As many of you know, we have been fighting a long hard battle with getting Kenzie the help she deserves at school, but for those of you who don't know the battle, here is a quick run through:
When Kenzie was 2 she started attending preschool just a couple days a week just for socialization. I noticed that she wasn't speaking as clearly as the other children so I asked her teacher if it was something I should be concerned about because I wanted to get on top of it. I was told she was only two and that I should wait to have any concern. I didn't stop there. We moved to Indiana, and the next year, I again came to the preschool meeting in December asking the same thing getting the same outcome, so I got her registered and pulled her out of private preschool, waited while I fought with the public school system about getting her into the school. The teacher actually booted a child who rarely came out of the program so that they could accept kenzie. Shew.. One hurdle finally cleared. Upon Kenzie starting to ride the bus, I could see that she was loving this new school. I e mailed often with the teacher and learned that my concern for Kenzie wasn't so far fetched! We had a meeting and the teacher informed me that she was having a phycho-educational evaluation completed on Mackenzie, but that since it was so late in the year, it would be performed over summer break. This was a relief, at least something was going to be done. After the Evaluation, we moved once again but not out of state. Kenzie had to be bussed about 45 minutes to her new school, and there the evaluation would be put into place. She did very well in the class and loved her teacher. As the year progressed, we learned that we would be able to move back to florida. This wasn't something that we had counted on, but had hoped would eventually happen. Before the end of that school year and before our move, Kenzie had her second evaluation and I learned that in the state of Indiana, if a child has a Developmental Delay, that tag has to be dropped for the Kindergarten year. We had hopes that it would be picked back up when the Florida school did their evaluation. That didn't happen. The school in Florida adopted the I E P that Indiana had instead of doing their own evaluation of her. So, now here we sit entering the last month of her Kindergarten year and I had a conference this morning with her teacher (yaya attended with me). The teacher and the reading resource teacher were both there. In a nutshell, they said that if Kenzie is to continue recieving the help that we all know she needs, they have to send her on to first grade because if she is held back, she will be evaluated at Kindergarten level and not at her age level therefore giving them false results. This means that if she stays in kindergarten, she will likely pass all of the evals at that level. They are wanting to send her on to first grade to get a true sense of where she is at. This is all still waiting on an observation from someone coming in to see Kenzie in the classroom. This person was supposed to have already been there this week, but hasn't made it in. So, I am torn. Do I rejoice because Kenzie is going on to 1st grade, or do I cry because I know in my heart that she can't handle the first grade work? It is just such a hard situation for all of us and I don't want to see my child get frustrated at school because she loves school so much right now I wouldn't want to have her go from loving school to hating it.. I fear that the work load will just be too much for her next year, but we will have to do what we can in order to get her the help she needs although we know that she can't handle it, it also means that we have to be even more on top of her next year!
When Kenzie was 2 she started attending preschool just a couple days a week just for socialization. I noticed that she wasn't speaking as clearly as the other children so I asked her teacher if it was something I should be concerned about because I wanted to get on top of it. I was told she was only two and that I should wait to have any concern. I didn't stop there. We moved to Indiana, and the next year, I again came to the preschool meeting in December asking the same thing getting the same outcome, so I got her registered and pulled her out of private preschool, waited while I fought with the public school system about getting her into the school. The teacher actually booted a child who rarely came out of the program so that they could accept kenzie. Shew.. One hurdle finally cleared. Upon Kenzie starting to ride the bus, I could see that she was loving this new school. I e mailed often with the teacher and learned that my concern for Kenzie wasn't so far fetched! We had a meeting and the teacher informed me that she was having a phycho-educational evaluation completed on Mackenzie, but that since it was so late in the year, it would be performed over summer break. This was a relief, at least something was going to be done. After the Evaluation, we moved once again but not out of state. Kenzie had to be bussed about 45 minutes to her new school, and there the evaluation would be put into place. She did very well in the class and loved her teacher. As the year progressed, we learned that we would be able to move back to florida. This wasn't something that we had counted on, but had hoped would eventually happen. Before the end of that school year and before our move, Kenzie had her second evaluation and I learned that in the state of Indiana, if a child has a Developmental Delay, that tag has to be dropped for the Kindergarten year. We had hopes that it would be picked back up when the Florida school did their evaluation. That didn't happen. The school in Florida adopted the I E P that Indiana had instead of doing their own evaluation of her. So, now here we sit entering the last month of her Kindergarten year and I had a conference this morning with her teacher (yaya attended with me). The teacher and the reading resource teacher were both there. In a nutshell, they said that if Kenzie is to continue recieving the help that we all know she needs, they have to send her on to first grade because if she is held back, she will be evaluated at Kindergarten level and not at her age level therefore giving them false results. This means that if she stays in kindergarten, she will likely pass all of the evals at that level. They are wanting to send her on to first grade to get a true sense of where she is at. This is all still waiting on an observation from someone coming in to see Kenzie in the classroom. This person was supposed to have already been there this week, but hasn't made it in. So, I am torn. Do I rejoice because Kenzie is going on to 1st grade, or do I cry because I know in my heart that she can't handle the first grade work? It is just such a hard situation for all of us and I don't want to see my child get frustrated at school because she loves school so much right now I wouldn't want to have her go from loving school to hating it.. I fear that the work load will just be too much for her next year, but we will have to do what we can in order to get her the help she needs although we know that she can't handle it, it also means that we have to be even more on top of her next year!
The school has to evaluate on your request. So if you want to go ahead and do it now, you can. You have the option to keep her in K if you feel it is best. If the eval shows she doesn't need the help and you feel she does, ask/demand the school system pay for a private eval.
ReplyDeleteYour insurance may even pay for a private eval to give you more information.
I know it's a scary thing but maybe she might grow up some and your gonna be working with her with Hooked on phonics over the summer so it might take.
ReplyDeleteHave faith.
Pray.
God has a reason.
You might also want to contact the State Department of Education and ask about getting an advocate to help you through these decisions.
ReplyDelete