I wanted to thank everyone for all the support and advice you have given me regarding the issues my family has been facing. I wanted to give you all some updates.

Mom: (Good news)As some of you know my mom has fallen about eight times since March. She was walking with a cane and now she's with a walker. My sister was trying to get her into a nursing home and I was doing my best to keep her out of one.

I won!! It turns out that my sister's diagnosis of dementia was off the wall wrong! My mom had a few more appointments and it turned out that her "confusion" was due to her thyroid being out of whack. Her doctor put her on a new medicine and she is doing much better.

As for her walking and leg muscles. It also seemed that it was her cholesterol meds that had weakened her muscles. She was taking Lipitor. She's been off it for a while and her doctor put her on a new medication because her LDL levels were too high.

It turns out that my mom was talking to one of the customers and they had the same issues. She was also walking with a walker. The customer told my mother that it took her two years to get the Lipitor out of her system and her muscle strength back, but she's now walking on her own. I'm hoping the same will happen with my mom. She's already lifting her leg up higher to walk up and down her front stairs. She's still not comfortable driving, though.

My DS10: (Good news and some not so good news)I've had this suspicion that he is dyslexic. I've looked at how he reads, his school works, and a few other things and all the research I've done has been very close to matching symptoms of dyslexia. I have been unsuccessful in getting the school system to do anything. Then I found the university and I've been emailing the testing department there.

The man I've been emailing had requested the evaluation from the school when they tested him back in 2nd grade. He said "Briefly, we feel the testing was adequate but could have been better. We do think there is justification to do another full neuropsychological evaluation at this time given he has been struggling with reading for 2 additional years." I asked him what their testing will include and that I'd still like him tested for dyslexia so we can put that to bed once and for all.

I'm waiting to hear back from him about availability. The only hurdle with this one is that I have to get the money from my husband who doesn't seem too pleased about him getting tested.

DD7: (Good news)DD7 has had some issues lately with a girl "L" at the bus stop. L is saying that DD7 and DS10 are bullying her. Which they are not.

I've been in touch with the school principal and she knows that DD7 is not capable of bullying and she has spoken with L twice about the difference between someone bullying and someone being mean. DD7 wasn't even being mean to her so this really seems to be L grasping for attention or something.

Last week DD7 didn't want to go to the bus stop so I've been driving her. Then I've been at the bus stop each afternoon when she gets off the bus. So there hasn't been anymore issues of L saying anything. Another mom at the bus stop asked L what was going on and she was trying to tell me when her husband pulled up and she had to leave, so I still need to find out what L is saying. Other than that, L has kept to herself. The mother did tell me that she asked her daughter (4th grader) if anything happens on the bus and she confirmed that they don't sit near each other or even speak to each other.

Today at the bus stop L wouldn't walk up to stand with the rest of the kids under my umbrella (it's been raining freezing rain all day) when the other kids waved her over. So she stood off to the side until the bus came.

“The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.”
― Pema Chödrön

Posts: 29089 | Registered: Aug 2011

dameia♀ 36072Member # 36072

Posted: 10:48 PM, December 9th (Monday), 2013

Glad to hear things are better for the most part. If I may t\j for a bit....

It really pisses me off that your DS10 is not being tested through the school system. I thought that stuff was federally mandated. We are having DS8 tested for learning disabilities through the school. Luckily my sister is a guidance counselor, so she was able to give me the buzzwords to make sure they followed the law (whether it be state law or federal law). From the first time we met they had 50 odd days to complete the testing and have a meeting with me to discuss the results.

Of course, if your school is balking at helping him you may be better off having him tested through an outside source. If I'm not satisfied with the results of DS8's testing I plan on paying to have him tested through a local university. But your school SHOULD be working with you to help your DS!

Sorry about the t\j, the disparities in our educational system in this country is a bit of a sensitive subject for me. Too much red tape, too little funding....I could go on for hours.

But glad to hear everything else is improving!

Me: BS
D-Day: 7/7/12

Trust is like paper. Once it's crumpled it can never be perfect again.

Posts: 1396 | Registered: Jul 2012

simplydevastated♀ 25001Member # 25001

Posted: 8:38 AM, December 10th (Tuesday), 2013

Thanks dameia. He was tested the first time through the school system. Since then, it's been a battle. Most of the people I spoke to didn't want to listen to me or what they did say was very condescending. I'm happier about going through the university. I think it will be a more thorough test.

50 days is fast. My school system has 90 days to just process the paper work, then the schedule the date for the test. It took most the last part of the school year just to get this done.

I agree, they should be working with us, but unfortunately, it is what it is. I think this way will be better and faster.

It wasnt' a t/j at all, you're fine

I hope you have a better experience with your school system than I did.

In our area they have 14 days after the official request to schedule the first meeting. Then they lay out the whole process and have 50-some days to complete testing and meet with us regarding the results.

We went through the process two years ago, and they didn't find any learning disabilities, but they did discover he has an incredibly high IQ. However, he is barely squeaking by in school and is now falling behind, hence another round of testing. They already admitted that if I took him to an independent tester he would probably be diagnosed with some sort of learning disability because of the gap between what he is capable of and what he is actually producing. I meet with them on Friday, so we‘ll see how it goes.

Me: BS
D-Day: 7/7/12

Trust is like paper. Once it's crumpled it can never be perfect again.

Posts: 1396 | Registered: Jul 2012

simplydevastated♀ 25001Member # 25001

Posted: 8:21 AM, December 11th (Wednesday), 2013

Tell me about it. Which is why I don't really want to work with the school system again. At this point I just want him tested to figure what is going on and then give me something in writing that I can take to the school.

Wow! That sounds better than my school system. I hope they find out what could be the issue so he isn't struggling anymore. It's so hard to watch them struggle when you know they can do the work.