The Good News!

Yesterday's entry mentioned Jared's formal diagnosis to use for legal reasons. The actual reports held the detailed information. As I checked out his various test results, they were looking pretty decent. In fact, there were many of them above average.

On his Wechsler Individual Achievement Text, it held "grade based scores". In word reading, he's 1st grade. In numerical operations he's K:5 (that's halfway through his Kindergarten year). In math reasoning he's 1:0 (1st grade). In spelling he's K:5. In listening comprehension, he's PreK:5 (APD!!). In oral expression he's 6:5/age equivalent 12. Yes, you read that right! He's in the middle of 6th grade with his oral expression. In the tests, his oral language composite was "very superior".  In the tests, his verbal learning and listening was definitely below average. This doesn't surprise me, as he has APD. His hearing is fine, yet his listening is not.

So, you want to hear the good news? Dr. C. said that because his average is high, it will take less time to get that average up. In other words, if he has cognitive therapy, all his scores will go up quickly. The tests show that Jared has it in his head, but his hands don't process fast enough to get it onto paper quickly. She repeated how good his scores are and how she feels he will be able to excel faster than I thought. Do you want to know what her exact words were? (I wrote them down as I told her I had to quote her!)
"I expect him to grow out of all this."

What?! Are you kidding me? There's no known cure for APD. Is she giving me false hope? I asked her. She said, it will take a lot of work. He won't "grow out of it" if we don't do anything about it. We've got to teach him more left brained activities so it's stronger and he can create deductive reasoning, problem solving and manage his behavior. He has a major lack of ability to do left hemisphere things and cognitive therapy will teach each side of his brain to be strong in itself, but also communicate with the other side. It kind of sounds like what Grant Bishop did. It took a lot of work, but he ended up as valedictorian.

Even though she said that, I'm still not at the point where I can change my expectations of this disorder. I don't know if that makes me a "glass half empty gal" or if I've just read WAY too much about APD to believe it. However, I am starting my weekend, and the month of May, with an increase of HOPE.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)

2 Hours of Champagne

This afternoon I went over Jared's test results with Dr. Champagne. As you can imagine, it took a while. There were so many comprehensive tests and I felt like I was listening to a foreign language. Thankfully, she had everything written out.

As usual, I don't know where to begin. It will probably take a few blog entries to go over everything we talked about. First of all, I'm more than confident with Dr. Champagne's credentials. My goodness! Talk about going over and beyond. Her "full educational report" will be in our files forever. In fact, I have to send one to his pediatrician because (guess what?) he gets disability benefits! Who knew? Apparently, his doctor having this legal report will qualify him under Section 504. The report MUST be filed before the child turns 7 and then he qualifies for various benefits (i.e. longer time to take SAT/ACT, priority registration for college courses, book/computer assistance, note-takers, etc.) If he were to attend a public school, Dr. C. said this report is "ammo" to insist he get intervention.

Guess what else I learned? Auditory Processing Disorder is not listed in the medical journal's list of disabilities! Wow! That answered a ton of questions!! It has to "fall under" another disability. So, which disabilities did she pick? This is the interesting part. She pulled out the medical journal and ran through the list with me to see what I thought. The first disability she chose was ADHD, because you can find some of Jared's symptoms in the definition. He has distractions, failure to complete tasks, not following details, etc. You know, all those things that APD causes! Oh, how I wish it was merely hyperactivity and inattention. I wish I could help it with diet and medication!

The other disability she listed was "Developmental Coordination Disorder." I laughed when I researched that on the net! It's called "clumsy syndrome" or something like that. In other words, it sounds NOTHING like my athletic son. However, it has to do with motor skills and his fine motor (neuro) is not doing it's job. Therefore, that is Jared's diagnosis.

I'm going to stop here because I want to reitterate what I learned today. If your child has ADHD or another disability and you receive a formal report before age 7, he/she qualifies for benefits. I know lots of kids with ADHD and I know their parents don't know this information. Spread the word!

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding. Proverbs 3:13 (NIV)

Back to the Secret

I thought I'd post a little update on the secret room. It's still not finished. I feel like I'm inching along. It's been a busy couple weeks. My friend, Gretchen, came over and plowed through it, on a mission. We had 3 large trash bags of trash, and we didn't even finish the room. As a home school teacher, she also gave me great ideas regarding room set-up.

