More Info About Special Education Eligibility

I have had several conversations with parents lately regarding the stories I posted about Imma and the events that occurred during the decision making progress for her special education eligibility.  I wanted to elaborate a little bit on some of the topics I discussed and provide you with some more resources.
First of all, I want to clarify something I think is confusing to parents and teachers alike. From a school's perspective, there are two different types of disability diagnoses.  The first one is a "medical diagnosis."  This means that a doctor or a psychologist, someone out side of the school who has the authority to do so, has diagnosed a child wit ha disability.  This could be a diagnosis of autism, attention deficit disorder, etc.  This is a medical diagnosis because a qualified source outside of the school has evaluated the child and determined that the criteria for the diagnosis has been met.
The second type of diagnosis is an "educational diagnosis."  This is different.  This is when the school personnel have done evaluations and have determined that not only is there a disability but that the child is in need of special education services in order to be successful at school. So, it is very possible that a medical doctor could diagnose a child as having ADD or autism and a school could do an evaluation and say they do not meet the established criteria to receive special education services.  The school diagnostician and/or psychologist would then need to show the other members of the decision-making committee why the student does not need the services.  For example, they could demonstrate through qualitative diagnostic exams that the student doesn't meet the criteria or they could show that the student is being successful in the classroom and is not in need of any extra services or support.  It is important for parents to understand the differences between these two diagnoses and to understand that it is not necessarily a bad thing if the doctor says your child has a disability but the school says that your child is not in need of services.  Most of the time, the school is going to be correct.  If they can demonstrate to you that your child is receiving ample support in the classroom, highly consider leaving your child in the general education setting.  While there are benefits to special education, most schools have other supports in place for students who are struggling but are not special education students.  It is very likely that your child will be receiving support through a Response to Intervention team, a Reading Specialist (like me!), a Math Specialist, or another staff member who can provide similar support to your child without having to label them as "special education."  While it can certainly be beneficial for certain students to be placed in a special education for inclusion (when the special education teacher visits the child's regular classroom) or resource (when the student leave the regular classroom and goes to the special education classroom for a period of time) if the school says the student does not need these services, please consider the school's evidence before pressing the issue.
Now, that is not to say that there aren't circumstances when some schools may deny services for some reason and parents have every right, and the responsibility, in fact, to press forward and demand services.  Certainly this has happened before.  But I have found, even through all of the issues I've had in our previous district, it is always better to have an amicable relationship with the school and to truly listen to the school's reasoning.  You can always have an advocate or lawyer come with you to meetings with school personnel and you may want to do that if you think the outcome is not going to be best for your child.
Another topic I wanted to clarify are the eligibility areas for special education. Many of my teacher friends have said they couldn't believe that my child was going to be placed in a special autism unit when her only special education eligibility is speech.  Here is a list of the areas a child can qualify for special education services under:

• Autism
• Deafness
• Deaf-blindness
• Hearing impairment
• Mental retardation
• Multiple disabilities
• Orthopedic impairment
• Other health impairment
• Serious emotional disturbance
• Specific learning disability
• Speech or language impairment
• Traumatic brain injury
• Visual impairment, including blindness

  
  

  In order to qualify for special education services, your child has to have an educational diagnosis that qualifies him or her in one or more of these categories.  And you cannot receive services in an area where your child does not qualify. So, if your child is deaf, they cannot receive services for having a specific learning disability, unless s/he qualifies for that as well. In our case, my daughter qualifies for special education for a "speech or language impairment."  The school district where we lived was trying to place her in a classroom that serviced students with autism.  We have not documentation to support the diagnosis of autism. They justified this placement by telling me she had something called "Non-categorized Early Childhood Autism."  That is not a thing!  That is not a category, as you can see above. I thought it must be a qualifier under the autism classification but it's not.  In order to receive services as a child with autism there must be a document that says your child has an educational diagnosis of autism.  We had a document that said our child did not have autism and the examination was completed by a school psychologist. My point?  Don't be a sucker.  Ask questions, lots of them.  Ask for explanations.  Ask where that qualification falls on this list.  Ask to see the law.  More importantly, read the law ahead of your meeting.  I have a link below that I think you will find very useful if you find yourself in a situation similar to mine. If you know anyone who has a child in the process of being diagnosed for special education, please pass this information on to them.  It could be extremely helpful to them.

  Also, please notice ADD and ADHD are not on this list.  They fall under a different  qualification called "504."  This is not the same thing as special education and if you hear an educator say "504" and you're not sure what that means, start asking questions.  You can also find information about 504 eligibility on the website below.

