonight I asked Emmie what I should write about. She has been the inspiration and the reasoning for this blog after all. Emmie said I should write about her. Okay, sure, I responded. Here's our conversation:

Emmie: Mom, can we have a snack?
Mom: Yeah, a small one.
Emmie: Can I have four cookies?
Mom: What kind of cookies?
Emmie: Animal cookies
Mom: Sure

Two seconds later..

Emmie: Mom, what are you doing? Checking your EEEE-mail? (she always puts too much emphasis on the E part!)

Mom: No, logging into your story. (that's what I call her blog)
Emmie: what are you writing?
Mom: Not sure yet. What should I write?
Emmie: Ummm...something about me. I got a new haircut.
Mom: I know you did! It is very cute. What else should I write?
Emmie: Well, who is gonna read it?
Mom: Mom's friends, your daddy, Me-maw, and maybe a few more people
Emmie: Wow
Mom: So, come sit with me.
Emmie: With my cookies?
Mom: Sure. Now, if you could tell everyone something about yourself..what would you say?
Emmie: Let me think.

Of course there is a pause while she sees how many animal crackers will fit in her mouth...bye bye lion, see you later monkey (and she tosses aside the piece that looks like the bum of an elephant)......

Emmie: Okay. I'm ready.
Mom: If you could tell me about you, what would you say?
Emmie: I would say I got a haircut.
Mom: And?
Emmie: And, I'm making daddy a picture to show him. Oh, I like to color and I am eating cookies. I looove cookies.
Mom: Is that all? What else do you like to do?
Emmie: I like to dance (as she throws her arms in the air). And I like to read.
Mom: You like to read?
Emmie: Yeah, I'm getting good at it. I wasn't good before.
Mom: You are getting really good!
Emmie: Yeah. It is HARD work. I like to read but it is hard.
Mom: So you want me to tell everyone that you like to read?
Emmie: Yes. But don't tell anyone I can't do it very good.
Mom: Don't worry, you are great at it.

And that's Emmie, in her words, right now. She loves what other little girl loves. She wants to read like they do to. She tries really hard and sometimes she gets the words right. But most often, she stumbles over them. Often she looks at the pictures on the page and tries to put the words together. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But don't tell her that I told you, otherwise I may get stuck eating the elephant's butt!

