The last of April of 1999, I ended up taking her out of school and finishing the school year homeschooling her, especially after one of the teachers accused her of deliberately writting poorly, and missing assignments, being distracted, and zoning out, to cause trouble between the teachers and her parents. The teacher actually had the nerve to tell my husband that to his face, in front of my daughter.(my husband has tremendous self control, I think I would have had to get physical with the jerk.*G*)

I have spent the summer months trying to get her evaluated, and any other help she needs. The independant diagnosis supported the school's diagnosis of ADHD and Dysgraphia. It also included a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. This came as a major shock to me. I had never thought it possible that she could have any type of Autism. Granted it is very high functioning, but it does make sense, and fits to many of the problems the teachers were complaining about last year. Hopefully this will help. I hope.

August 09,1999.

Well, I contacted the lady from the school district today. I left a message on her answering machine, and left her an e-mail. Haven't heard anything yet. I hope we can get together soon. I was going to call her last week, but my step dad had to have major surgery done. Fortunately he is pulling through, and is supposed to have been released today. Waiting to talk to Mom about that now. There is never enough hours in the day. I want to homeschool Amy, but she just doesn't want to cooperate, with me, or probably with the school. I think I waited too late to get her the help she needs. If I had only known what to do sooner, or thought. Why did I listen to the teachers and the counselors at the schools instead of going on what I knew of my daughter?.

August 11, 1999

You know, the school isn't the only ones a person must battle to get help for our kids. The insurance company can sure put up a big fight too.

I have spent 4 hours this morning trying to find out if the insurance company was planning on paying for having the evaluations done for Amy in May. Our insurance divides itself into two parts, one for medical diagnosis and one for psychiatric diagnosis. When they diagnosed Amy as having Asperger Syndrome (as well as agreeing that Amy had ADHD and Dysgraphia) , the medical diagnostic branch considered Aspergers a behavioral disorder, and wouldn't pay the bill. Then the psychiatric diagnostic branch considered Aspergers a Developemental disorder, and wouln't pay the bill.

So after several hours it was agreed that Aspergers is a Developemental disorder, and that the medical branch would be paying the bill. They said that the appointments I have with the doctor who did the evaluations would be classified as behavioral treatments, so it would be classified as a psychiatric branch charge, so we would have to go through them, but the psychiatric branch told me just the opposite. I have such a headache. I still haven't been able to contact the special ed coordinator for Amy's school yet. I may have to go to the school and get that taken care of another way. Why does something so simple as trying to get help for my children have to be so very hard?

August 19, 1999

Well, Met with the Special Education Coordinator and her boss today. The meeting seemed to go really well. They took a copy of the diagnostic testing that I had done this summer, and were very supportive and seemed to understand what I was talking about.

I did mention that I don't want Amy going back into such a damaging situation again. I also mentioned that if need be, I will teach her the core subjects, and then have her go to school in the afternoon there for the "exploratory" classes. I also let them know that Amy wants to come back, I want her to, that I know I can't give her the variety that they can, if they will.

The meeting ended with the Coordinator to place a call to the school counselor Amy had last year. With him, they will try to hand pick Amy's teachers, and then she will contact me and we will reinroll Amy back into the school. Then, the Coordinator will meet with the teachers and explain Amy's unique group of conditions, and find some way to make accomidations before the IEP meeting within a week or two after school starts.

If nothing else, I can always take Amy out of school again.

September 1, 1999

First day of school. Amy said she had a good day at school. She had only a little coloring in something for homework, which took all of 15 minutes. According to the old IEP, Amy is supposed to have daily reports, she didn't have one today. I want to be optomistic, but it's so hard.

September 19, 1999

Well, so far the teachers seem to be understanding, about the handwriting. They are still taking down her grades for turning things in late. I did contact the Special Ed teacher and told her I want to have an IEP meeting sometime in the next few weeks. Only real problem I am not sure how to handle is that Amy has started recieving prank phone calls again. They had started that up just before I took her out of school last year. Yesterday she had the first one this year. I plan to bring it up during the IEP as well. With people the way they are, I want to make sure Amy is as protected as possible.

