The time has come and I’m already feeling sick about high school next year. I spoke to our principal last week and to the school speech therapist and psychologist. It’s testing time to assess 1) if Beth will be eligible for an aide and 2) the level of funding that she will receive. Sadly once again we have to look at worst case scenario as far as behaviour is concerned. We also needed a score of under 70 in her speech assessment. It’s so hard to hear the results of these tests. Obviously you want your child to be the best that they can be but if their score is too high they don’t qualify. Beth was uncooperative during her testing which in the end was a good thing for our cause. What a shitty system we have where we have to prove again and again that they need help.
We had Sensational Kids today and I spoke to Rod about our schooling situation. He’s happy to do a report outlining what areas Beth needs help in as is Whiskas (The Occupational Therapist – not her real name.) She too said she would do a report showing where support is needed. I feel for the professionals put in this situation. They are almost apologetic, explaining that this is how the system works and they have to put in the reality. Nature makes people in personal relationships tread softly when talking about issues, softening the blow so as not to hurt people’s feelings. In this case it has to be blunt and to the point and basically make your kids sound almost like monsters. Unfortunately that is what is needed.
We had a good session this morning. Beth was in fine spirits and communicated well. She still finds it hard to tell stories without (we think) thinking that we know what she’s talking about. For example Rod asked her what she did on the weekend. She told him that she ate cotton candy and that we went to see Rango. She also said that we went to Hogs Breath. She didn’t however explain that the cotton candy was from the school fete. Nor that the movies and Hogs Breath were for her birthday party. She does have problems linking her thoughts with her words in this way but she’s so much better than she was when we first started speech therapy.
She then had her session with Whiskas. I don’t go in to those but from all accounts it went well. Whiskas is still building a rapport with Beth and they chatted a lot. Whiskas did say though that she’s not sure whether Beth’s answers are from a movie, or something that her friends have done, you never know with Beth.
I’ll leave you with a Beth funny. She seems to have a bit of a crush on a boy at school. Apparently she has nicknamed all the kids in the class with names from Bob the Builder. She has dubbed him Pilchard. He is going out with another girl who is a bit obsessed with Justin Bieber. When she saw this girl at the school fete she said matter of factly “Why don’t you just go out with Justin Bieber, then you can leave ‘Pilchard’ for me!” She’s so funny!