Donna

My boat is sinking

2009-07-29T21:02:00.001-07:00

If I would have started this post a few hours ago, I have to admit, it wouldn't have been a family show! I am so frustrated by the lack of support we are receiving. Last Friday I called the appointment hotline to schedule three "well child" appointments for the kids. I also explained to the lady at the appointment line that I also needed, for Emmie, to ask the doctor questions about a referral for speech therapy and get a medication refill. "No problem, we have your children booked for July 29th from 3:00-3:45 pm". "GREAT!", I said! After all, carting three kids back and forth to the doctor is a hassle it was great to have them back to back. On Tuesday, I received a message from the Pediatric Clinic. They wanted to cancel my son's appointment because he had a "well child" appointment in Jan. Actually, he did have an appointment but it wasn't a well child check up..the boy was sick. And they also wanted to cancel Emmie's appointment because she had a well child appointment in December. Umm, again, no. She did have an appointment in December, however it was yet again to clear up the hearing screening mess that they started. Knowing I wouldn't be awake at 7:30 am to return their call when the clinic opened (hey, it's summertime after all), Doug agreed to stay at the office late and call them for me from Germany. He called them and called me around 8:30 am. He said he canceled Jensen's appointment (I'll deal with that later, thank God he's a healthy kid!) and they were going to work Emmie's as a 30 minute appointment since the time slot was already booked for the family. Apparently during well child appointments, they refuse to do medication refills or anything that requires them to actually do their job. It's a 15 minute, shuffle you in and out, appointment. Fine, they worked with us...I'm okay with having to reschedule Jensen. I get to the Pediatric Clinic, with Emmie's binder of information in tow, only to have the receptionist, who we will call Little Miss Sassy pants with the major attitude, tell me that is NOT what she told my husband. She told him she would have to speak with the doctor and as of 2:40 when we arrived she had yet to get off her fat butt and speak to the doctor. She was obviously making it up as she was going along. Call it years of living with a Mental Health Tech, but I can read people. Me and her exchanged some words, obviously my husband isn't a liar, the poor guy works at the hospital and knows a thing or two about booking appointments and why in the word hasn't she already spoken to the doctor? So, she asks me what I needed to see the doctor for. I explained to her I needed to get a medication refill, told her the medication, and she hoped on the computer and said she could take care of it for me right now. Awesome! So, I then went to tell her about the referral I was going to ask about. Emmie is receiving speech therapy at school, but I would love to have supplemental therapy at a private therapist in the hopes of working with the Fast Forward or Lindamood Bell programs. I explain that Emmie was diagnosed with Central auditory processing disorder and I would like to see about getting a referral for speech therapy. She jotted down the word "Audiology" on her note pad. and said, "So, she needs to see Audiology." "NO, she doesn't need to see Audiology. She has had several pure tone hearing screenings and when you process that referral Tri Care is going to order another one." Again, she repeats herself. Frankly, I wanted to jump across the desk and pop her in the mouth. For those who know me, you know I can get a little...redneck...especially when it comes to the kids. I reached across the desk, grabbed a pen and marked Audiology off her her list. She wasn't getting it, like most so far. I repeated myself again about the speech therapy and finally she wrote "speech" on her notepad. Anyway...height and weight for Carrington were taken and off to the doctor we went. I have seen this doctor before and really liked her, but today, sporting a new name and dress that really should have been a little bit longer, she came in the room. She saw Carrington and her appointment went well. Next we come to Emmie. Very pleasantly the doctor asks what sort of referral we are requesting and I explain the whole situation. I am not sure what the point of having medical records are as the doctor never seems to review them. Mind you, this is the same doctor who finally got the referral for CAPD assessment correct. I explain to her the nuts and bolts of Emmie, quickly as I could tell she was done with us and it was barely 3:15, and why I want additional speech therapy. Her response is "don't they do that at school?" "Yes! She does receive Title I instruction, Speech Therapy, and Resource. However, I am seeing minimal improvements in her auditory memory and cohesion. I would also like to explore more options to increase her phonemic awareness...." and on and on. I seemed to lose her after I said Yes! I went on to tell her about the last referrals and how the words have to be chosen carefully or more hearing screening referrals would arrive in my mailbox. She agreed to put in the referral but only if I understood Tri Care only covers speech therapy for children under the age of 3. Seriously? I don't care if I have to work at 7-11 as the Slurpee machine cleaner, I am going to do what I have to do to ensure my child will succeed. "Fine. I don't know why you need a referral, but I'll put one in". Never once did she ask where the diagnosis came from, how long we have known of her struggles, major concerns, her school performance, to see her hearing screenings, or any other "important" questions. Nor did she say one word to Emmie or try to watch her as she ate her cookie and flip through the "If you give a mouse a cookie" book. Never a "so, Emmie, how old are you?" or a "What book are you reading". NOTHING! Emmie didn't speak during our time in the doctor's office. And I do use simple sign language with her and during this visit I used two signs. Why sign language? Emmie is a verbal child (oh man, is she!) but the extra visual symbol allows her to put the picture with the word and improves her visual spatial memory. Anyway, she was eating an animal cookie and I made the sign for "finished?" because I could tell she was looking around the room for a trash can. She nodded and handed me the bag. I also made the sign for "listen", as I wanted to her pay attention to the doctor in case the doctor spoke to her when it was her turn. Emmie knows if she sees the sign for listen to stop what she is doing and look directly at the speaker (we also use a verbal command, but in some situations a sign is more appropriate). To be honest, this doctor has no idea if my child is a verbal or non verbal child. I don't feel like she treated Emmie as a person or even patient and more like just something she had to be bothered with. We left the clinic at exactly 3:34. We still had another 11 minutes of appointment time. So what was the big deal in the first place? We didn't take another person's slot?

I left the clinic and went to the pharmacy. Little Miss Sassy pants did not put her allergy medication into the system. I was so frustrated by that point, I said forget it. I'll buy it over the counter (Thank God Zyrtec can be purchased over the counter for children). Then, straight down the hall, around the corner to the Tri Care office. I sat down and explained the situation again and a few clicks on the keyboard and the representative told me she wasn't sure where the doctor received her information but speech therapy is indeed covered. No, age 3 limit. She even jotted down on a pink note card where I could find the information and print it out, just in case. Bless her. She could tell I was not having a good day.

