By The Wiz
We’re meeting with the school speech therapist on Monday. Turns out they noticed Little Man’s issues in kindergarten too! You mean they didn’t evaporate over the summer break? What’s up with that?
Of course, I had to ask the teacher to have the speech therapist look at him, because he doesn’t have a whole lot of behavioral issues and frankly, that often means he gets overlooked. (Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful his behavior is good, it just means I have to speak up a little more.)
I am looking forward to it, but part of me is just worried that they’ll evaluate him again, and say “hmmm…he’s borderline…he doesn’t quite qualify for services but he’s not exactly normal either. Let’s just see how he does.” I’ve heard that too many times now. It’s a tad frustrating.
I’ve noticed that when my kids are out of the house, I don’t eat lunch. It’s just too much effort. Then 3:00 rolls around and I wonder why I’m so cranky.
I want a cinnamon roll. I don’t have any, nor the ingredients/energy to make any.
My bedroom looks like a really boring version of a hotel room. I’m not quite sure how to dress it up. What I really want is some cool new bedding, but I want a new mattress more, and then I remember I have BOTH those things in SLC, and I want to go up and steal all my stuff and bring it back and show the house empty. Screw staging. It hasn’t worked yet, anyway.
Ditto on my dining room table. I want my old one back.
And the artwork currently in the dining room, I have the PERFECT spot for it here and every time I see it, I sigh.
I whine too much.
I thought you might want a picture of the dog I’m talking about.
No aggression issues here! No, really, here he is. I moved him off the pillow the second after I took the picture, because you know, he’s not allowed to be there. 
In the event that you want to continue to pursue other avenues of speech therapy, in the event that he doesn’t qualify for services through the school district. You may want to contact a local university to see if they have a Speech Language Lab. This is where they have graduate students work in a supervised clinical environment one on one with children. My son attended a program like this offered at USU from the age of 3-5 and in many ways he received much more help than he would have received through the school district and it was all targeted to meet his needs. Additionally since it was “students” offering the services the fees were hugely reduced.
Good Luck!
Comment #1 by CynthiaOctober 23rd, 2008 at 3:04 pmCynthia
Knock ‘em dead at the therapist. It sucks, but your kid only has you to come out swinging. As one fresh from the trenches, it will be worth it, I promise.
You need to post the shot of the horny toad shooting blood from it’s eyes! That’s the money shot!
There are cinnamon rolls on my kitchen counter this second. I baked them this morning. It’s all part of my master plan to have a better routine. Day three, so far so good.
And, can I just say, as a severe allergy sufferer- simply looking a your darling dog on a bed pillow makes my eyeballs itch and sting.
Comment #2 by Tracy MOctober 23rd, 2008 at 3:22 pmStaging didn’t work for us either. I finally got all my stuff last week. I was tired of not having a real bed anymore. Now if my house doesn’t sell, I can blame it on the lack of staging.
Or something.
Comment #3 by KrisOctober 23rd, 2008 at 3:45 pmAre his ears as silky as they look? The dog’s ears, not the toad’s. Man that thing is nasty.
Comment #4 by Heather O.October 23rd, 2008 at 3:47 pmYes, his ears are that silky. And keep in mind that is a close up of the lizard. His entire being is about the size of Charlie’s paw.
Comment #5 by The WizOctober 23rd, 2008 at 3:54 pmStaging never really worked for us. Get your mattress back! It’s not like any polite person viewing the house is going to try out the bed.
Comment #6 by mormonhermitmomOctober 23rd, 2008 at 4:03 pmSorry I had Tracy reaction to your dog and I’m not allergic. Good luck with the meeting.
Comment #7 by ModdyOctober 23rd, 2008 at 4:13 pmI forget to eat lunch when I have no one else to feed, too! I’m SO glad to know I’m not the only one! I did it all the time in college, and I’d wonder why I was so darn hungry come 4:00 (yeah, and cranky, too.)
Good luck with the speech therapist!
Comment #8 by StarababaOctober 23rd, 2008 at 7:03 pmCome to my house and I’ll make cinnamon rolls for lunch!