I have relatives staying with me in 2 weeks, and they've never seen my house. Therefore, my goal is to have it complete by then.

Here's a little bit of the room:

And, here's me stopping (at my table I've set up to be my "teacher desk"!) to check out our newest phonics curriculum. Ugh. The fear I feel when I look at this Phonics Museum is worthy of it's own post.

Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks. Exodus 5:18 (NIV)
* I was looking for scripture on work and came across this one. It made me laugh!

Meet Mack

As I mentioned in my previous post, I found this great little video on YouTube. This 8 year old boy's name is Mack. He's a junior golf star who has APD. He is trying to raise awareness of APD and he's super cute.  You can also check out his Facebook page to help him get his number of likes up!

As with any APD story, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Unfortunately, he's dealing with some of the common APD pain. But, the fact that his family is involved in his journey made my heart smile. He seems to have good support and, as we saw in my previous post, that can mean the world to an APD child.

Here he is:

He also has a website where you can read a letter he wrote to Santa that hit a little too close to home for me {crush} {shatter}.

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24

Dark and Painful

Last night, as I was scouring through the Internet for APD research (which I usually do between 12am and 2am), I came across a really cool video of this little boy with APD. I couldn't wait to post about it! I couldn't wait to link the world to his Facebook page, either. I couldn't wait... until I found other videos. So, the next few days I will be sharing 3 videos with kids who have APD. There are many more, but these meant the most to me. In fact one, in particular, left me with only a couple hours of sleep last night.

And, that's the one I'm sharing first.

This video contains a 15 1/2 year old girl who has APD. At first, I didn't want to open up the video because it screamed, "Look out! Teenage Angst!" And, for those who know me, I don't do teenage angst very well. (Just ask the ladies who dragged me to the Twilight Saga movies.) But, I opened it. And then I read the comments... which said even more than this young girl's confused, sad ramblings about not being understood. In fact, her comments said that she did horribly at school when she was my son's age... failing school in the 1st grade. Now, she says she's a straight A student. That's great news! Unfortunately, all the worry, depression and anxiety seem to overshadow even that great news.

Here's the video.
***Please note that at the 2:27 mark, she says the "F word". That's the only curse word in this, so feel free to cough so you don't hear it.***

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.  Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:6-8 (NIV)

Happy Easter

Happiest of Easters!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  John 11:25-26 (NIV)

"Likes to Build, Usually Airplanes"

Today I found the piece of paper that Jared's teacher gave us in the parent teacher conference. For some reason, it got lost among the other papers and I'm just now getting around to reading it. If I didn't know he had APD, I'd probably be more frustrated than I am now. All of it sounds like him. The "speech is hard to understand" statement really stands out because I think so, yet the public school evaluator went on and on about how great his speech is. I thought maybe I was being too hard on his speech. However, if his teacher has difficulty understanding him, then there's definitely a problem. Again, we know the problem... it's called Auditory Processing Disorder... and things that he hears don't sound the way they're supposed to sound.

Here's his evaluation:

Speech

• Trouble articulating a coherent thought - story gets jumbled up and makes no sense
• Speech is hard to understand
• Repetitive questions and statements
• Demands I answer yes, "say yes", if I have said ok

Behavior

• Focuses on powerful things that cause harm (dragons, dinosaurs, jet planes with bombs), likes to "be" them. Gives him a feeling of control or power? Is it a boy thing?
• Bounces, rocks, hums when concentrating
• Disregards repeated reminders to not talk in the hall, Chapel, library - willful or unable to control it? Doesn't realize or think that he has to follow the rules? Does he understand the concept of rules?
• Says "I can't hear you". Has hearing been checked?
• When told to play in a different center when two children are in the one he wants, he will generally get into that center anyway and needs to be redirected
• Cries when someone won't listen to him

Art/Creativity

• Focuses on red and black
• Is able to color in the lines, when he concentrates
• Likes to build, usually airplanes

Character

• Compassionate - tenderhearted
• Devoted - loyal
• Shows faith, moral justice
• Very inquisitive. Wants to know all about whatever has grasped his attention. Usually requires several times through to process.

