It's been awhile. Let's see...did I ever update on the dental problems we were having? I finally talked with the head of the dental department, and we agreed that it was pointless to bring Alex in for unsedated exams. We will take him in yearly to have sedated xrays taken, and then a plan will be made as to what needs to be done. Hopefully it will correspond with another sedation he's having done anyway. So we'll see how next year goes. I'm pretty sure I was told this when he got his teeth done the time before, but the receptionist was adamant that was NOT how it was done. At least I know this guy's name now and can tell her to go ask him about it. Hopefully it was all written in his chart, but somehow that seems too easy.
On to school issues. Alex was dropped to a two hour day when he moved to Salem, and the school district he's in now just adopted that IEP when he moved (which is common practice until the new school has time to evaluate things themselves). I told them he could tolerate a full day, and there was no reason he should be limited. They just told me that they would increase his day a little at a time as he could handle things...which of course never happened. So, at his IEP meeting last spring before school was out, it was decided that Alex would start this school year at a full day. He would be in a new school, new classroom, new classmates...might as well have him get used to things right from the start. They agreed with me. Then, shortly after school let out, I got a voice message from his teacher briefly stating that they felt it would be better for Alex to start slow and then work up to a full day, and to give her a call back. I tried reaching her, but didn't get a hold of her...and figured it wasn't worth pursuing as he would be moving to Portland and would no longer be in their school anyway. Once we found out Portland wasn't going to work, his house manager called the school to check to see how his day would look this fall, and we realized they had changed the IEP that we (house manager and I) thought we'd all agreed on to the reduced day. I got fed up, and contacted the special ed attorney we'd hired for an IEP meeting down in Medford a few years ago. I called a new formal IEP meeting...I'm not messing around with this anymore. I'm not going to be told they'll increase his day as he is tolerating things. They always want to wait until his behaviors "stabilize". That won't happen! Alex's behaviors are a part of him...he will always have ups and downs, but my son deserves an education!! IEP meeting is the 15th. Until then, he'll go from 7:55-10:30a.
I finally got him an appointment with a child psychiatrist. I can't believe how hard it is to find a child psych in his area! Here I thought moving from little bitty Medford to a much bigger city would give him more opportunities for better care. I miss his old psych so much! I only hope this guy is any good. He's just finished his residency in New Mexico apparently...so fresh outta school. Hopefully he's full of ideas and has old professors and colleagues he can consult with. Hopefully he'll be chock full of fresh, new ideas. Hopefully he won't suck!
Alex comes to visit tomorrow. I really hope he's in a good mood. I'm not sure how many visits it's been since we've had a good one. It's been awhile though. I miss those good days. According to the logs, he's having good days...it's just that we seem to get lucky and miss them on our once a week visits. Fingers crossed for tomorrow!
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