Progress and looking forward!

The past week went by in a flash.
The day after I wrote last I went and picked up this big package from the place that did the evaluations on my baby girl. And there it was - this big, thick thing, summarizing their professional opinions of her problems. I sat in the parking lot and read it. At least 40 pages, of very matter of fact, clinical terms. Even though I knew exactly what it was going to say - it stung a little to read. There was no emotion in it at all. My husband felt the sting too when he read it - as did our Chiropractor (who really, I should simply call our good friend.) Mild to Moderately Autistic. That, is what those 40 some pages summarized it too, in the shortest possible way.
And that - with the emphasis on Moderately is exactly what the representative from there said today, at my side, in front of 8 people, at the school board meeting to determine the services my Jillian qualifies for.
I have to give myself a big pat on the back for today. Initially, with the way they kept playing up the "school board meeting to approve her services" I had pictured this big dark room. Fit for an inquisition - with a panel of people sitting up higher than me, mean to psychologically make me feel inferior... and a cold, hard time to get them to give us what we needed. Everyone I talked to just made my fears seem so vindicated too. The horror stories I heard and such.
Then, speaking to my husband about it - he gave me the impression he was less than worried - like it would be me and a person or two, just sitting around chatting about what to do.
Well... I have been dealing with a lot of my personal 'stories' and such recently, in my medicine wheel training - and I have been learning how to integrate all the "stuff" I am learning into my "real" life. (My Husband recently wrote an entry in his blog about merging his "two lives" that holds deep, sincere meaning to me, I just have not had time to write about it yet...) Anyway, I digress...
On Sunday morning I went to a place I love. A place in a quiet forest, and I took my seat on my nice big rock, nestled on the marsh against (get this) Conscience Bay. (It is in Old Field/Setauket/Port Jefferson, NY - incase you were wondering.) And I thought. I thought about a lot of things. And my thoughts settled on the image of confidence and power I needed to project for this meeting today. And I realized something - it did not matter whether I was in a big inquisition sort of setting, or a small, non-stress filled one. All that mattered, was the outcome. And I decided, that the outcome would be exactly what would be best for my baby girl.
And that, my friends, is exactly what happened. (For the record, it was an intimidating setting, 8 people, among them school psychologists, counselors, teachers, a representative from the county services or health department - whoever he was, and all that.) But the setting did not matter - I not only got what I was asking for (the recommendations from the place that did the evaluations) but I got MORE! I will be taking her out of her private preschool and on February 12th she will begin something totally new. A program in a class of 12 children, with 2 specially trained teachers. She will now go 5 days a week (as opposed to the 3 she goes now - though the days will be shorter) and she will get 3 days of speech therapy a week, and 2 days of occupational therapy a week. I am very happy with the outcome. We also went over some of her Kindergarten options, which the final decisions will be made about all of that in April.
I feel like it was a triumphant day!
In other news, I sent my hard headed mother a "you need to leave NOW" email yesterday. And she STILL thinks she has room to argue. That she will NOW get a job and start contributing. Sorry - too late for that crap. But... it will all work out, and I will have my home back soon. That, I know.


01.10.2007
5:44 p.m.