So, here I am. Again in the same boat I was before. Most days, it feels like I am the only one fighting this battle for Emmie. I know Doug tries, but he's too far away and gone too often to be as involved as he wants to be. Again I am here paddling and praying that we stay afloat. And has anyone opened the phone book or surfed yellowpages.com and tried to find a speech therapist in this area? The search is coming up pretty dry and I still can't figure out how our EFMP reassignment landed us back at Travis where our child still isn't getting what she needs. I hope I can hold this boat by myself....where did I put those life jackets?

Donna

Never judge a book

2009-07-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days I have covered the basics of how we found out Emmie wasn't a typical 8 year old. Now, how does CAPD affect our daily life? That's a question that I can't answer in just one post. You see, on the outside, Emmie IS the typical 8 year old. She is tall, long brown hair (which drives me batty!), big eyes, silly smile, and luckily at the moment her clothing matches! She can be found digging in the dirt, dancing in the bathtub, or coloring a new picture to send to Daddy. If you were to run into her at school or stop by for a glass of tea, you would never know Emmie was different. You know the old saying, "Never judge a book by it's cover"? Well, that saying ring true when you meet a child with CAPD. On the inside, Emmie is a multitude of wonder. She's healthy (although she is allergic to banana boat sunscreen, four types of grass, a few trees, and dogs) and a happy-go-lucky kind of kid. But there are also wires that get crossed and certain things that I have to do on a daily basis to ensure I am providing the proper language environment for her development. Take this example of Emmie, mind you this was only about 10 minutes in our day, but it will give you a general idea.

We sat on the couch together watching the Tinkerbell movie. Carrington was in her room with the phone attached to her ear and Jensen was building a new Lego creation. There is a scene in the movie where they show fairy dust, a lot of it! Our conversation went like this:

Emmie: Look! It's fairy dust!
Mom: Oh wow, that is a lot of fairy dust.
Emmie: We should get some.
Mom: What would you do with fairy dust?
Emmie: I would fly.
Mom: Is that what fairies do with it? Hmmm.....Maybe we should make some fairy dust so we can sprinkle it on your fairies that you got for your birthday. I bet they would love to fly!
No response.....
Mom: Can we make them fly?
Emmie: Sure, can I make an apple one?
Mom: An apple what? Fairy Dust?
Emmie: An apple pie.
Mom: An apple pie? What are you talking about.
Emmie: You said we should make some pie.
Mom: No, I said we should make some fairy dust.
Emmie: Oh. Can I have pie?
Mom: We don't have pie.
Emmie: Well, rats!

I know exactly where and how our conversation went wrong. I should have used smaller sentences and she should have been looking at me when I was talking. Her auditory memory is less that nine words long, meaning after about the ninth word, I lose her. She also has trouble remembering words or sentences if there is a pause of longer than 15 seconds. So, when I paused then told her we should make our own fairy dust, she lost the part about flying all together. Often, you will find her looking at your mouth and how the words are formed while you are talking. While she is looking at your mouth, you will notice two things. One, her mouth and tongue are slightly moving trying to mimic the words you are creating. And two, she is subvocalizing certain words. Meaning, she is saying them out loud (often low enough where only she can hear it) to help keep them in her working memory. She didn't do any of this during this conversation because I wasn't facing her. Now, would you know that if you looked at her playing with her barbie dolls? No, her cover says she is a typical 8 year old girl dressing her dolls and making them walk and talk. It's what's inside the book that you have to look out for :) This girl is a complicated read!

Later folks,
Donna

You are moving where?

