Advocate

Well Cory and I have decided to hire an Education Advocate for Lidia. The school is so slow. I think they are stalling on purpose sometimes or just really don't know what to do for her. The school psychologist sent me a letter full of good suggestions today but I don't see how they could be implemented in her school. Also her school is still not saying she had a learning disability when she clearly does. I am frustrated and am literally loosing sleep over this whole situation. So today I found a Advocate located down by DC and I was so relieved to speak with someone that told me what I've been waiting to hear. She basically told me all the things I've been reading that somehow the school is ignoring. I feel good about her and she spoke with me for over an hour on the phone. So next we take Lidia with us down to meet Dr.Greenberg and she works with Lidia and reviews the test results we have and she determines what she thinks Lidia needs and then we schedule a new IEP meeting in which Dr.Greenburg takes part and that should get things moving more quickly and in the right direction or taken care of. We may just pursue having the county pay for her to go to a private school that specializes in the teaching methods she needs. The school keeps telling me they are doing more observing and maybe more tests but we have the results we need. I think they are wasting Lidia's time and so does Dr.Greenburg. It just sucks and stresses me out more that I have to pay $1200 to have an advocate for my child. Maybe I can make the school reimburse me when this is all settled. If they were not incompetent I wouldn't have had to hire someone. I was hoping some of our tax return would go in savings since we don't have any but I guess it will all go to pay off the roof and for an advocate. It will be worth it when it's all taken care of though. I just know Lidia has this great potential that she can't access b/c of the way she's being taught or not taught. She is frustrated and I am too. Her verbal comprehension is quite above average for her age but her working memory IQ is in the 9th percentile. There is a huge discrepancy yet they say she has no learning disability? NOT! Oh and after telling Dr.G what the special ed head at the school told me she suggested we record the next meeting. Apparently she could get in big trouble for the things she has said to me.

RAM and Processors

Yesterday I went to Lidia's school to discus the results of the testing they did. They all show that she has a working memory disability and she processes information slower than normal. A working memory might be compared to RAM while your long term memory would be the hard drive and well I guess processing speeds are called the same for people and computers. So this is why she has a hard time memorizing math facts, spelling words, random facts etc. It also makes it hard to do things that have multiple steps without those steps written out. Like she can't multi task you know. She may forget what she just did and it's relevance because she has moved onto another step. Like she can't have multiple thoughts going on at once. She has to gain an explicit understanding through multi sensory teaching and truly learn something in order to be able to recall it later. She will need to be allowed more time to finish tasks and over taught things(lots of reteaching until she gets it). The principle and I and others in the school system are working on creating an intervention program for her at school. Hopefully this will help her. There is a very credible theory that working memory disorders are what developmental dyslexia is but I'm not going to push the label as long the treatment is taken care of. I like the school psychologist and the principle but I am irritated with the special ed teacher. She kept insinuating that maybe Lidia is ADD and I should take her to a medical DR to figure out a solution. Lidia is definitely not ADD(I know b/c I took Aiden to a nueropsychologist last year and discussed what it is and what to do etc. He said Aiden may be slightly but not enough to medicate or anything) and even if she were they would still have to address the issues. So now I need to basically write a paper stating my research and what I think will help her and what I think they should do and see what suggestions they have and then have them write up an IEP. If you're interested there are some good articles about working memory issues at http://www.cdl.org/for_families/common_concerns/memory.htm

Hair

I went and had my hair cut today for the first time in years. I like it. She had to work hard and use a lot of product to smooth it out. I don't have the time or arm stamina to blow dry my hair. It takes forever. It's easier to let it air dry and then style it. I had short hair for so long, I'm enjoying the change. It literally hasn't been this long since I was 6 or 7 years old. So I'm happy with my hair but I have got to work out and loose a few pounds. I can see it in my face. Yuck! Cory and I have been learning some ballroom dance together and doing some dance and pilates workouts so we're starting but not in a regular routine yet.