Jared has had his hearing checked more times than any other child, his age, that I know. Just this year he's had it checked 4 times. He has perfect hearing. That's one thing that is perfect.  All this other information? Well, it's tough to digest. But, I'm going to keep this record and I can't wait to see how different his parent/teacher conference will be next year!

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

The Puzzle Pieces

I spent part of the day at the state capitol building, along with many other confectionary artists. I hung out with some great, talented gals who have a love for their craft! As I was checking out a few of my new friends' blogs, I came across a cool entry. Sugarbelle blogged about some cookies she made for Autism Awareness month. Even though Jared isn't Autistic, these cookies really touched me. If you know Jared, he always seems to be trying to connect the puzzle pieces in his head. It takes him so long to process things... it's like you can almost see all the machinery cranking around in there.

Sugarbelle made these cookies for a fundraiser for Austism awareness. Check them out.

This one is my favorite. It exemplifies my heart for my son! 

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV)

A College Admission Essay, From a Boy with APD

After years of isolation, student can connect

March 11, 2011 By GRANT BISHOP/OC Register

• 

There is something about me not too many people know about, something I was born with and have to live with every day.

Just like the character from my favorite children's book, "The Cat Who Wore a Pot on Her Head," I too walk around with a pot covering my head and ears. In the story, the pot the cat was sporting caused her to incorrectly hear her mother's instructions.

Like the cat, I often misunderstand the language others speak. However, the pot I bear is called auditory processing disorder. With auditory processing disorder, the sounds that form words are not accurately distinguished by my brain.

For the longest time, my world did not exist beyond the confines of my own mind. When I spoke, people scrunched their brows. When others spoke, their words seemed to come from an alien language. My parents asked me repeatedly what was wrong, but my typical response was a blank stare.

No one knew that I was stuck in solitary confinement – a world in which the sounds of the English language were continually morphing into unrecognizable expressions.

Even simple phrases were difficult. "Do you want to be dropped off here?" sounded to me like "Kitty cat hair." I was so frustrated, I created my own world, one in which I freely conversed with the only person who understood me – my alter ego.

Although in my fantasy I was quite the talker – with many deep, meaningful ideas to share – in realty, the only way I was able to communicate was by screaming. I screamed when my parents asked me to eat my vegetables. I screamed when they told me to share with my sister. I screamed for no particular reason.

I spent years wandering, trying to figure out how to function with a pot on my head.
On my first day of speech therapy, I was introduced to a room full of board games, cards, bouncing balls, and makeshift carts. The room was breathtaking. And, along with the assortment of objects and toys, there were a variety of interesting activities I was to perform.

I was made to eat peanut butter and honey as a form of oral motor exercise. I was given headphones through which I had to listen to a person talking in the midst of background noises, forcing me to focus on the words and sounds of the speaker.

When I began speech therapy, the games and exercises were exciting. But over time I grew to hate the therapy room. The concepts they were trying to teach to me were like introducing an elementary student to calculus. Unaware of the purpose for the exercises, and having to attend continually, the room became a form of captivity.

I was in therapy up to three hours a session, three times a week, repeatedly doing listening exercises and going over the different sounds of letters, and the rules of the odd English language. Hours of teaching my brain to work in ways it wasn't wired to work left me exhausted. Often, on the ride home, I had a hard time even holding my head up, and I fell asleep knowing that soon I would have to start my homework.

Ironically, this speech therapy room, which felt like a concrete jail, held the key to release me out of my abstract prison. I went back to this room for years, learning how to communicate, and compensate for my learning disability. I worked through the mental torture because I knew it was the only way I would be able to expand my world from the confines of my own mind.

Over the past few years, I have seen the results; the pot over my head has loosened. Today, people don't wrinkle their foreheads when I speak. And after living so long in virtual isolation, I am thankful for the simple act of communicating and have developed a love for interacting with people.

When people speak to me, I am genuinely interested in what they are saying. Every person has some sort of story to tell.

Like me, their stories may be quite the opposite of their demeanor and presence. This knowledge has propelled me to be compassionate and accepting of all groups. I seek out different types of people in order to hear their unique stories and gain a new perspective.
Unlike the cat who wore a pot on her head, I can never completely take my pot off. Although I have taken many advance placement classes, the most difficult course for me has always been an average Spanish class. My brain has an especially hard time distinguishing the sounds of the new language.