2009-07-27T17:21:00.000-07:00

Right after Christmas we began preparing for our move back to Germany. We had received orders for a small NATO base on the border of Germany and the Netherlands. Of course as a mom of three school age children, my first and only goal was to ensure the school was "up to par" for all three of my children. They each have their own strengths and personalities. Carrington is an all around A student, she loves to learn, kicks butt at math and science (although she will never admit it!) and plays the clarinet. Jensen is a great student, loves math and any new biography, and wants to play baseball. Then there's Emmie, which is the artsy kid in the family, but also needs the extra educational support. So, I emailed the only American elementary school that we are allowed to attend. There are actually two American elementary schools in the area however time and time again I was told that the Air Force children attend only one of those schools, the Army kids got the other. I'm not sure their reasoning and went all the way through the District and never received an answer. Anyway, I emailed the school and waited. The Resource Specialist there responded with a simple, "we can handle your daughter's issues". The next few months our emails went back and forth, me sending a list of questions and her responding with the typical "we can support you". Never once did she answer a question or give me information on what programs they had to offer. She even lost part of the IEP that was sent to her.

During this time, we made the decision for my husband to travel ahead of us and me and the kids would stick it out in California until school let out. My husband made every attempt to go to the school and give the lady another copy of the IEP, a copy of the 16 page report from Dr. Swain, and another copy of the questions I had. When he didn't receive a response from her, he went to the Principal. The Principal listened to him and said he would provide a list of their available programs. A few weeks later, the Principal handed him a form letter containing no real "information". It was then I knew I would not send my children to that school. Period.

My husband applied for an EFMP reassignment, in the hopes the Air Force would find a location for us that could support the educational needs of our child. He landed in Germany in March and it wasn't until the first week in July that we received an answer. They were going to send us to Washington. Okay, I can live with that. Schools are great, area is nice, I'm good with Washington. Two days later, we were informed that Washington was off the table and we would be staying in California. My husband will be returning in August.

I'm not exactly sure how this process takes place. How the Air Force decides what is best for our child based on what is written on a piece of paper? Obviously the system is broken as we have been through more hassle than help in the last few months. Now, we are stuck in California. A place where the budget is being thrown down the toilet. Where education is as important as the trash on the side of the road. Money keeps getting cut, classroom sizes are getting bigger, teachers are getting laid off. In the upcoming school year, I am scared to death to send my child to school. I am afraid she will not have what she needs with all the cuts being made. She is a special needs child but she also is in a traditional classroom setting. I can not imagine her in a classroom with 24 other children, no health, no PE, no music....no break from the day to day auditory overload. My fingers are crossed, but the Air Force certainly consider the family in this instance. I hope the EFMP process is more helpful to other families.

More later as dinner is calling,
Donna

Finally, an answer

2009-07-26T22:05:00.000-07:00

Remember when I told you my first meeting with the Student Study Team the Psychologist used the word "auditory processing" difficulties? For some reason that term, even though I had no clue what it meant, stayed with me. I came home and typed in any form of the word possible and let me tell you Google has a million plus links for "auditory processing"! Wow! It was insanely overwhelming, but I finally found the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. This site described a disorder known as Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) or Central Deafness. I read over the description and printed it for future reference. I finally had what I hoped was an answer. After all, education begins when you can put a name to it. I called my step-mom and read the symptoms to her over the phone (I would have called my husband but he was in the middle of a war zone in Afghanistan!). It was almost as if the description was written JUST for Emmie. She was having trouble paying attention to and remembering information presented orally, carrying out multi step directions, poor listening skills, needed more time to process information, had language difficulty (e.g., they confuse syllable sequences and have problems developing vocabulary and understanding language) and, have difficulty with reading, comprehension, spelling, and vocabulary. Of course I spoke with the Superwomen of the Student Study Team and they requested I have a hearing screening done just to ensure there wasn't any "hearing related" issues. We had one performed at a local school equipped with a sound proof booth and it was concluded that Emmie had normal hearing.

There is no cure for CAPD. I spent the next few months trying to help Emmie on my own. Trying to make things "click". Finally I realized we couldn't get the help we needed until we had the "label" on her medical record. I made an appointment with her Pediatrician in the hopes of getting a referral to an Audiologist for testing. We are a military family, so when you make a doctor's appointment the odds of seeing the same doctor twice has worse odds than playing the lottery and winning a fortune. The first doctor we saw was actually the Flight Commander for the Pediatric Flight. I explained the situation, she gave me the "oh yeah, I understand" nod and claimed she would place a referral in the system. A few weeks later, I received a referral for a pure-tone hearing test x 3. Through my research I had learned that a child with CAPD isn't deaf, they hear you fine, the problem becomes when they process what they heard...wires get crossed! I went ahead and scheduled one pure tone hearing test at the Audiologist we were referred to, again to ensure there were no hearing related issues. And again, her hearing screening was within normal range. Back and forth to the Pediatrician over the following months only gave us a total of 9 hearing screening referrals. But mixed in with one pure-tone screening referral was a referral for a place called The Listening Center in Walnut Creek, California. I jumped at the chance to finally get an answer as this Center had the ability to test for CAPD. I visited our insurance company Tri-Care and was assured the $450 evaluation was covered. I scheduled an appointment for the screening.

