Updates

So here are a few updates on our lives...
On Monday I was laid off from my job. No big supprise there, they had me training someone else that I work with for the last month, just didn't tell me that I was training him to actually DO my job. So the job hunt begins...

Thursday I had Brianna's IEP meeting. I had to do a phone conference because since I am not working, I had to pull my kids out of daycare, and had no one to take my son for me. Anyway, it went OK I guess. I haven't gotten any paperwork yet to sign, but once I do, I will go over it all. One thing I asked for was to have an FM system included in the IEP, but they refused to. They said that they would need a "detailed" letter from her audiologist explaining why that would help her. It has to be on official letterhead. I guess I don't know what else she would write a letter on, but I am going to call her Monday and ask her to write one. The only other part that bothered me during the meeting is that the Psycologist wanted her Classified as Hearing Impared not Deaf. He read me the definition of Deaf, which roughly explained that the person does not receive benefit from amplification. He took that to mean her CI. I stated my case, that a CI does not amplify, it processes. It is a bionic device, not a hearing aid (which as we all know amplifies). I explained to him that if they classify her as hearing impared, that would imply that without the CI, she has some hearing. She does not. She is bilatterally implanted, and her residual hearing is non-existent. The rest of the board agreed with me, so she was classified as Deaf. Not that it is a big deal, but it may come up in the future. She will receive preferential seating for class, activities and testing. She will be given directions as many times as she needs them, and all oral exams will be repeated twice. She is not getting any extra time to complete a timed test, but I didn't feel she needed it. She will also be given flexible testing locations, this way if it is too noisy in the area where the test is given, she can be relocated to an area that suits her needs better. I don't think that they will have to change anything for her. She has goals, 6 of them. 4 are acidemic, 1 is to learn sing language and the last is to learn basic troubleshooting of her implant. That is mine to teach. She already knows a great deal about her implant, but until this point I have taught her teachers and the school nurse the troubleshooting (changing batteries, reading the error codes). But we will do that one just fine. So once I get the letter from the audiologist, we will have to have another meeting and put the FM system in there. I think it is silly that they need a detailed letter, they use an FM system with the other CI child in the district, and for all the HA children. But I will follow their protocol. Who knows, maybe they all had to get the letter as well. The board was quite a bit bigger than I was told. There were 8 including myself. It was great to hear all those people concerned about and caring for my Brianna. She is loved.
So for now, I am loving being home with the kids. Actually being involved in their daily lives. We used to leave at 7am and not get home until 6:30pm, so it was hard to show them lots of attention and get homework done, and dinner and cleanup. Who knows, maybe I will find a stay at home job. Do those even really exist? Ha. Well, I hope you are all doing well. I will hopefully have a bit more time to update and read all your updates. I have been lacking on my blogging for quite some time now. Enjoy your weekend!