ARD & Pediatric Neurologist

Today was the ARD and pediatric neurologist appointment, and Hubby took an unplanned day off to come to both. How wonderful it was to be there, knowing I didn't have to retell the whole thing to him later, and also to know that I wasn't responsible for remembering any of the questions he may have had for any one of the people we met with.

So the ARD was the pre-evaluation ARD, in anticipation of the 3rd anniversary of Big Girl's initial evaluation, and therefore qualification for special ed. We basically talked about what tests they plan to give her to see what services she qualifies for. We won't be having an austism eval or a speech eval, since everyone agrees without testing that she still qualifies for those things. They want to give her an IQ test since she didn't have one before (she was only 3 after all!), and a couple other things. No big deal. Still glad Hubby came. That took quite a lot of pressure off of me, whether he realizes it or not.

The neurologist appointment went well. It was really pretty funny. When the doctor came in, he asked Big Girl a question, and then she was off and running, telling him about ladybugs and butterflies, and all kinds of semi-nonsensical stuff that just happened to pop into her head. He listened patiently. As I sat there, trying to keep myself from laughing at the funny stuff she was saying, I was thinking about how much money this man's time is worth, how many years of school he attended to become a pediatric neurologist, and now he spends 10-15 minutes listening to the imaginings of a 6 year old. How much $ was that worth? Anyway, this was the first time he has suggested Big Girl needs ocupational therapy. He wrote her a prescription for it. *Sigh* I know it will help her, and I will not deny my girl what will help her. But I'm really not happy about this. This will make life much more complicated on a regular basis. I'm jumping the gun a little bit, in that she hasn't be evalutated by an OT yet, but if she does end up needing it, the way the doctor thinks she does, then it means weekly trips to OT, figuring out what to do with Little Girl during that time, if they need me to stay, and having to kill 30 minutes-an hour with Little Girl while Big Girl is in therapy. Besides that, how much will it cost, and what will insurance cover? I was really hoping to get through her childhood without all that expense. Not because I want to deny her, but because I hoped she wouldn't need it. Well, now she does, maybe. *Sigh*

Tomorrow is the dentist for me again. Grrr... I don't want to think about that now.

I have had the Elgar in my head all day, and today I looked up Psalm 48, which is basically the text for that piece, and it has been a very nice way to meditate on the greatness of my God. So that's the song in my head today.