Monday afternoon Matt and I attended Anna's IEP evaluation meeting at school. As I have said a few times, we couldn't be more pleased with how everything is working out with school. Anna enjoys her time there (for the most part); she has made some good relationships with her teachers, therapists, and helpers; and the whole experience seems to be going smoothly, all things considered.
Over the course of the required testing, though, it turns out Anna does not qualify for special education; she scored at or above average on all of the tests. However, she certainly needs special services while at school. So instead of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), she qualifies for a 504 plan which provides her with an Individualized Accomdation Plan (IAP). Basically, she will receive all the same services, but the educators will just need to fill out different paper work. All okay by us.
One topic that came up was how Anna's days will look when her treatments are over and she has recovered from her last round of chemotherapy. We are all being hopeful and looking towards the end of November and beginning of December as a target time for Anna to attend school all day. She will still miss a bit of school, though, for therapies, doctor's appointments, MRIs, etc.
In thinking things through, Matt and I have had some tough discussions about how to prioritize Anna's time and energies. If Anna were an adult, she would probably have spent time at an in-patient rehab facility, and might still be there, applying the majority of her time and energy to rehab. If Anna were a typical second grader, she would be applying most of her mental effort towards school, with possibly a few extracurriculars added after school.
So we are trying to figure out how to balance Anna's energy and effort, while still providing her enough "open space" time to be a happy kid. We don't want her to burn out on either school or rehab. It's a fine line to walk and will become more difficult as we try to add in her feeding therapies and possibly some vision therapy.
Thursday evening was the Kindergarten Open House. Kate took me along to show off her classroom, school, and confidence in a place that is all her own. She was bouncing all the way there, during the whole open house, and the whole way home. I considered this a very special time for Kate and just me; we needed it.
We all had our "moments" this week. With the kids, it is hard to discern if their outbursts and moods are simply because of who they are and their developmental stage, or if it is related to Anna's disease and the circumstances surrounding our life. We will never know, but parenting our three kids during the last 9 months has been more challenging than it was before February.
Here's a few pictures of some good moments in the last few weeks.
Matt had Kate and Ethan running laps and jumping over the folded up mat one evening. Kate had a blast.
The newest piece of rehab equipment in our home is a set of pediatric parallel bars. Matt, Ethan, and Kate did a trip to Milwaukee last Saturday while Anna was hospitalized to pick up this great Craig's List find. A bit of furniture rearrangement was necessary in order for this set to fit upstairs. Ethan likes doing tricks with them.
During one of the few moments this week when all three kids were in a good mood (i.e. no one was crying, doing homework, or otherwise occupied with therapy), we went outside to play in one of our first leaf piles of autumn. Everyone had a great time :)
We have a board that acts as a balance beam in the front yard. Kate and Ethan have tons of fun playing with this, too.
And finally, look what Anna can do! She can sit up with no hands to support her! For anyone who saw her in April or May, or even in August, this is an amazing accomplishment. She can't stay upright like this for very long, but who cares? She can actually do it now!
Anna was pushing herself up from the mat to sit up independently on Tuesday afternoon after playing in the leaves with the other kids. She was absolutely and completely wiped out the rest of the day, and into Wednesday morning, because of all of the mental effort it took to do these physical activities. Remember, she had a tumor in her cerebellum. Her sense of balance and all of her muscles coordination had to start back at the very beginning. Doing both of these outdoor activities back-to-back was like running a marathon for her.
Time for prayers
Thanksgiving
Please give thanks that we did not have to do any trips across town for doctor's appointments this week!
Please thank God for the opportunity to play outside on beautiful fall days.
Please give thanks for the educational support system in our school district.
Please continue to thank God for all of the people who are working with our family; everyone has their own special role.
Please thank God for a weekend at home for our whole family.
Requests
Please ask God to give us wisdom and peace as we work to figure out the details of the next phase.
Please continue to pray for all those who are working with Anna and our family.
Please continue to pray that Anna's treatments are 100% effective.
Please ask God to help us enjoy the brief respite until Anna's last round of chemo.
Please continue to pray for those fruits of the Spirit for us; we still need God's help to make it through each day.
Thanks, as always.
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