Phyllis Diller = Harbinger of Doom

...which is to say the meeting didn't quite go as well as we'd been hoping, or expecting, more accurately, based upon the draft IEP we'd been mailed a week ago.

Don't want to start crying again because it is upsetting Kiddo, so instead I shall briefly sum up and then head out to feed ducks on the canal and get some ice cream. This school district is one of the majority out there that do not recognize Sensory Processing Disorder as its own qualifying disability for classification. As SPD is not in the current DSM (the IV), they are not legally required to do so. (There is a concerted effort in place - had an August 5th deadline for research submission - to get SPD recognized and included in the upcoming DSM-V which is due to be published next year. I have all fingers and toes crossed, as do thousands of other parents of children with SPD, that it makes it in, but there's no word yet. For more info on that, you can go here and read to your heart or brain's content.)

For our family, this means that they are leaning towards declassifying Kiddo as of the beginning of December. We were stunned (I believe "gobsmacked" was the word I used when tweeting the news earlier) as we had no indication they were of this mindset or at all considering the possibility.

We have a few routes ahead of us now. The first is they can change their mind and decide to leave her current classification in place. This scenario is seeming only slightly more likely than George Clooney and Hugh Jackman showing up with landscapers' tools and removing all our dang hedges and shrubberies. The second, which they brought up to us at the meeting, is that we find another diagnosis that applies to Kiddo that *is* in the DSM and therefore recognized and accepted for continued classification. Their suggestion was ADD or ADHD. This rang some ominous bells in my head, mostly in the school psychologist's direction, as she seems to have made up her mind purely from reading reports (some over 3 years old) and never having met Kiddo in person for a second that what Kiddo has is in fact ADHD and not this fake SPD thing we're claiming, and also for the quick way they responded to the looks of shock coming from our side of the table with "but that doesn't mean she'd have to go on medication." The third is that she gets declassified, and if that happens (and it seems the most likely scenario), we can try for a 504 plan which would supposedly allow Kiddo to continue receiving the services she needs in the OT and sensory diet aide realm.

So, that's the short version. (Come on, Ronnica, it is short - for me... ;) ) Now I'm going to head out into the sunshine with my two favorite people in the world, feed some ducks, eat some ice cream, and pretend for a little bit that today didn't happen. I'll regain my optimism and good humor before we leave for vacay, I promise, and there is a good, long post I'm working on that I just don't have the heart to deal with right now.

In conclusion, if you see this visage in your dreams:



you should consider yourself doomed.

(Oh and PS - if you should ever see Kiddo's kindergarten teacher, the Special Ed teacher from her old school, or her OT from her old school, either in person or in your dreams, consider yourself extremely lucky. Those three ladies took time out of their summer to come across the county to attend the meeting with us in support of Kiddo, who isn't even their student or in their district any more. They are the AWESOMEST and there isn't enough pizza or wings in the world to thank them adequately, even if we have the best Pontillo's in the area in our new neighborhood. Thanks again, ladies!!!!)