Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Updates and questions answered

Updates....
It's been fun to have my parents up from Mexico visiting for a couple of weeks. More about that later.

A couple of people have asked about my nephew Von. He seems to be responding beautifully to treatments so far. He has gained some weight, lost his hair and eyebrows, and had some mood swings as a result of the cancer treatments he is receiving but it seems that his body is responding, praise God. We heard today that they may try to come visit us before he starts this next round of chemo that is supposedly pretty difficult on the body. We hope to be with him to celebrate his 4th birthday!

Moses...is doing fabulous! Back to his normal self now that that darn stick his out. He is back to eating, swimming in the pond, and well, chewing everything in sight! He is a great dog and we are so glad he is OK. I really don't understand how he survived an accident like that, but he is not only alive he is well...as well. (And yes, I DID pull the stick out myself for those who were wondering. I thought I was pulling out his neck bone, and was actually relieved to see it was only a fragment of stick).

Speech therapy...Boy, where do I start. First of all, thanks to so many of you who gave input and suggestions. We contacted superintendents, special ed directors, private speech pathologists, our pediatrician, advocacy organizations, our insurance company. We did not get the response we were hoping for. The law is the law. Public schools are not required to treat homeschooled children. Poor Liesel heard many of these conversations, and I'm sure sensed my frustrations and I'm kind of sorry she had to hear it at all. We discussed sending her to public school for the sole purpose of receiving therapy. While she was open to this, she said she preferred to continue to use the practice worksheets that my good friend Cammie,(whom I've never met but am determined to real soon), who is a speech pathologist, sent us in the mail. Thank you Cammie! Meanwhile, she is doing so much better. I have noticed a big improvement already, she really seems to be trying hard, bless her heart. Ava's speech therapist also mentioned that next Tuesday she'll take 5 minutes to give us tips to work on at home with Liesel. I think she'll be fine.

Ava has made great gains in all her therapy goals. I'll blog more about that later, but I was so pleased to see the annual report.

3 comments:

Jill Rude said...

Thanks for all of the updates! I'm glad that Von is doing well..that is so good to hear! And that Moses is all better :) Look forward to seeing pics from your parents visit!

Alice said...

Is the homeschool issue a state law? Here in Maine, schools are required to provide any and all services because we are taxpayers. Did you contact Homseschool Legal Defense?

liesel said...

The law basically says that it's up to the school whether they will treat or not. The school made it clear to us that while we are paying taxes, our taxes are not going directly to the school unless our children are enrolled. Treating homeschooled children, then, is a financial loss to them. As long as they are not required (and they're not) they will not treat. I have not contacted HLDA. I thought about it, but I haven't paid my dues this year. :)