Tuesday May 13, 2007 9:30 - 10:30am - meeting with the resource teacher at the highschool. Fun stuff!
I did some pre-work/homework the night before and prepared a list of discussion topics (ie I wrote down some thoughts from my cluttered mind so I would remember them when I needed too and didn't draw a blank at the meeting and forget WHY I'd requested this meeting in the first place). I made this list only the night before because I'd actually forgotten about the meeting and when going over in my mind thinking I had the entire Tuesday free to go visit Carrie in the hospital it suddenly dawned on me that I had a meeting that morning. I swear, I need a personal assistant to keep me on track.
Anyway. The meeting was productive(ish). I got answers to alot of my questions and voiced my opinions about what I needed to ---- like that I'm concerned with the amount of time Aarica is spending on unnecessary (non-academic) things like finding song lyrics on the net and printing out page after page of these. She seriously came home one day with a binder full of this junk and she spends time then hand copying them onto looseleaf paper over and over again. Sure it helps with her writing skills etc but the subject matter feeds her obsession and that's not acceptable. I voiced my concerns about her attitude and about some of the feedback I'd heard from fellow students regarding her social skills which I feel have declined over the past 9months -- all Cherie-Lyne's hard work from the last 4 years is slowly going down the drain. Grrrrrr.
The resource teacher feels that grade 9 - for a lot of kids...not just those with special needs, is all about the transition into highschool life and she is actually quite impressed with how well Aarica has transitioned. We discussed her academic progresses and also what sort of work she's been doing on a day to day basis in class and what obstacles they are working on. I asked her opinion on the ADHD diagnosis 'attached' to her many years ago. I sometimes question it's accuracy considering that was pre-hearing loss diagnosis when she was practically considered non-verbal (i still remember sub-consiously counting word strings on my fingers when she was in 2nd grade....and 4 word sentences being something to cheer about). She says she would most definately say yes - it's a valid diagnosis (and one of her TA's agreed as well). For example in Math class there is a huge binder full of print out worksheets for Aarica to work on and they are divided into numerous catagories and durring class she will work on a sheet from one catagory but only has enough focus to do it for about 10minutes. She then moves on to another sheet from another catagory. So 10minutes is her limit - give or take. The TA was also asked if she'd consider Aarica Hyperactive....the H part of ADHD and she again said yes. Was there ever really any question in my mind that she wasn't adhd? Not really...it just helps to have someone else reinforce that I'm not crazy...I mean I really do know what is going on (even though I don't feel like it most of the time). We've noticed an increased attitude (aka...being mean & miserable) since about January and when I asked her TA about that she said that yes, she would say that since January things have definately been a little more inconsistant with her attitude at school. Also on the list of things to talk about was the request from Childrens Special Services. I asked if one had been received...and yes it is right there in her binder (i pointed out that Aarica's name had been added after the fact and we had a brief discussion about the CSS-SW aka ThatWoman and how "we" meaning anyone having anything to do with ThatWoman tend to only hear from her in March/April....you know....budget time) The resource teacher actually asked (she's not had much experience with TW) what it is she does and my answer is.........precious little IMO. Not that I'm bitter...much! So anyway, we discussed the report that had been requested by TW and out came the Phychologists report...which was done in March/April of '07 and I have NEVER seen nor did I know one existed. It's an interesting though thin report that amazingly I found a website a couple days earlier on how to 'translate' into lay terms (ie something a parent would actually understand). Basically it's an IQ test focussing on 3 different areas and she's DEFICIENT in all 3 with scores ranging between 43 & 47. The most interesting part of the report though was that a) they got her birthdate wrong and b) the report was 'addressed' to the resource coordinator from her middle school only they had the name of the school wrong. At least it was for another school in our division. OYE! Who's the dificient one? So I now have a copy of our daughters Phychology Report and as the resource teacher says....this report will definately qualify Aarica for continued services through the Adult Service Dept. And to this i say.........what services????!!!!! I believe THAT comment lead to the discussion of the uselessness of TW from CSS and the fact that I've learned not to expect much from them. How sad. Last on the agenda - or 'my random list of thoughts' was that I was planning on scheduling an appointment with our doctor and did they have any recomendations....and she had 3 pretty good ones. Ah ha! Someone with some opinons on what I can do to help my daughter - cuz I'm just plain lost. 1) discuss her attention problems and the possibility of another trial of medications (we did one once - about 10yrs ago...it had mixed results and we opted to discontinue and just haven't gotten around to trying again), 2) discuss her obsessions/anxiety 3) discuss her moodswings/attitued and one possible suggestion was to do a trial of birth control pills. Now that she's on a more regular cycle in that area it might be something to consider as a way to level off the hormone fluctuations and hopefully ease the symptoms associated with it....ie her wicked wicked mood swings and I do mean wicked. So I'm awaiting a call back from our dr to set up an appointment for a consultation and in the mean time I'm going to re-start and insist she take the meds she has for her excema. On top of helping her excema which she does have a mild flare up of right now, it also has help in the past with her anxieties. And while I'm at it I'm going to prepare my own daybook/schedule tracker to be used as her day book to and from school. The one they created for her gets misplaces - a lot and it doesn't provide me with the necessary feed back tools I need, especially if we are going to start any sort of med trial....so I'm going to prepare something on my own and hopefully get it well established beforehand. Ah the joys of advocasy. Have i mentioned I need a personal assistant? I was 'tested' a half dozen years ago because I felt I experience many ADD traits and was looking for some help with strategies etc. The phychologist brushed me off as 'a stressed mother'. Whether he's right or not, I'm totally disorganized and easily sidetracked so keeping track of and completing all this stuff is totally over my head most days --- which is why I suck at being an advocate. Arghh!!!!!
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