Comment #9 by JustRandiOctober 23rd, 2008 at 8:35 pmWiz,
Comment #10 by cchrissyyOctober 23rd, 2008 at 10:48 pmIf their ST doesn’t think he qualifies for their services, and you disagree, contact me and I can fill in all about how to bring in an independent expert assessment and make sure his needs are really going to get met, and not at your expense either. call or email any time, I’d be glad to send along some links about your rights and what worked for us.
When my kids aren’t home I eat lunch way too early, and I still wonder why I’m cranky and/or starving at 4:00!
And Brian’s cousin makes the. best. cinnamon. rolls. EVERRRRRR.
Comment #11 by SallygirlOctober 24th, 2008 at 12:02 amI wish I could forget to eat.
Comment #12 by Tracy MOctober 24th, 2008 at 12:16 amGet your bedding and mattress and other stuff back. When I was house-hunting, I /hated/ being in the houses that were staged. I wanted to imagine my stuff in the house not see other people’s.
Comment #13 by FirebyrdOctober 24th, 2008 at 1:31 amI like horny toads. Despite how they look, they’re actually quite soft. I’d much rather have a pet horny toad than a dog, although your dog looks like a sweetheart. We have frost all over this morning and it makes me want to visit the desert and warm up and go on a hike in the mountains and find horny toads and lizards.
If all else fails, you can always buy one of those refrigerated cans of cinnamon rolls that cook in about 8 minutes and come with a little tub of glaze. Not quite the same as homemade, but they work in a pinch.
Hmm. Maybe I should make cinnamon rolls today. I think I’ll try a new recipe.
Comment #14 by ResearcherOctober 24th, 2008 at 6:25 amReseacher, I made the pop-up kind of cinnamon rolls yesterday, and they’re not bad, and they made my house smell yummy. But I wish I had the patience to make the real ones.
Comment #15 by ModdyOctober 24th, 2008 at 9:47 amTake your son in to see a Developmental Pediatrician. Your regular pediatrician should be able to hook you up with a referral and number. I have a reference for a fantastic one here in AZ, should you need it (I am not sure what state you are in?) There is a diagnostic center here in Scottdale, AZ where I took oldest son, called the Melmed Center, they test for everything under the sun. A place like that will do MUCH more indepth testing/evaluations and be able to provide you with a more accurate diagnosis and/or suggestions/help/assistance to further his development, etc.
The school system missed my son’s mild autism completely. (Even AFTER having a professional diagnose him- yes that was TWO school psychologists who missed it). It’s why we sold our house and got the heck out of that district. So be aware that schools miss MAJOR things all the time. I would definitely look to a Developmental Pediatrician for help.
Comment #16 by 2boys1crazyMomOctober 24th, 2008 at 10:11 amI should probably reiterate though, that I am NOT just talking about diagnosing Autism. A DP could easily tell you if your child needs Speech only. The good part would be that then you would be able to have ‘armor’ on when dealing with the school (when you hand them a written diagnosis and/or need to ST and then DEMAND services for your child).
Good luck with the staging too. If you watch HGTV 40hours a week (like I would prefer to do)
, then you can take comfort in knowing that “houses that are staged sell better than empty ones”. I think in this market though (in my personal opinion) it’s all about price. You may have to keep slashing it. Good luck!! Selling stinks.
Comment #17 by 2boys1crazyMomOctober 24th, 2008 at 10:19 amI got my daughter’s speech tested and I think they said the same thing, “not bad enough for help”.
She was 50% understandable with me, and 75% understandable with strangers. Man! She made me work hard to understand her! lol It took me a week to figure out “Swampback”! Yeah, it was lunch box.
Her speech has gotten better, but now that she’s in 1st grade I wonder if it’s hurting her spelling and reading.
Za = the stuff like that.
Today we are taking her to an Occupational Therapy Evaluation for Sensory Processing. Wish us luck!
I want to thank Mormon Mommy Wars for helping me figure out the Sensory Processing Disorder stuff with my daughter. We are on the road to getting her help so she can be comfortable in her own skin and learn how to calm herself down.
Comment #18 by roster007October 29th, 2008 at 10:10 amNow I’m teaching our school counselor all about SPD and hopefully helping other kids too.
Thank you guys!