Our Ellie Update

Our Ellie Update

I do want to write a little Ellie Birthday Blog, but... it is Valentine's Day and we have spent the day celebrating Ellie's B-day and now it is time to spend the evening with my Valentine. He's finally home! I did want to let everyone know that the meeting on Thursday was a complete success. There might be a few kinks we will need to work out in our meeting in two weeks, but Ellyn is going to get everything I asked for. She will have an in class aide and an after school program. Both aides will come from the specific company that I requested, it could even be the same aide that stays with her all day. The staff at Central Coast Kids and Family are all highly qualified. They have to have a BA, which doesn't mean everything but it means that this is their focus and their long term goal, not a filler job. Ellyn's speech and OT are going to beefed up, we will have a coordination team that meets twice a month so that we are all on the same page at home and school. I know we will still have to work hard and also, that this is going to take another month or two to set up completely, but we got it all!!!!! Thank you everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers. I felt them. I couldn't have done it without my friend Meghan. She had done all of the legwork already for her son, researching services in the area, refreshed in all the legaleze that I hadn't had much time to read up on again since last Spring, she even came to the meeting with me for support. She was Awesome!

The results of all of Ellyn's assessments were kind of disheartening. At this point they say she is functioning at 30% of the full developmental level for her age group. The psychologist suggested that Ellyn might have slight mental retardation. Ellyn's occupational therapist spoke up and said that she didn't think so, that Ellyn just hadn't had the help that other kids in the program had experienced since a young age. It is exactly what I was about to say and I did. We just have to give this kid a chance. She has NEVER had what she needed, okay, for a summer up in Washington when she was two. Let's do it right and see what happens. If she is, so be it, but let's not go there yet.

Okay- obviously it has been awhile since I started that post. Things are still going well. A couple of kinks have cropped up but we are working on them. Thank goodness Mike has been home this week. I have spent hours on the phone and hours in meetings. Tomorrow I go to an all day training. I'm so grateful I have Jane and Mike.

Yes, it is wonderful having Mike home. It has been busy, even with him home most of the week and Jane and Sadie home for mid winter break. We did get to go hiking with the two oldest and Sawyer one day while Ellyn was at school and he took those three again another day while I was in a meeting.

Attempt number 3- I'm posting, finished or not or this will never get out. Off to SCERTS training- the program we will be using for Ellyn- lots of love. Me