However, I have developed into a great visual learner and rely heavily on written words and other visual cues. I do not let the pot over my head keep me away from what I love most – communicating and learning.

Ironically, the impediment that kept me from interacting with people has helped me realize my future lies in the field of communications. After spending my life compensating for my particular disabilities, I have developed a unique and effective way of communicating. I've had the privilege of being chosen to give a speech in front of over 4,000 people, and I've won my high school's controversial speech contest.

I'm one of four valedictorians at my school, Brea Olinda High. And, if I'm lucky, in June, I'll get to give the speech.

Bishop, a senior at Brea Olinda High, hopes to attend UCLA, USC or Pepperdine.

Where Will He Learn?

Jared did very well with his school testing. In fact, I was elated with his 84% score. Unfortunately, I cannot say the parent teacher conference sounded hopeful. His teacher is very concerned about him succeeding in Kindergarten at this school. It's a very difficult school and she said, "You may not be able to push a square peg into a round hole. This school isn't for everyone." Just with that statement, I had heard enough. My heart had already sunk.

She is concerned about computer classes, P.E., and other highly organized parts of the Kindergarten schedule. She embraces his spirit and doesn't want him to get so overwhelmed that he becomes sad or angry. While I appreciate her love for my child, I don't think she understands the alternative. Public school is not an option. Our public school doesn't know anything about APD and told me, frankly, that there aren't funds to help. In fact, since the school districts are facing budget cuts, you'll even see a cut in special education programs. Jared would be swept in with the general population and, as research shows, the likelihood of him surviving primary school without anger issues,  aggression, depression, addictions, or social isolation, doesn't look good. "Auditory Processing Disorder can lead to frustrations or feelings of incompetence which sometimes results in social isolation and depression. Other times it presents as aggression, disruption of others and cynicism about learning. "

 Jared's teacher continued to tell us to use Kindergarten to watch him and then make the decision to possibly try another school. The school he attends is starting an APD Intervention Program next year! She knows this, along with the fact that I'm working with him at home for the next 5 months to help him get ahead, and she still didn't sound hopeful. Even though she didn't say it, all I heard was, "Kat, it looks like your petrifying fear may happen. You will be homeschooling your disabled child because he cannot function in a school."  {crush} {shatter}

Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. Psalm 5:2 (NIV)

Update

~Jared's testing has gone well this week. We have a parent/teacher meeting on Monday morning to review his scores.

~He's also doing well memorizing words from Seeing Stars at home. Unfortunately, it's taking a while, as the "reading backwards" thing is dominant.

~His Phonics Museum has not come in the mail yet.

~The Total Transformation program continues to astound us, but I wish we had more time to spend listening to it and allowing it to sink in, thus transforming us!

~Dr. Champagne has not presented her final evaluation to us or the school yet.

~My upstairs room is not clean, although a wonderful friend has offered to help me on Monday afternoon. Yay!

~Jared gets his cast off this week and gets to play in a soccer game this weekend.

~We're still praying for something to "click" and for Jared to start reading in the appropriate direction!

~We are continuing to pray for guidance and hope!

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12 (NIV)

Moving Forward

Tomorrow Jared starts his week of testing at the school. I'm not really worried about these tests. I was concerned last year, as he needed to do well to move forward to Kindergarten. He didn't do well... and I held him back to repeat the current year. I didn't know he had APD and I really struggled with that decision. Ray was in Iraq and it was horrible to meet with the teacher and complete that paperwork. I felt like I had failed, or something. I felt like the Army had failed us, as Ray had been deployed more than 1/2 of Jared's life and I was looking for someone or something to blame. Little did I know that my precious boy had auditory processing disorder.

This time, I know he's going to Kindergarten next year and it doesn't matter what the tests say, because I have to home school him for the next 5 months (at least) anyway. He'll also be tutored this summer and we hope to have him more than prepared for Kindergarten. Nevertheless, I'm sure he's not looking forward to another week of testing.

