I have a mish-mash of thoughts lining up in my mind tonight, each waiting (some more impatiently than others) for their turn to be dealt with. Some won't get too much dealing, however, as there is not much for me to deal with. But nevertheless, here are a few worth mentioning:
We have begun climbing the hill toward Crazy Schedule Plunge. In case my metaphor was confusing, that means that it's about to get all crazy up in here, ya'll. In the process of ironing out and organizing the therapy and school Hayden needs and will begin soon, we have undergone 4 different evaluations and at least 3 different IEP meetings. We aren't finished yet, either. This week has 4 different meetings on the calendar, ranging from visiting her classroom to speech eval to case management to physical therapy. When it's all said and done, she will be receiving 10 hours (yes, 10 hours) of behavioral therapy weekly, in addition to school. She will also receive occupational therapy once a week, physical therapy once a month, and speech therapy probably at least twice a week. (The eval for speech is this week and will determine how often she will have speech therapy sessions.)
The behavioral therapy is the one that has really thrown me for a loop because of the sheer quantity that is being offered. Technically, she will be cleared to receive 14 hours of behavioral therapy. 10 of which will be conducted in our home and done by a Bachelor's level TSS (can't remember what that stands for right at the moment...). The other 4 hours are conducted by a Master's level clinician but they are not done weekly...I don't think. When I first reviewed what was being proposed I thought to myself, "Whaaat? 14 hours a week? Holy cow, are we going to have to give them living space in our Harry Potter closet under the stairs??" But at an IEP meeting, the district coordinator with whom I've been working said that they use some of those hours in the school setting and so they wouldn't all have to be conducted at home. So I was relieved...at least momentarily. I went to the meeting with the county folks who head up all of the behavioral therapy and the lovely psychologist who did Hayden's eval didn't make mention of using these services during school. Because of that omission, right now, ALL of the hours have to be conducted at home. In order to get that changed, the psychologist has to write a script to include that and they have to make changes to her overall plan. But at least it's changeable, right? Hmmmmm....we shall see.
One of the other things that the county people told me was to take advantage of a program called Case Management. Basically, they assign a social worker to help me manage Hayden's case...the business end of things, anyway. They call and get Hayden enrolled in certain programs that she'd be eligible for, they talk to clinicians and physicians and make sure scripts get sent where they need to be sent, etc. Part of me is very excited to have help in navigating this world of therapy and rules and such. The other part of me enjoys the challenging, "job-y-ness" of this and isn't so sure she wants to relinquish control. But I've set up a meeting and at the very least, I can say no, right?
So how is Hayden dealing with all of this, you ask? Well, so far, sweet obliviousness. She knows that at therapy, there are no doctors and no one-two-three-pinches. She gets frustrated with therapy, though, because they like her to do things she doesn't feel inclined to do. She has been asking for school so I know she's excited about that. Soon, we will go get her some school supplies and clothes and a new lunch box and that will be pretty exciting to her. She thrives under the strict routine, though, so I think that she will just love it when she starts.
So our summer is winding down and that's great because it has felt a little on the long-lasting side. We are ready for routine. Some fun anecdotal info to share before I go:
*Hayden has begun praying. Her two prayers are, "Dear Jesus, thank you for my Mommy & Daddy!" and "Dear Jesus, thank you for my food!" This is sweet, heavenly music to this mommy's ears. :)
*I FINALLY got accepted by tutor.com and will be able to tutor online while Hayden is in school. I can even pick up some floating hours now! Yay for extra income!
*Kelly had a meeting with his boss that went spectacularly and seem to lift 100 lbs. of worry from his chest. We prayed hard about that meeting and so I know it was a direct answer to many prayers. God is so good!
*Our kitty Leo is missing. This is not happy news but it warrants saying. He sneaked outside while I was bringing in groceries and I just didn't notice and 24 hours later, I realized he was gone. We are still searching but we feel awful about it.
That's about it for us, for now, folks. It's time I get on, though. Nudity reigns in our house right now so we're gonna go panty-up and get in bed. :) Loves & hugs to you all.
