9.28.2011

Labeled

So its official now.............Gillian is labeled with 3 different learning disabilities!
I have known for a while...........but I thought she just had maybe one, or I guess two if you count her ADHD.  But Three! that was a surprise.  Knowing that though, has made me able to understand her better.  She has : Slow processing, a memory disability along with an expressive language/speech one. Also her GARS scale test indicated she was VERY LIKELY autistic. Well duh-that one was not new.
I knew she was slow processing but honestly there have been quite a few times I thought she was playing me , so I would get very frustrated with her. The school psychologist talked to me the night before her IEP and asked if I had ever considered putting her in the special ed class at a brick and mortar school. I HAD but they refused. To this day I am STILL mad about that one.  She could probably get into the special Autism class they have in our school district as well, but there are some concerns with that class I just will not discuss here.  Sigh.  As hard as this is, and as much as I don't have much of a life anymore (thats a whole other story), I don't see it any other way, other than to keep homeschooling her.  But there has to be a solution to this! It is HARD. I never realized just how difficult this would be, and I have thought often that maybe I am just not cut out for this long term.  But I want her to have a GOOD life where even though she may not be "top of her class" or whatnot, but that she will be successful in what she does do well.  The school psychologist told me her visual skills are incredible, and she thinks in pictures, just as the well known autistic woman, Temple Grandin (who is one of my heroes). 

Recently I have been teaching Gillian to sew-she even has her own sewing machine now.  She is thrilled and I am sure she will do well :) Anything arty or crafty is right up her alley, and she is so good at it too.