Friday, February 26, 2010

Will Work For...LEGOS!

We went to the Lego Store at Downtown Disney last night following a trip to The Happiest Place on Earth. The girls have been intensely playing with Legos the last month and a half and they are ready for some new ones. The store was overwhelming and exciting. Oh to be a parent with lots and lots of money. LOL.

I struck a deal with the girls so they could earn Legos. They pull weeds in the side yard for a set amount of time, and I'd buy them Legos. Hannah is old enough to understand and I was sure she'd keep up her end of the bargain, Rachel, on the other hand, only being five years old, I wasn't so sure how this deal was going to work out. LOL.

But it worked out in both our favor. She tackled some weeds I wanted pulled for an hour and she got her Lego set!With all the rain we've had in recent months, the ground was perfect for pulling weeds and getting the roots, etc. Rachel came home from school, set up her iPod and speakers, and we set the timer and she went to town...for an hour! There were a few times she asked how much longer, but she is only five. She did a great job and she was so proud of herself when her time was up and she had that new box of Legos in hand.Now we'll have to see if I can get her to do it again! :)

Monday, February 22, 2010

Promoting to Yellow Belt

Belt Ceremony was tonight for Tae Kwon Do and two of my three participants moved up a belt. Rachel promoted from a white belt to a yellow belt and she was very excited about her progress. We celebrated the occasion with an ice cream cone from Rite Aid with Gramma and Papa!

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Dental Appointment

Last week Rachel saw her dentist for cleaning and a check up. Xrays showed a couple cavities in between her teeth as a result of not flossing. We also talked about the Xray and 'growing pains' we briefly saw her for in November. She recently had lunch with the orthodontist she had consulted with and with a print out of the Xray they had taken, they labeled all Rachel's teeth. Based on the Xray, and the teeth buds they already see forming, they are thinking that Rachel might have two extra teeth, including her one tooth we've labeled her funky tooth. Their thoughts are that perhaps these two teeth will just be removed when Rachel has her bone graft in a couple years. Interesting to say the least!

This afternoon, immediately following school, we headed back to the dentist to have those cavities taken care of. The dentist was going to try to see if could knock them out in one visit. But she ran into a bit of a problem...

One of the cavities was so close to the nerve of the tooth, that she had to do a root canal and put a crown on the tooth. They call the silver crown a "Princess Hat" for her tooth. After talking with our dentist, I learned that root canals and crowns on baby teeth are way more common than not, as the nerves in baby teeth are pretty big, and the enamel of their teeth is pretty thin. It's very common to have to do this on kids.

So, we didn't get all her dental work done in one visit. Our Dentist felt it was best to give Rachel a rest and come back in a couple of weeks. Rachel was already getting a little upset and she felt if she kept going, it would just make the situation worse.

By the time we stopped for Golden Spoon on the way home, she was good, no tears, nothing. Which is good. She has so much ahead of her when it comes to her mouth - more surgeries, braces, tons of orthodontic work, that we're hoping she never becomes terrified of the dentis.

Monday, February 01, 2010

Speech Woes

It's not new news when I say Rachel needs Speech Therapy.

It was recommended at last years Craniofacial Team Appointment to get it through the school system. But at that time, we were waiting to see if Rachel would be accepted at the Elementary School that Hannah attends. Once we received word that she was accepted, it was too late in the school year to try and obtain services through the school system. So we waited until the new school year.

On the first day of school (August 4th), I was ready with a letter to the Principal requesting a speech evaluation. It's taken a lot of poking and pushing, but in the last two weeks Rachel is FINALLY being evaluated by the school speech therapist and an IEP is being drafted as to the plan of approach as far as speech therapy is concerned.

However, this morning, I was hit with yet another road block.

Long story short - Rachel attends this school on an inter-district transfer from the school district in which we live in and are supposed to go to. If I continue to seek out help from the school in which she attends, there is the strong possibility that it will affect the decision in whether or not her transfer into the district is accepted next school year.

Sadly, it all boils down to money.

The money that the State gives to the school for attendance follows Rachel no matter what school she goes to. However, the monies for special educational services, such as Speech, does not follow her. And why would the district that we are currently attending fork out the money for special ed services for a child who doesn't really belong in their district anyways??

After being dealt this blow by the Speech Therapist, and having a spontaneous meeting with the principal, and getting more details from him. I decided I would try to obtain therapy through the therapist on the Craniofacial team, rather than jeopardize our placement at this Magnet School.

Thankfully, after contacting the therapist through the team, she has agreed to take on Rachel for therapy, and will see her once a week for an hour. The bummer part of it all is that we will now have to pay for the services, and our insurance doesn't cover any of it until we've met our deductible. But, you get what you pay for! :) And it's all part of the Lord's plan, and the Lord knew this would be better for Rachel.

But on the bright side, the very bright side, Rachel will be receiving one on one speech therapy for an hour every week. In the public school, she would be going to speech therapy in a group setting for half an hour. And like many have said, the caliber of therapy she'll receive through Loma Linda University is far more superior than she would have gotten through the public school system.

The process has been started to obtain authorization from our health insurance. And next week, at the scheduled IEP meeting, we will be formally denying services through the public school system.

It's just a detour on this journey. One of many more to come, I'm sure...