Wednesday, March 24, 2010

First Day of School


We DID finally end up enrolling M in the local preschool. I was actually prepared to keep her at home and just keep working with her here, so I ordered a book on helping children overcome speech and language problems that was recommended by the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. The very first chapter talked about how important it is for children with profound phonological disorders to get intervention as early as possible because speech skills affect all other aspects of learning. The second chapter described why school Speech-Language Pathologists are perhaps among the best in terms of training and experience. This wasn't what I expected from a book from HSLDA, but it really helped me come to a quick, clear decision.

M is only attending school 2 mornings a week, which isn't bad, considering they initially wanted her to come all day, every day! The speech therapist is only there Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so those are the days she goes to school. The school year is actually over the last week of M, so she's really only going to be attending for 2 months, but school resumes the first week of July, so we're hoping she won't lose any progress.

The funny thing is that M was tested to be profoundly delayed in all areas, but in just the past month or two we've really worked to figure out her learning style and helped her to learn all her colors, shapes numbers and letters. The girl who was tested this winter was very different than the one who arrived at school this spring! We are now just hoping and praying that we get this speech issue ironed out before they want to put her in Kindergarten! I won't be able to negotiate 2 mornings a week then!

Also, the diet is going wonderfully! It's truly better than I could have expected-although it's still early on in the process, so I don't want to jinx myself! I weaned Moff of her medication about two weeks ago, and as of right now, that girl has some incredible poos!