June Update

We have a lot going on this summer, so I’m overdue for an update.

Last week, we went back to the Dr. (pediatrician with a “natural” bent) to discuss Demi’s custom vitamins and next steps. He said if the vitamins helped, we’d see a difference within a month. That hasn’t happened, so I went back to find out what to do next.

I also asked about GFCF. Although I believe GFCF helped with her meltdowns and emotional regulation, I had never seen a huge behavior difference. We've been doing it for 1.5yrs. I asked about re-introducing gluten and casein. He said to do them separately so we’d know if one and not the other caused a problem. He said gluten would be more likely to cause behavioral issues than casein.

We started Demi back on dairy last Friday, with no noticeable side effects. By accident, while at summer school, she was given ‘Nilla Wafers this past Tuesday. So, we’d had four days without casein, which should have been enough to verify that casein did not cause any substantial reactions. So, as of Tuesday, we started her back on gluten. Jury’s still out on that – it’s been five days. So far so good.

At the Dr’s last week, he mentioned three possible next steps: MB-12 injections, bovine colostrum, and neurotransmitters (oral). Of those things, he said the MB-12 injections would have the highest chance of making a difference (as judged by population at large, not Demi specifically) and they were the cheapest option. So, I ordered them and they arrived earlier this week. I’ve opted not to start them just yet, waiting for the gluten to reveal itself (or not).

First Grade Retention Part 3

Decisions! Decisions!

At the Pre-IEP meeting, all the teachers recommended retention. I resisted the idea, then kind of got used to it. At the IEP meeting, they all recommended promotion. I went along with it, since that's what I wanted, although I wasn't 100% on it.

Just this past weekend, I started having major second thoughts again. A series of coincidences (are there any coincidences?) made it pretty clear to me that God was sending me a message (hitting me over the head with a brick might be more accurate).

Saturday evening, we went to a church event and I ended up sitting next to a woman with a special needs child and discussing the retention question with her. They had gone through the debate with her 13 yo special needs (ADD, etc, learning disabled) child, ended up retaining her in 5th grade, and then sent her to a private school for learning disabilities for 6th grade where she has thrived.

Sunday morning while sitting in church, I started thinking about all the advantages to retention - confidence in her academic abilities, having school be fun, self-esteem, strengthening her academic foundation, etc. The social aspect that I'd been leaning on - I didn't want her to lose her friends; I didn't want two sisters in the same grade - seemed less important.

After church Sunday, I went to Starbucks instead of going home. Atypical, since my family was at home waiting for me. My cell phone died, so my husband couldn't talk me out of it. So I went and ended up meeting a father and son. Guess what? The son was special. I ended up talking to the father at length about challenges, including the retention debate, which he just went through again for 9th grade.

Something he said made more sense than it had before: At this point in Demi's academic career, we don't KNOW her potential. So we HAVE to give her the best opportunity to succeed academically, which I believe would be retention now, for all the reasons mentioned above.

This week, I received a number of end-of-year assessment results, including CRCT, all of which were more positive than negative. She actually passed (barely!) all of her CRCT's. Although she's struggling, she's getting it. With another year, she'll have a much firmer foundation and perhaps be able to succeed on her own. (I'm always optimistic!)

Demi's Ditty

This video is over a year old, but it might be helpful to other parents wanting to compare voice quality with another KS child.
Demi was 6yo in Kindergarten.



Tell me what you think!

Esophoria and Kabuki

I guess my reprieve is over for now. Earlier this year, I was thinking how nice it's been that we haven't been dealing with any "issues," other than the ongoing ones - twice weekly therapy and night homework struggles.

I can't remember now what prompted me, but I decided to act on a referral from last July and made an appointment with a vision specialist. For a long time, Demi had been doing odd things that made you wonder what she was seeing: she can't write "on" a line, she orients shapes/letters in strange ways sometimes, she practically puts her head on the table to do her work, and more.

This past Monday, we visited a doctor specializing in visual perception issues. Before making the appointment, I talked to the referring doctor who briefly mentioned esophoria. I don't recall him mentioning that before. The specialist, Dr. Sharon Berger, wholeheartedly confirmed a diagnosis for Demi of esophoria.

I found a description to esophoria online:
"Esophoria: Another eye coordination problem is termed esophoria, which is a tendency for the eyes to turn inwards. The educational implication of this particular problem is that a child with esophoria sees things smaller than what they actually are. In order to see an object properly, it is necessary to make the object larger. The only means at the disposal of the child to make it larger is to bring it closer. Eventually, the child is observed with his head buried in a book and still not achieving."

I couldn't believe how accurately that explanation described Demi! She has ALWAYS, from the time she could sit at a table and look at something, had her face right on the table! She always puts things very close to her face. She still like looking at little character figures, but she puts them right up to her face. After this explanation, I'm amazed she can read as well as she can. Her weakness is math.

Thankfully, the LEA at school pushed to get her large print materials for the CRCT, just on the hunch that it might help her. I'm SO glad she had them, given this new information. (We won't get the results of the testing for another few weeks.) Her IEP is coming up next Monday, so large print materials for next year will definitely be on the agenda. The problem will be figuring out whether she'll be in first grade or second grade.

First Grade Retention Part 2

Ok, four weeks later and I'm in a different place now. Her actual IEP is next week, but I don't have to give them a final answer on the retention yet. Just last Friday, I spoke to the mother of a first grader who was having trouble reading. So much trouble that she elected to remove the child from school in order to provide the copious one-on-one time that she needed to learn to read. Her plan is to revisit kindergarten and all of first grade over four months. So far, she has been making good progress. She's doing 21 days of curriculum each day.

After that conversation, I started thinking that maybe we could do the same thing over the summer to catch Demi up in math. Would it really be possible to revisit weak areas from kindergarten, review the first half of first grade, and push through the last half of first grade so that she has a firm grasp on all the concepts of first grade? A decided maybe.

Additional issues we'll be dealing with this summer: juggling vitamins/meds for attention and vision therapy to repair binocular vision. A full plate, no doubt, but not impossible.

In order to judge the effectiveness of attention meds, I would have to be working with her in an educational setting. "Summer School" would assist me in making better judgments about those meds. Same goes for vision therapy. With a structured schedule for school, I would have to incorporate 10-15 minutes each day for vision therapy and also be better able to judge whether the therapy is making any difference.

Challenge: She resists my efforts to teach her or work with her. She immediately starts negotiating whenever I say it's time for homework. It's a frustrating experience for both of us. How will I overcome that attitude? I suppose the answer is to "make it fun," but I seem to be incapable of doing that. I believe I was cheated on the creativity gene.

Suggestions?