Getting somehwere...

It has been a while since I've blogged.  We've been so busy and I just haven't had much to ramble about lately.  ;)  It would seem that I now have something to talk about, unfortunately it's not the happiest of subjects.

I talked a bit in a previous blog post about Mikayla and the trouble she has been having in school.  In January we had a meeting at her school with her teacher, Guidance Counselor, Principal, school Psychologist, and some other important people that I can't remember at this time.  They had performed some screenings and evaluations with Mikayla and wanted to discuss starting an IEP (Individualized Education Program) plan for her.  Which basically would allow Mikayla to get more individualized and targeted help with what she is struggling with in school. 
We discussed Mikayla and the results of her evaluations.  The speech/language therapist found that she had a hard time with some basic things during that evaluation. After discussing everything further with her teacher and with us, the school psychologist mentioned that Mikayla might have a short term memory problem.  It's weird how hearing things from her teacher and the other people that have been around Mikayla can really put things in perspective and make things click.  Like some things that we, her parents don't even pick up on until they are pointed out to us.  I remember leaving the meeting thinking, "I never thought of it like that before...yes that makes perfect sense."  So we now had a new light shed on some things that we see in Mikayla's every day life at home as well as at school.  The meeting ended on a positive note and with a plan in place. 
Of course,  you know me, I went home and started researching online about short term memory problems and I was surprised to find a lot of children born prematurely have problems with short term memory. 

After about a month and a half I emailed Mikayla's teacher about her progress and her teacher replied saying that she's concerned with Mikayla's progress (or lack there of) and had already sent in a request to revise her IEP plan.  I felt like replying, "Well thanks for letting us know" but of course I didn't. 
At this time we decided to take Mikayla to the pediatrician to just make sure we aren't missing something and to bring up this possible short term memory issue.  Plus it just seems like we weren't getting anywhere with the school and if we were, it was just taking too long.  After a few months of retrieving records and waiting on appointments, her pediatrician said, "yes, there's no doubt that she has a learning disability" and we were referred to some specialists.

Mikayla now has appointments with a Dr. who specializes in pediatric neurodevelopmental disabilities and a psychologist for full evaluations and further testing. 
I had to fill out a huge packet of information yesterday and send part of it for her teacher to fill out.  I received her teacher's portion back today and I just became a bit overwhelmed.  Looking through her teacher's evaluation (her ratings on Mikayla's habits and weaknesses) was harder than I thought it would be.  I agree with everything her teacher put on the form, it was just kind of hard to take coming from someone else.  I put the same things on our portion of the paper work, but I didn't rank them as high as her teacher did.  I know her teacher sees Mikayla in a different environment than we do, I'm not saying anything negative about her answers...it just kind of caught me off guard I guess.
I realized that this is just the beginning of this process and I have no clue what is going to happen through all of this!  I got pretty emotional and had to talk it through with a few friends, but I am still really scared of all of this.  I think my biggest fear is that we will go through all of this and in the end nothing good will come of it.  We really just want to make sure we have covered all of our bases with Mikayla and get her all the help that she needs in order to be successful in school and in everything else she does.

It's really frustrating to know that we still have another few months before all of her evaluations are completed and by then this school year will be over.  I'm praying and believing that in the end something positive and productive will come from all of this.  And hopefully we can go into the next school year knowing more of how to help Mikayla and it will be a much better experience for us all!! 

I debated on posting this or not because it is really personal and it is a sensitive subject.  But Ben encouraged me to because we really would like the support and prayers of our family and friends. 
Please pray with us as we go through this whole process...that we will have peace of mind, that God's will be done, that we make all the right decisions for Mikayla, and that she gets all the help that she needs.   Thank you!