Ava Update!

Okay, people keep asking so here it is;)!  FINALLY an update on Ava.  But bear with me because I've been such a bad blogger that I don't remember what I've shared and what I haven't, so I may repeat some things:)!

Last school year, we attempted to send Ava to Kindergarten...she had to be on the bus at 6:30 am, school started at 7:30...red flag number one.

She had a wonderful teacher who POURED into her, and she worked with a speech therapist(who I think was 12;)), but she didn't qualify for occupational therapy, and they refused to do an IEP for her.  I spoke with the school psychologist at the first PT conference. and even after I explained that she was FAILING in every area in progress reports...he blew me off.:( 

All of her initial language assessments put her at about 3.5 year old level, and she failed the auditory listening test.....hm.  AND she was still held to the same grading "scale" and expectations as the other children...meaning she would basically fail...

She was so exhausted I would have to make her take a nap after school, then put her to bed at 7:30...then she began having accidents in the middle of the night...sigh.  She was in trouble daily for talking and not listening.  She couldn't remember how to find her room at school when she went to the bathroom(supposedly....knowing Ava, she was probably trying to find someone to chat with,LOL!:))  She cried all the time at school to get the teacher's attention(which didn't work..), she wanted to be carried everywhere by the teacher(that didn't work either;)...), she PRETENDED not to know how to do things to get attention...

So...in December we took her out and I homeschooled her the rest of the year.  I went back to the basics and used All About Reading to teach letters and three-letter words(VERY few at a time).  I used Abeka's K Math with her, but she only made it halfway through the book before it just became too much...and we just had to review and practice what she already knew the rest of the year. 

She's 6 years old now and has been home 3 years, and I KNOW she has an auditory problem...following simple 3 step directions are almost impossible for her.  She also can't put her thoughts into words well....so she'll start to say something and when she can't come up with a way to say it...she changes what she was going to say originally...making up  something, etc....

I'm beyond exhausted trying to help her.  I've contacted our local center for disabilities, and they just referred me to Nationwide Children's Hosptial in Columbus, OH, so I'm checking into that...sigh

I wrestle DAILY with whether or not I should continue to homeschool or try another local public school, so she can REPEAT Kindergarten there and hopefully get better support than the last school, plus(MUCH smaller school...my son is going to high school there...), they only do half-day Kindergarten...so I know she could handle that...she just needs help.  I feel like I've gone as far with her as I can without some outside help to meet those challenges she has...whatever they are...could someone PLEASE tell me what they are!!!  If you have any advice that would be appreciated.:)

OTHERWISE, she HAS put on weight finally...I started giving her half-n-half in her whole milk each day, feeding her whole fat yogurt, and lots of sour cream...she finally put on 4 pounds in about 3 months! YAY!

She's a super-sweet little girl who loves playing with her brothers and sisters, but even they become frustrated because she can't seem to carry on a conversation that makes sense, and she acts like a 3-4 year old most of the time...

It's just been a REALLY long 3 years trying to figure Ava out...and we still haven't...  Please continue to pray for us as we seek out some help...somewhere...anywhere to help us advocate for and educate Ava and help her to grow to her greatest potential.......sigh