  What other questions do you have?  Please ask in the comments or email me.  I am happy to answer anything I can and if I don't know I will find out!  Also, what other topics would you like more information on?  I know a lot of parents read this blog that are in a similar situation to the one that I was in so please ask me anything you'd like to know about. I'm here to pass on what I've learned

  For more information, please visit:

  Wrightslaw From Emotion to Advocacy

Bath Refusal Goes On 3 Days--Mommy At End of Rope

Lucy is taking a bath today! It's been a few days because she refuses.  She screams and cries and thrashes around, goes bone-less momentarily, then springs back into full flailing mode.  What's a mommy to do?
We haven't gone anywhere except for Chick-fil-a and that was on day 2 of the "not gonna do it" spree so I don't think she was stinky then but now, I think it's time to give her a bath!  Her hair has food in it!  She's starting to smell a little like sour milk.  And I'm pretty sure even non-permanent marker because permanent eventually if you leave it on long enough!
So I guess I'm just gonna have to prepare for some screaming, some splashing, and this mommy getting half-dunked.  Any suggestions fellow mommies?  I've tried bribery, bubbles, new toys, etc.
Wish me luck!
(No pic today--she wouldn't want a pic of her hair today in existence for Future Lucy.)

Lunch with Friends at Chicken-Hamburger!

Yesterday we had lunch with one of my bestest friends and two of Lucy's boyfriends at what Imma calls, "Chicken-Hamburger" a.k.a. Chick-fil-a.  Unfortunately, I took no pictures!  So, I will have to make due with a picture of Lucy and her boyfriends at their first birthday party, which is a year and a half ago but better than nothing!

Lucy with Will and Jack at their 1st birthday party. She was not happy!

Will and Jack are two of the sweetest, most incredible, literally miraculous Big Boys! (I almost said babies but they are not that any more) that I have ever had the opportunity to know.  When they were born they were teeny tiny and there were thousands of people praying for them and their family.  They have an incredible story and incredible parents.  You can read all about them on my sweet friend Alyson's blog here .
I used to share a classroom with Alyson and her mom and another wonderful teacher (or two, who's counting!) and I really miss her now that we live about an hour away from each other.  It was great to see them even though we didn't get to talk as much as we would like with four little people running around like, well, little people.  Nevertheless, we all had a really great time and I hope we can do it again soon.
It's nice to see other two-year-olds about Lucy's age and see that they are all doing the same things. Lucy's personality is such that she is always going to be a little different, she was a little more, uhm, "diva-ish" than the boys, but that could just be a girl thing, too.  She was crawling around in the play room but was having difficulty getting up the steps so she would ask a bigger boy for help.  Damsel in distress!  She's say, "Hewp!" and a five or six year old boy would help her every time! "Thank you!" Will and Jack were very industrious and were able to get themselves up the steps even though they aren't much taller than Lu.  They figured out a way to use the side of the steps to push up.  So smart!
Imma was running around, trying to talk to other kids, but mostly acting like a dog.  She has been Imma-Dog for the last few months.  Whatever makes her happy!  She enjoyed her chicken and most of her french fries and then just got up and went into the play area without asking, "Uhm, hello? Can you at least tell your mommy where you are going?"  No, no she cannot.
We then traded our toys (which were books, again) from the kid meals in for ice cream.  Did y'all know you can do that?  Yep, toy for ice cream = awesome.  We smeared some ice cream on our faces and maybe ate a little and then headed home for what I was sure was going to be a long nap--except Lu was so exhausted she couldn't and didn't sleep. Imma doesn't take a nap any more so she just rode her bike around the living room and screamed, "Bicycle, bicycle!'  Maybe that's why Lu didn't sleep!
We had a great time and it made me realize we need to have more play dates! I love seeing my little girls play with their friends and with no cousins and no neighbors it just doesn't happen enough. But maybe at a house next time so it isn't as crazy!  Who's in?  Your house or ours?  I'll make the chicken-hamburgers!
For those of you who love contests but don't follow my other blog, I am doing a giveaway on the Glitter and Tulle Boutique blog this weekend.  Please check it out!
I am also going to try to make my own Rhinestone transfer templates this weekend, which means I will literally be able to custom make any bling you could possibly want! Names, characters, whatever.  I'll let you know how it goes.
Have a lovely weekend!!

Lucy Kate Annabella, Super Model in the Making

I generally do (believe it or not!) try to keep my blogs separate.  I know a lot of you read both or follow Glitter and Tulle Boutique on Facebook and you really don't want to be inundated with tutus where ever you go.  So don't worry--this post isn't about tutus.  Well, not exactly. It's about the fabulous Lucy Kate and how she can strike a pose.
Sometimes when I beg ask Lucy to wear one of my tutus for a photo shoot, she is extremely, uhm Diva-like.  Today, she was AWWWESOME!  I got some really cute shots.
 Like this one:

Lucy hamming it up for the camera

and this one:

She was ready to Rock and Roll!

But I really love this one:

Best Picture EVER!

The more I look at this pic the more I think she may actually have a future in modeling! I mean, she put her hand on her hip, her other hand under her chin, she's got the perfect look on her face, and look at the arch in her back. It's insane!  I certainly didn't coach her into that.  And I did this shoot by myself. There's usually Daddy snapping away and mommy trying to coax a smile.  I know I'm a little biased but I am just really impressed with this picture and I want to enter it in some baby modeling competition or something.
Okay--enough mommy bragging.  What do y'all think about the pic??

