Rosalie's Story Continued

I left off yesterday with Rosalie getting help through Early Childhood Intervention. Early Childhood Intervention ends when children turn 3. At that point, if they qualify, they can go to a public preschool where they do things with occupational therapists, speech therapists and other needed therapy. Well, guess what. Rosalie barely passed her testing and therefore did not qualify for the preschool. Good news, right? Well yes, but no. Without that preschool, we would need to go to private therapy to get any more help for her. And she still needed lots of help. We found a wonderful group of therapists who worked together under one roof. And so began a very expensive year of private speech and occupational therapy. I drove half an hour round trip to therapy twice a week where Rosie received the needed attention for an hour each time. It was time consuming and costly, but we did see improvement in Rosalie's ability to communicate, learn and move appropriately.

In May of 2005 we moved to Oregon. Hurray!! Rosalie's therapists did a final evaluation. Her speech therapist said she was close to age level, and if we were staying in Dallas, she would only see her for about 6 more months. She also warned us that it may be difficult to get her connected with someone in Oregon because she was not urgently needing speech therapy. Her occupational therapist released her, but encouraged us to keep her involved in some kind of activity that would encourage muscle strength and endurance.

Upon moving to Oregon, we decided to have Rosalie evaluated at a prestigious medical facility in Portland which will remain unnamed. :) We were quite disappointed with the outcome. She went through speech, occupational, fine motor, gross motor, vision and learning testing. At the end of it all we were basically told that she was close enough to age level that there wasn't much they could do and that we would have to wait until she got into school to do anything further for her. WHAT!?!

By now maybe you are beginning to see a pattern with Rosalie. She was pretty much always functioning just barely above that invisible line. A line that meant if she was below it, she could get help, but being just above it meant that we were on our own. Having been in the field of education and having two older children who were thriving, I (and Reid) could tell that we needed some serious help in order for Rosalie to reach her potential, but we were at a loss at this point. We decided to enroll her in 3 yr. old preschool at the age of 4. I have never regretted that decision. She has always been a year older than her class peers, but really seems to be right in the middle of the mix... not above... and many times a bit below where her class is.

As kindergarten approached, I was concerned that she still was unable to identify all her letters, and did not know all the sounds. Now some of you may think this is no big deal, but given the two years she spent in preschool (the 4 yr. old preschool one in which most of the students were reading by the end of the year), the time we spent working with her at home, and the track record of her siblings, she should have been ahead of the game, not behind. At the very least, she should have been able to recognize her letters.

I spoke with the principal about my concerns. She told me not to worry too much about it. Children learn at different rates and the school system doesn't really do any testing until 3rd grade. 3rd GRADE!!! But Rosalie was behind NOW! By the time she reached 3rd grade, there would be a huge gap between where she currently would stand and where she should be! Once again we felt very left to our own to struggle through this with Rosalie. Without help I feared she would fall through the cracks, barely getting by, but not severely enough "disabled" to receive any special helps through the school system. Outside therapy was not really an option either, based on her evaluation from that afore-mentioned place.

By now, 1st grade now loomed in the ever nearing future. Still unable to recognize all the sounds to the letters, Rosalie struggled on, and you can imagine my distress. Reid and I continued to pray for direction, wondering what in the world we were going to do.

Enter Dr. Andy. Ah... Dr. Andy, my hero. :) Dr. Andy was a great doctor. He was good with the kids, and had a real heart for Rosalie and her situation, though he wasn't sure how to help us. In May of 2008 (end of Kindergarten year) I was in Dr. Andy's office for some reason and he asked how Rosalie was fairing. I expressed my concerns about her ability to learn and interact with people. All of a sudden a light bulb went on in his head.

{ I firmly believe this Dr.'s appointment timing was from the Lord. I had tried to get in two weeks earlier, but there was no appointment available until the date that I "happened" to get in. Had I gone in when I intended, Dr. Andy would not have had the information he was about to give me. }

Alas, it is time to get off the computer! Cameron is due to arrive home any second, and then there are all the afternoon duties to attend to. I'll just have to leave you hanging. Sorry! (Kind of. :) )