A Year goes by!

Well, I see it has been over a year since my last post.  Better check what I've done, so I don't repeat! Bear with me for a minute.  Ok, well what a year!  What have I been doing.............spent alot of time early in the year discussing Cara's seeming learning disability int he first grade.  My friend Gale who exercises in the pool with me is retired from the school district as a Special Ed administrator, so we had lots of talks during our pool time and sauna time.  Cara was not getting the "code" of reading and having problems with math and focusing in general.  Would not do her homework, just would "shut down" when faced with the pages of words.  We would go over the spelling words every week, and when the test came she would get one or two words correct for the most part.  Anyway, teachers started to realize(she had a team of two teachers who job shared) that Cara couldn't read the directions, or follow along with the learning.  Anyway, gets me frustrated just writing about it.  They started paperwork to put her in special ed, and it took the whole rest of the school year for the procedures.  So that basically meant that for the whole first grade year, she was a sad kid that felt "stupid" (her words).  With Gale's help, I was looking at websites and googling dyslexia in general.  After many searches and reading about learning disabilities with dyslexia, I was able to find someone who could test and also tutor that was in the next county north of us(Skagit).  We had Sommer Holt come to Heather's house at the end of April and test Cara for two hours.  Then a few weeks later we met with her and got the test results.  Her dyslexia was mild to moderate, but her learning disability was evident in the way her brain functions.  Sommer also mentioned that a thorough neuro-psych testing might be helpful because of the seizure disorder. (We got a referral from the neurologist-it took four month to get the appointment-more on that later).  So, Cara continued to struggle in first grade, and the last week of school was the final meeting with the Special Ed people, they did an IEP and she would start in Second Grade with help for reading, writing and math.  When school was out we started going to Sommer in Mt. Vernon twice a week for tutoring, beginning in July.  Sommer uses the Barton method, which is an Orton-Gillingham based program for dyslexia learning disability.  Skip to now,  Cara is in Second Grade, loves her teacher Mrs. Norquist, and goes to Mrs. Rancich for Reading in the morning and Math in the afternoon.  At some point she also meets with an occupational therapist for writing.  I still take her to be tutored twice a week.  I pick her up at 11am and get her back by 12:45.  She misses lunch and recess and a little bit of school, but that is the best we can do.  She eats lunch in the car, so my car is always a mess, but we make it work.  She has been making progress, and goes to school eagerly now.  I think alot of the problems I had in the mornings with her last year were due to her really not wanting to go to school, now that I look back on it.  We also had the neurologist allow us to reduce the amount of depacote she takes, and we have notice a difference in how Cara behaves, and she seems to be able to focus more.  After the neuro-psych testing in Seattle, they diagnosed her with ADHD, and brain function disorders consistent with the seizure disorder.  We still wonder if the meds don't cause alot of that!  So, this year with Cara has been easier, helping her learn in a different way.    Sommer is a godsend!  Well, I have to do my chores and get off to choir rehearsal, big concert tonight at the Nativity Festival!