Closet Clean Out Always Makes Me Sad!

Cleaning out Lucy's closet always makes me sad because I see all of these cute little outfits that she wore, or Imma wore, or they both wore, and I know they will never wear them again.
It makes me happy to get rid of stuff, especially when I know someone else can use it. But it's really hard to see some of these outfits go.  Does anyone else have that problem?
Lucy will be 2 1/2 on Saturday and she is just now getting in to her 2T/24 month clothes so all of the 18 month clothes have to come out.  One of my dearest friends is having a little girl in the spring so she will be getting a couple of boxes of clothes!  The rest will go to Good Will.  As I'm pulling things out of the closet, I can remember places we went, photos we took, experiences we had while one of the girls was wearing these outfits and I can't help but reflect upon how quickly my little girls are growing up.  Most of my memories of Lucy are happy ones.  With Imma, it's a little different because some of these clothes are the ones she was wearing when we started to wonder if something was wrong.  That makes it harder to pass them along.  I usually end up keeping one or two outfits that I just can't let go, but this time, I put them all in a box to be mailed or a bag to be donated. I'll still have the memories and the photographs and hopefully the sadness will go out the door and fly far, far away.

And then there's another issue.  This is Lucy's closet.

It's a tad bit tight.

While, this is Imma's closet.

Hello?  Hello?  Echo, echo.

Someday Lu will realize that in closets, as in life, all is not fair.  In the meantime, we have bags of clothes in the back of Imma's closet, size 3T, 4T, and now starting a bag of 5T's that Lucy will eventually grow in to.  Sigh . . . . They just keep getting bigger!  The positive side of my brain says, "Praise God I've been blessed with two healthy girls who continue to grow and are here with me each year." The other part says, "Can't they just stay little girls forever?!" Time marches on and eventually we'll have to figure out how to solve the closet conundrum but for now I will keep shoving clothes into Lucy's closet and hoping I don't lose one of the dogs--or the children--in the cavernous closet in Imma's room.
What makes y'all reminisce about how fast your children are growing?

Imma's Christmas

Last night, Imma asked me if she could go back to school today.  She said she wanted to take her new lunch box to school.  Imma didn't get a new lunch box and she doesn't take her lunch.  She did get a new metal purse with Cinderella on it and she wants to take goldfish crackers to school for snack, in her new metal purse.  Imma is as unique and silly as can be, and this is one of the many reasons why I love her.
Imma loved the snow.  She was very sad when it began to melt.  "Snow all gone, Mommy. My snow is all gone!" She loved making a snowman with Daddy and sliding down the hill on a trashcan lid.  She loved catching the snowflakes on her  tongue and throwing snowballs at Daddy.
Imma got several art supplies for Christmas and has been painting and drawing a lot this week. She painted a beautiful rainbow and drew multiple pictures of the three little pigs, their houses, and their nemesis the Big Bad Wolf. She's been reading her TAG books, her v-tech books, and borrowing her sister's Mobigo so she can play "Jake" and watch Cubby almost fall off the cliff.
We've been playing a lot of "castles" with Lucy, too.  Lucy got two castles for Christmas and she thinks the blue one is Imma's even though it's not.  Imma doesn't really like to play castles but she will play with her sister for a few minutes before screaming, "Lucy Kate Annabella!"
Imma's also been playing a lot of Mario Cart Wii.  There's actually one person in this house that is worse at this game than me!  She crashes, she falls in the water, she gets stuck in a corner, and she laughs hysterically the whole time!
Duke and Imma have had a lot of fun this Christmas.  Well, Imma's had a lot of fun pretending to be a dog and playing with Duke. I'm not sure if he really likes it or not.  She barks, wags her tail, and licks everyone, including Duke.
Finally, Imma has enjoyed riding her new bike, Pinkey, around the living room.  Yes, around the living room. It's been too cold to go outside so she's been riding inside.  She's crashed a couple of times, ran over everyone, and tipped it over, but she just keeps right on riding.
I'm blessed to have this beautiful girl in my life!

Imma ready to go outside, before we'd even cleaned up the Christmas presents!

Lucy-isms

This is a fun list of Lucy-isms, words Lucy says that no one else can understand!

"Sponge-Bob Squash-Pants"

"Paw-cown" (popcorn)

"Wowwypop" (lollypop)

"Wah-yer" (water)

"showtcake" (Strawberry Shortcake)

"Meany" (Minnie Mouse)

"Cwooky" (cracker)

"Wank-it" (blankets)

"Monny" (mommy)

"Mama" (Miss Amy)

"Mewwww" (more)

My beautiful, silly little Lu!

Most of the time I refer to her as Lu.  When I say Lu, I think of a rather large, balding, sweaty deli worker (don't ask me why) and I think it is hilarious that my itty-bitty, beautiful little girl could have such a funny name.  She will be 2 1/2 on Saturday and she is starting to embrace the Terrible Two's.  She is demanding, argumentative, easily offended, and still as sweet and silly as can be.  I can't wait to see what she will accomplish in 2013!