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Psalm 97:1 (NIV)

My Messy Secret

I have a secret. My husband and kids know about it. A few of my friends know about it, but it's definitely a secret I don't like sharing with people. This week I have to meet my secret, head on, and conquer it. Why? I have to find the best environment to teach Jared. So, I thought I'd share this secret on my blog, hopefully making myself accountable to defeat it!

Here it is. Let me open the door for you.

And here's a view from the other side of the room:

Approximately 300 square feet of messiness. I took these 2 days ago and am still mortified.

The rest of my house? Pretty clean, dare I say, presentable. But, my hidden room? Um... I look like I could be on one of those TLC shows! We just keep stuffing things in that room. It's not like we don't have a huge, walk in attic. I guess it was always easier to just throw things in that room, when we were making the rest of the house presentable.

Most women I know would long for a room like this. It's large. It's a crafty-gal haven! Most homeschooling mom friends of mine would love a room like this to teach. Look at all the space! So, I'm posting these pictures on this blog, as I bury my head in shame. If I don't, my busy schedule would never allow me time to clean this. Now, I must make time to clean and post some pictures of Jared in his new, tidy learning room!

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13 (NIV)

Phrustrating & Not-Phun Phonics

Day 1 of our new phonics program didn't go too well. Apparently Jared is doing much better at his school phonics this year and is already on book 6 of 8 books. He will definitely finish all his books way before he end of the year (last year he didn't make it past 3 by the end of the year). His mind is in that particular phonics mode, so when I worked with him on memorizing words today - the home phonics program, he was still doing his short vowels and blends from school. For example, today he needed to memorize the first 25 common words, out of his 1,000 we hope he learns from Seeing Stars. But, once we got to "we", "he", "be", "she", etc. I couldn't get him to stop saying "wah eh" and "heh eh" and "bah eh", etc. Instead of memorizing his words, he was dissecting them... which is how the school curriculum instructs... which works for the majority of early readers. 

So, here we are. Despite getting to book 6, the curriculum at school isn't really working for him. Sure, he's getting through his books, but I think a lot of that is memorization. He still sounds out the letters and then tries to say the word backwards.  And this new curriculum? I think it would work GREAT... if he wasn't in the middle of learning how to read with a completely different kind of curriculum. I feel like this may completely confuse him. I don't know what to do. Can learning two opposing phonics curricula screw him up? Am I supposed to wait 7 weeks until he finishes school?

Right now I'm not feeling very positive about this journey.

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.  Psalm 143:8 (NIV)

Overwhelmed

Yesterday's meeting with Dr. C. was overwhelming, to say the least. I went there to borrow some of the Seeing Stars program until we can obtain our own. Not only did she give me a ton of things for Seeing Stars (unfortunately, we still have to purchase some decoding books and a box set), she also gave me other phonics literature. She briefly instructed me on how to teach Jared these things, while continuing to add more books and paperwork to my stack of things. Whew! I was fascinated by the tips and tricks she was sharing.

The goal is to give Jared tricks to help him read. For example, he'll need to know that a C before I, E, or Y generally has an S sound. I also got a list of letter "brothers" and "cousins"... you know, stuff that I have never heard of but wish I had back when I was in school. She also showed me how to eventually teach harder, longer words by holding a flash card with the word, next to his face (in his peripheral vision). He would spell the letters frontwards and backwards over and over again until the word is memorized - frontwards and backwards! Then he'd automatically know how to spell. It didn't seem to make sense to me, because we're trying to get Jared to NOT spell things backwards. She told me stories of how this method has helped people of all ages learn to read. Bizarre strategy, but I believe her!

I hardly know where to begin. There are so many aspects of Seeing Stars that are great. He'll be memorizing a thousand words on flashcards first, along with some sounds and syllable cards. In addition to this, Dr. C. wants us to purchase the Phonics Museum, by Veritas Press. It's a classical style curriculum, that is known for being very "artsy". I've read good things about it, but I don't care for museums or many things that are classical or artsy, so this may be a little stiff for me. I know, I know. I shouldn't admit this, but it's the truth. Maybe this could be the curriculum that Jared uses with the tutor this summer.

 

Along with those curricula, I need to purchase 30 phonics practice readers, by Modern Curriculum Press. These are the kind of books I grew up reading. They are supposed to be very good for kids who learn like Jared does. Wow! This is just the beginning! She mentioned at least 4 more curricula to buy after he finishes Phonics Museum and Seeing Stars. In addition to being astonished by the costs of merely beginning this process, I'm definitely overwhelmed by the amount of time and information!