1st snow

We got our first snowfall of the season Sunday. It wasn't much but the high that day was like 25 so it was really icy. Right now we have church from 1-4 and we almost didn't make it home b/c the roads were icy and not plowed or salted yet. We were OK until we nearly got home and we have to go up this big hill to get to our neighborhood. We made it half way up and then couldn't go anymore and started sliding back and sideways. Cory was trying his best but we were not making any progress. I was so scared and started to cry thinking that we may slide down the hill and crash and have to walk home in our church clothes and shoes in the icy and cold weather and have our car towed later. As I was crying I was praying and then I told Cory to let my side go off onto the shoulder and see if that would give us some traction. The shoulder in that part of the road is only inches because it's really the side of a hill but it was enough I guess because after that we slowly made it up the hill inch by inch. While all this was going on all these 4 wheel drive trucks kept passing us. I have never had a desire for 4 wheel drive but I'm reconsidering it. I was so glad to get home and I never want to go out in below freezing temps in the snow again. We should have left church as soon as it started snowing. Anyway, the kids were excited it snowed but disappointed it was so little and that they still had to go to school Monday. However, it was slick and they were able to have some fun sledding in the yard. These pics of Avery and Tristan were taken after we came in from playing in it Monday. Avery was warming up wrapped up in a blanket and Tristan was getting cozy in his new PJ's that are his favorite.

2 of Avery's favorite things

Found it!!!

I just found Lidia's ipod shuffle. Or perhaps it found me. I was changing Avery's diaper and the wipe box was empty so I opened up the case of refills under his bed and there it was inside. I had looked all under his bed but not in that box. He must have poked it through the handle opening or something. Who cares right? We have it. It wasn't flushed. However, it was definitely Avery's doing which means Lidia left her door open. I put a child proof thing over the handle to keep Tristan and Avery out but it does no good if she doesn't shut the door. Perhaps now she will remember. This makes my day! Perhaps now I am pumped up enough to go make myself clean up the messy kitchen.

Pals

I think Avery and Pumpkin are becoming good pals. He is so cute around her. He hugs her and tries to pick her up. When I take them outside to play he runs and she follows. It's so cute b/c he's constantly looking back to make sure she's following him and he laughs and laughs. Sometimes he can be mean and she runs off and then he starts chasing her and pretty soon she's chasing him again. It's like he has a younger sibling to play with while the others are at school now. I'll have to get a pic of them playing chase.

no good

the hotel just called me back and said that after reading the full description of the blankee i had given the manager, the blankee they found is not ours. so tristan's blankee is probably forever lost. that really sucks. at least we have pictures of him with it.

Lost

Today I called the hotel again about Tristan's blankee because they never called me back. The hotel manager answered and was very nice and said he would personally take care of it for me and he got all my info and promised I would get a call tomorrow. I hope it is there. The housekeeping manager had just left and she is the only person with a key to where found things are kept. Perhaps we will recover Tristan's treasure.
I am still looking for the ipod shuffle. Darn thing is too little. Could be anywhere. I have looked everywhere though. Literally, I have been stressing out and determined to find it. I even cut a whole in the bottom of the couch to see if it had fallen down into the frame. I pulled up all the air vents and reached down in them to see if it had fallen in there. I have gone through all of our drawers, closets, under beds, cabinets, etc. I am getting some spring cleaning done but have not found it. Cory says it's gone and I should give up but I'm not a quitter. Matter is neither created or destroyed! It must be somewhere. Problem is, I have run out of places to look. Perhaps I will find it one day but I must relax or I'll go nuts. I'll have to let it find me. I am feeling a little better though. My dad called me tonight because my sister told him what had happened and he's sending Lidia another one. When he ordered hers for Christmas he accidentally ordered two. Both are engraved on the back To:Lidia From:Papa. It was a computer error or something and they told him he could send one back and be refunded. However, he still has it sitting at his house so he's gonna mail it to her. He feels bad for her situation and wants her to be happy. She is lucky he adores her so much. I felt bad for her too. It made me nearly break down in tears to see her disappointment after such excitement. I thought about replacing it but I can't afford to. Perhaps we will find it some day and then Aiden can have one too. Except it will say To:Lidia From:Papa on the back.

Happy 9th Birthday Lidia!

Today is Lidia's 9th birthday. The kids had to go back to school today but I think Lidia liked being at school for her birthday because they announced it over the intercom and then her class sang to her. She got balloons and a few gifts from family, we made chocolate chip muffins and decorated them, and she got to choose what to do tonight and of course she chose to go to Chuck E Cheese. The kids had fun and I had fun doing pretty well at skee ball.
On a bad note, Lidia lost her new ipod shuffle yesterday. I am searching all over for it and praying for the Lord's help to find it and praying Avery didn't flush it or something. Lidia swears she sat it on her table in her room last night. The ear buds and idog are still there but the little ipod is not. Pray for us to find it! She only got to listen to it yesterday for the first time after Cory loaded music on it and she was so happy walking around singing and now she cries every time she thinks about not being able to find it.