After scheduling the appointment, I was told the billing code on the referral was incorrect. Tri-Care had written a billing code for a consult and the Center provided free consults, so we needed a code for the actual evaluation. Again, back and forth with the insurance company only led to conclusion. Anytime I said the word "auditory processing disorder" and received that nod of understanding, the person had no clue! The Tri-Care nurse actually told me, as I sat there trying to find a way to get them to understand, that when they saw the work "auditory" they automatically processed every one of her referrals as a hearing disorder. That was the reason for all the pure-tone hearing screening referrals. I wanted to slap them in the forehead and throw a V8 in their face!

So, I paid the $450 myself to have the screening done. I checked Emmie out of school and drove her the hour plus way to Walnut Creek where we met Dr. Swain. Dr. Swain is a petite woman with beautiful blond hair and she has such a kind demeanor that Emmie didn't hesitate going into the room with her. Two hours later, my little girl emerged visually exhausted. She went into the playroom and curled up in a hanging hammock swing while I met with Dr. Swain. As I walked in her office and sat down the first thing out of her mouth was "Your daughter certainly has auditory processing disorder". I cried. Finally someone believed me, finally we had that rubber stamp of approval, and finally we could start to help her. The next 45 minutes was spent explaining what areas Emmie struggled, her basic test scores, and examples of how she answered some questions. A full 16 page report arrived 6 weeks later, but not before the Air Force decided we needed to move to a remote location overseas where Emmie would not receive the help she needed. More on that later as I am still boggled by how they came to that conclusion.

Anyway, bottom line, we had a name. We had a starting point for Emmie. I now felt like no one could stop her! It's silly how it took all those months to get someone to test her and tell us that this was real.

Tomorrow ya'll,
Donna
Top

Second grade

2009-07-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

The summer before second grade was a busy one. Promoting Emmie or having her repeat first grade was constantly on my mind. I didn't want to make the wrong decision. In my mind, I felt if I made the wrong decision now it would affect her for the rest of her life.

Luckily, our Principal was understanding. She was new to us and began her term during the summer before Emmie's second grade year. She allowed me to hold a spot in both grades with the option to have her tested to ensure she met second grade standards before school began. The summer was spent with sight words, basic reading concepts, math facts, and so much more. My poor child worked her butt off!

Another summertime hurdle was I had to get a second grade teacher to agree to take her as a student based on her test scores. I thought it was going to be hard. After all, a child is so much more than what is written on a test score. The test didn't show her personality, her caring heart, her creative ways. The test just showed she was behind the other kids. That she couldn't read even basic sentences on her own, and first grade sight words were still too challenging. My son had a wonderful teacher for his first grade year and the same teacher moved up and also taught him second grade. She was still a second grade teacher and for this blog we'll call her Mrs. Paris (Emmie picked the names!). It is hard for me to explain to you how wonderful Mrs. Paris is. There are simply no words that I could write that would paint the picture of how beautiful of a person and how special of a teacher she is. There is something special in her and she will always be a part of our lives. Mrs. Paris looked over the test scores and having known Emmie was able to look past the bleak numbers and writing samples. She was honest in telling me Emmie would have to work twice as hard, but she had hope, and agreed to be Emmie's second grade teacher if we chose to promote her. HOPE! Sometimes that's all a parent needs when they are dealing with learning difficulties is someone to give them hope.