From the end of the earth will I cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and fainting; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 61:2 (AB)

What Does The Public School Say?

The school district results are back. Jared is classified in the normal range for their entire battery of tests. He's not borderline. He's completely within range. The therapist also said that he's brilliant and actually above his current grade level in the public school. His hearing and vision are fine. His auditory comprehension, expressive communication and total language scores are good. His receptive and expressive one word vocabulary skills are well within appropriate range. There's no sign of autism, ADD, ADHD, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, etc. If he was in public school, the staff feels he would be excelling. After the past months of hearing all the poor results and bad news, it was nice to hear all these positive things!

As I mentioned previously, I asked her to test his auditory function. She found a test... miles and miles away in the same school district. It's the only one in the entire county and she really doesn't like it. In fact she repeatedly said, "I don't like this test" and "Even really smart people would fail at this test" and "I know honor students in higher grade levels that wouldn't even get this information correct" and other statements like this. She said she only did this test because I asked her to administer it. Here are the results:
Scaled scores from 7 - 13 are within the average range
Auditory # Memory Forward - 6 (the therapist said that she would get them all wrong too and that this one was way too hard. I was actually surprised he got so close to average.)
Auditory # Memory Reversed - 6 (she gave him a list of numbers and he had to repeat them forward and reversed. Again, she went on and on about how she didn't know a single first grader or kindergartner who could do this.)
Auditory Sentence Memory - 7
Auditory Word Memory - 7
Auditory Interpretations of Directions - 7
Auditory Word Discrimination - 1 (she would say 2 words that sound very similar and he would have to say if they were the same or different.)
Auditory Processing (thinking & reasoning) - 7

Because of the 1 mentioned in the word discrimination, his auditory perceptual quotient indicates a significant delay. The therapist said, "If I would have just left off the really hard word discrimination test, he would not have been classified with 'significant delay'". Can you tell how kind she is? She is sooooo nice and she really enjoys Jared. I suspect that she may have made things a little easy on Jared because she's so nice, and, as she mentioned a lot, she didn't like this test.

After we went through the evaluation, I had to meet with the Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) Committee to see how to move forward. There was actually no box on the standardized form to check for Jared's disability. The therapist checked "receptive", while telling me, "It's really not receptive, but we don't have any other boxes to check." So, if Jared was to attend school there, he would be in speech therapy, 30 minutes/1 day per week for 7 weeks. During that speech therapy, they would work with him on rhyming words, placing things in categories, and recalling information needed to complete tasks.

Today showed me a number of things. 1) APD really seems to be a "new thing" in the US and there are so many uncertainties in the school system (at least in mine). 2) It  can definitely be an "invisible" disability. The child may act normal and test within normal range. The therapist really didn't even want to do the test and she didn't really agree with the results, but had to administer it and report it because I asked her. 3) This confirms the theory that children learn to cope with, or even mask APD until they are in 2nd or 3rd grade (or older), while it may mimic many other learning disabilities. 4) There are many wonderful, thoughtful, caring staff members at that school and they were willing to check into testing Jared with a test that's never even been used at the school. How great is that?

I'm thankful for all the individuals who have helped us in this journey. Even though the public school doesn't have the resources to truly assist Jared with his neurological disability, they were willing to meet with him multiple times, because his parents felt that something wasn't right.

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (NIV)

Another Brain Break

We took a break from brain work this weekend and visited Six Flags Fiesta Texas. What fun!

I'm still pretty nervous about my appointments tomorrow and anxious to see what the future holds. I'm definitely praying that Jared can start seeing stars this week!

Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Psalm 148:3

Monday's Meetings

The school district evaluator called me today. She said the reason she hasn't gotten back to me is because her daughter is having a baby any day and she's trying not to make appointments, to be with her daughter for the delivery. She decided to make one with me anyway. On Monday, I'm meeting with Dr. C. to go over the Seeing Stars program and after that, I meet with the school district to get Jared's final evaluation.

I am intrigued to see what the school district says. Hopefully I'll have an interesting update to write after Monday's appointment.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)