Thursday, October 04, 2007

120 days...

Until my baby turns three and starts school, so saith the meeting I attended today. We had our very first meeting with the school district today, aptly referred to as a 120 day meeting. It was mostly an exchange of paperwork on both sides. I was given information about the process and the programs, and in turned I offered up a cursory review of all things KayTar.

The coordinator for the district was friendly enough, she reviewed the remainder of the process before placement and then reviewed the various levels of placement within the district. I didn't have a couple pieces of paperwork on hand, so I'll have to run those by next week. Once those are handed off, we will schedule a cursory evaluation, probably for November, and from there they will decide if an intensive evaluation is necessary. The placement levels range from speech therapy once or twice a week to three hour/five day per week special education preschool. The mid-range placements include intensive language labs for longer time periods twice per week and community-based preschool. The community-based preschool is housed in area preschools with district appointed special-ed teachers in the classroom. The classes house six special needs children and twelve typically developing children. The classroom ratio is between 6:1 or 5:1 in those classrooms. The special-ed preschool program has a ratio of 3:1.

I gave a quick, concentrated overview of KayTar's weaknesses and medical hoopla. I feel really quite capable when discussing her delays, because I know them intimately. However, the medical issues are always fun to discuss because it is filled with so many gaps and "I don't really know what's going on." I get to say intelligent sounding things like:

"She has these drop attacks where she is just laid flat out. It might be dizziness or it might be seizures. We don't know."

"She has these things we call 'eye deviations' where her eyes roll up and over in her head and stay for a few seconds, then they come back down. Yeah, they might be seizures, but we don't know. We're still waiting on EEG results from last month. Wait, I mean TWO months ago now."

"Well, she might be having migraines OR seizures, or migraines AND seizures, or maybe one night Migraine and Seizure had a little too much to drink, put on a little Barry White, got carried away, and made a lovechild in her brain. We don't know."

"So to sum up, WE DON'T KNOW."

Good times! It is always nice to be reminded how little we actually know. Very refreshing. Based on our conversations, I have a feeling that if KayTar qualifies for placement in a classroom (and I hope she does, because she needs it), I think she would likely end up in the 5 day program, because I believe those teachers are the most equipped to deal with the medical side of her case. This is just my feeling and not representative of anything that was hinted to on their part, all of that will wait until the evaluations have been done. This meeting was fairly quick and easy, KayTar didn't even need to be present. The next meeting will probably take place sometime in November and we'll go from there.

Can it really be time for this tiny pink peanut to start school?

21 comments:

Katie said...

Welcome to the public school system, may Kaytar's journey be far better than our own! Oh, and quit counting down the days until our babies are 3, holy crap, that's soon!

flutter said...

Oh, babygirl.

ewe are here said...

School already? Wow.

moplans said...

Aww peanut you'll do great.
I have the same swing so I am guessing she is very, very young there.
So sweet
Sound to me like you have some excellent resources available. I was just about to post something similar about what we have lined up.
I had this whole thing written in my head about what I like to say about Julia's problems. What you have written seems awfully intelligent to me. Years of medical school aren't helping anyone make it more clear for you.

InTheFastLane said...

I hope you get what you both need from school. Don't be afraid to speak up if something is not working.

S said...

Migraine and Seizure had a little too much to drink, put on a little Barry White, got carried away, and made a lovechild in her brain.

I love you, Kyla.

~aj~ said...

It is certainly hard to imagine her starting school already, but I'm sure it's going to be such a good experience for her. I'm excited for you guys, but I know it's going to be hard for mommy!

Becca said...

CUTE PIC!!

Migraine and Seizure, Barry White? Too much. Soo sooo funny.

Aliki2006 said...

I hope it works out--it should work out, it really should.

I had to chuckle (somewhat bitterly) at your description of migraine and Barry White. It sounded so fitting I had to read it to my husband.

carrie said...

Wow.

natalie said...

What a beautiful, beautiful baby girl. I knew she must have been because she's such a beautiful toddler. Oh, my arms ache to hold a tiny infant again.

(PSSST: I'll have a contest with my next post because it's my 200th post!)

Junie's Blog said...

Wow! Our kids are going to be three . . .soon! I'm always interested in hearing about how things work down in the big U.S of A! We are similar in so many ways and also different in a lot of ways too. I hope school will be a good thing for Katie.

Mad said...

And so begins the long anxious wait.

BTW, I took a video of Miss M trying to do a somersault after watching 6 full minutes of Kay-Tar in action. Oh, Kyla, the results were truly pathetic.

motherbumper said...

really? school?

And you know I mean well but I had to laugh over the lovechild of the Migraine and Seizure - Barry White's gotten me in trouble before.

Janet said...

Girl I don't know
I don't know why
I can't get enough of your blog, baby!


(grin)

She's so sweet, your baby-turned-big-girl.

Run ANC said...

How adorable is that picture??

I hope she gets the 5 day program. When I read that sentence, I had a passing thought of "That's the One".

JSmith5780 said...

I was scared when they wanted my child in an integrated class, (he's PDD/Asperger's). He started the program at 32 months and he LOVED it and he FLOURISHED. A year later and he's still doing good, but he's like a little drug addict. He weaned down the program and he faltered, so back to a five day a week program. I hope Kaytar flourishes as much as my Connor did.

You should NEVER have to wait two months for EEG results! (my oldest has epilepsy) If we don't have an answer in days I am on the phone constantly bugging the neuro and EEG lab.

Christine said...

oh that sweet baby. it seems like there are so many unknowns still, but that you are getting some good help. i hope she gets the 5 day programs like she needs.

Beck said...

What a darling little baby.
It's hard letting them go out into the big world, isn't it?

kittenpie said...

Oh, lookit that tiny thing!

As someone who can't handle uncertainty at all, I am constantly amazed by you, Kyla. Constantly.

crazymumma said...

I think it is good and honest to say you don't know.

I think she will do great and have thriving times in preschool.