We worked and worked over the summer and a week before school began Emmie was instructed to be at the school in the afternoon for testing. Her Title I teacher would be giving the test. When we arrived, the Principal met us at the door and Ms. Title I whisked Emmie away to the library. Now what? My daughter's future hung in the balance and I'm left standing in the hall. Okay, it wasn't her "future" but in that moment it felt like it. I walked around and in the staff room found the group of custodians. What lovely people they are! They certainly made me feel comfortable and less anxious about Emmie's test. I don't think I ever thanked them for taking a moment out of their work day to chat with me, I don't think they realized how important it was, at that moment, for them to be there. Time seemed to past at a snails pace, and finally Emmie emerged standing in the doorway. "Did I do good?", she asked as we walked to the van. "Of course you did!", I proclaimed as I handed her a package of gummi bears from my purse that I purchased just for this occasion. I have never wanted her to feel as though she has failed at anything when it comes to her education. I know it's important to teach your children about failure and trust me, we have all felt our share. But I also think it's important to judge each child on their own scale of success. This test wasn't a pass or fail, it was a "measure of her progress" and in my eyes her determination and courage through her work was better than any gold star. The test showed she did make progress and we were on our way to second grade.

Emmie began the year with Mrs. Paris. I still feel the year went to fast! She continued to not only struggle, but also make progress. Her math skills continued to strengthen. Her writing improved. And we also finally figured out ways to help Emmie learn, ways to use her skills to help her soar, ways to make reading fun! It was during this year Emmie read her first book! It was a "Biscuit" book and she ended up reading every one her teacher and the library had. She had found a "voice" and confidence! Mrs. Paris was so encouraging and I feel she made the most difference in her little life so far. I am proud to say that Emmie made 60 points from the Accelerated Reader program! Second grade was the best thing that happened to us and it wouldn't have been possible without Mrs. Paris and her Team (her resource, title I, speech therapist, and psychologist became known as her Team). We also received a specific diagnosis as well (more on that tomorrow).

The most important part of second grade was Emmie had confidence. That confidence allowed her to try to sound out more words, try to answer questions, just TRY in general. And sometimes the courage to try is worth more than the ability to do.

Until tomorrow ya'll,
Donna

R is for Rabbit

2009-07-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

Emmie started kindergarten at Center Elementary. On her first day she was dressed in a multi colored skirt and purple shirt and carried a backpack that she picked out herself. Kindergarten was only a half day and she felt excited that her brother was in the first grade classroom next door. She showed some struggles through the year. She had problems memorizing letter sounds, sound blending, and overall phonics. Her teacher, who also taught my son and I loved her dearly, had complications through the year with her pregnancy and half way through the year we found more often than not a substitute would be present. Emmie's struggles could very easily be chalked up to the lack of stability in school. At home there were no changes, every afternoon we would open her folder and work on the homework provided. On "Math" days, homework was a breeze and she could easily could the butterflies on the paper or add the blocks. On days where more reading skills were required, it would take us hours to complete a simply "fill in the blank" worksheet. Towards the end of the year, she was labeled as "at risk for retention". After many tears and headaches, I decided it would be best to promote her to first grade.

Over the summer, we worked on her phonics. I made flash cards, puppets, and even turned the kitchen cabinets into "phonic soup". The repetition seemed to help her and I felt we were making progress. Emmie's first grade teacher had moved down from 6th grade. She was a gentle lady and I looked forward to her patience and excitement! First grade wasn't any different than kindergarten. The struggles were still present, despite the stability in the teacher. Emmie was certainly a smart cookie, finding ways to draw attention from the fact she hadn't completed her work. She would offer to help the teacher, offer to take care of the recycling, or offer to help another student. What worried us the most about Emmie was she wasn't able to remember or recall things easily. One minute, she would know her spelling words perfectly. But a few minutes later, or even the next day, it was almost as if they were completely erased from her memory. She had no recollection of them and we would have to start over again. She was enrolled in Title I services with the hopes of helping her reading skills. Some days I felt like it was helping, others I just felt like she was being pulled from class and making zero progress. Finally, it was requested that a Student Study Team review and meet with Emmie.

The Student Study Team consisted of three of the most amazing women, a Resource Specialist, Speech Therapist, and School Psychologist. Emmie would like to come up with names for these superheroes, but right now she's sleeping :) This team reviewed Emmie's classwork, met with her teacher and me, and even met with Emmie. After some testing, it was concluded that Emmie had a "specific learning disability" and would be receiving speech and language assistance, as well as Resource through her Individualized Education Plan (IEP). She would also continue her Title I services. But something the School Psychologist said during my initial IEP meeting struck a nerve with me. She noted during her testing that Emmie had auditory processing difficulties. This entire process was new to me, IEPs, Resource, Speech....it was completely overwhelming and on top of it all my husband was deployed. I can remember leaving my first IEP and crying all the way home. These beautiful women were so patient and so interested in doing their best to help my daughter but I couldn't help feeling like a failure because I didn't know where to begin. Emmie, of course, was labeled at "risk for retention".

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the summer and about Second Grade. Second Grade, which Emmie just completed, was a huge turning point for me and Emmie's education. I can't wait to share it with you.

Until Saturday,
Donna

P.S.-Thank you for your patience as I give you some background on how we ended up at this point in our path!

As an infant....

2009-07-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

Emmie was on April 10th in Landstuhl, Germany. There were no pregnancy complications, other than the fact we moved overseas in my 7 month, and no delivery complications (labor was only 13 minutes). She was 6 pounds and 7 ozs and the tiniest little girl I had ever seen. When Emmie was a newborn, she didn't sleep. I know parents say that, but trust me from the time she was born until she was about a year old, she didn't sleep and all she did was cry! We lived on the second story of a old German apartment with hard wood floors. I can remember on more than one occasion laying in the floor with her. We would lay blankets down and she would snuggle next to me. One way to soothe her was to put some sort of music on that, believe it or not, had a lot of bass. My husband enjoyed Enimen from time to time, so I would put in the cd on low, and in the floor we would lay where she was able to feel the vibrations. Just one of those quirks of our new addition. After all, ever child is different. She was breastfed and never once had a bottle or pacifier. At 8 months, she was diagnosed with Raynaud's syndrome, a disease that affects the blood vessels. Basically, her hands and feet would turn blue for no apparent reason. It actually runs in my husband's family, so again, no reason to be alarmed that our child was different. She just needed warm socks more often! No childhood ear infections and other than a common cold from time to time, she was the typical newborn. The toddler years were no different. As soon as she could hold a pencil, she was scribbling. She also seemed to lean more towards the art geared activities, finding joy in finger paints, smearing yogurt everywhere, or picking the perfect crayon. She played with baby dolls and her siblings. She crawled, babbled, and walked just like any other kid. She seemed to outgrow the Raynaud's in her toddler years, although even today she tends to get colder before anyone else and her little hands are typically ice cubes but no blue fingers! Her toddler time brought on a new illness, Vesicoureteral Reflux or VUR. Her VUR was a grade 3 out of 5, bilateral. This meant when her kidney's would empty to the bladder, some of the urine would not completely empty and would reverse back into her kidney's. We contemplated surgery, but the Urologist and I both decided she was young and we could stick it out and pray she would outgrow it. A few hospitals visits, overnight stays, and VCUG's later she did outgrow this as well with little scar tissue in her kidneys.

Overall, Emmie was the typical child. A move to California began the days of Kindergarten....then I began to feel like my child wasn't typical. There was certainly something special about her!

Technical stuff first

2009-07-22T23:13:00.000-07:00

Before we take off on this road together, make yourself a snack and find a comfortable chair because it is important for you to understand what Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) is. The technical stuff comes first, and as our journey takes flight you will come to understand more about CAPD and about it affects our daily life.

Central Auditory Processing Disorder is to the ear as dyslexia is to the eye. Just as dyslexics can see the words, but some letters get jumbled in their brains, those with CAPD can hear, but their brains aren't able to process some sounds. (Carter, Dartmouth Medicine, 2000)

The explanation by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is as follows: CAPD is a sensory processing deficit that commonly impacts listening, spoken language comprehension and learning. CAPD is the inability or decreased ability to attend to, discriminate among or between, recognize, or understand auditory information. Most language is learned by listening. In order to learn, a student must be able to attend to, listen to, and separate important speech from all the other noises at school and home. When auditory skills are weak the student may experience auditory overload. This make learning more challenging and sometimes too difficult without special assistance.

All of this seems hard for anyone to process! There is more to come on the definition of CAPD, how Emmie was diagnosed, and what happens in our day to day life with CAPD. You must know I don't sugar coat, and some days are better than others. Don't worry, I'll warn you first!

Thanks ya'll,
Donna