At least the psychologist we have been seeing to help understand and work out some of the difficulties Amy has, because of the Aspergers, has been giving me great ideas to present at Amy's IEP. She gave me a list of things that are common with kids with this disorder, so I used it and adapted the list for Amy's own "spin" on HER difficulties. I am going to try to see if they will get her a keyboard. (that reminds me I need to update the links page for kids with difficulties*G*)There is so much to learn, and there is alot of good information out there.

At least the insurance company has assured me again that they will be paying the bill for the meetings with the psychologist, as long as it is for the treatment of Asperger Syndrome. I am still getting bills from the hospital, saying it isn't paid, but they aren't being demanding for payment. That helps.

September 23, 1999

Well, heard from Amy's special ed teacher. She mentioned that Amy had had a couple of difficulties the day before, but that a gentle touch on the shoulder and a question answered brought Amy back around and things went just fine. She had taken a copy of the list I gave her to the other teachers. Each had recognized things on the list, and seem to understand that her behavior isn't intentional.

All and all it seems to be doing good. I will know more when we are able to get the IEP meeting. It will probably be some time next week. There is an Open House tonight at school, I will be going and meeting the teachers tonight. It should prove to be interesting. *smile*

September 28, 1999

The Open house went wonderfully. The teachers seem to be understanding of my scribing for Amy, and they seem to be more devoted to teaching, any way that works for the kids than the teachers last year.

September 29,1999

We had our first IEP meeting with this year's teachers. They all were very understanding. There is still some concern as to her difficulties staying on focus, and these kinds of things, but all and all, it was a very good meeting. I mentioned that Amy has been harrassed by a couple of kids, and they seemed to realize why we were concerned.

One thing that did seem to help was that I had typed up behaviors common in children with Asperger's, then I pulled out the ones that were specific to Amy. The French teacher had asked if there was any way she could adapt her teaching to help Amy more, and to be honest, I don't see how it could be changed. The book they are using is pretty good. It helps to go through the books they bring home, and see how it explains things, to see if there is any ways to help. So far there isn't any problems at all, on the teachers' parts. They have been very good.

November 16, 1999

Well, it's been a while, but so far things are still going good for Amy. Just normal problems, like Amy forgetting when projects are due, forgetting to turn in assignments, determining to do things HER way instead of the way it is supposed to be done. Nothing that any parent wouldn't be facing. Her grades are B's and C's, well earned all. The teachers seem to be quite fair, and patient. I feel like a big burden has been lifted. I can only pray it will continue.

December 26, 1999

I got a note from Amy's Math teacher that she is failing math at mid term, again. She knows how to do it, she just doesn't seem to be able to apply what she knows sometimes. Anyway, we had another IEP meeting last week, and when school starts back in January, she will be in a special ed math class. It will have fewer students, and best of all, Amy seems to be able to get along well with the teacher and ask her for any number of things. I think it will work out for the best, or at least I hope.

Feburary 2, 2000

Well, Amy has been transfered to the special ed math class. And to quote the teacher, Amy is still basically up to date with her peers, so it's not a matter of not being able to do the stuff. Her special ed teacher is so good with her, that I think she could get the most complex concepts through to Amy, and Amy be able to remember it. Her teachers are so good and understanding. Now the big problem is other students. Kids are calling up making crank calls, making fun of her at school, and just being cruel. I don't know how to change this, but at least I can be assured that the teachers aren't doing it, not like last year.

I still can't seem to get the insurance to pay for the testing to be done. When I talk to the people, they keep saying, that, yes, it is their responsibility, but they never seem to get the job done. I refuse to pay it. I did everything I was supposed to do. I have gone over and above what I should have had to do, calling up every person involved for Months on end, trying to do everything they have asked me to do, and still not getting anywhere, after 8 months. Well, at least Amy is finally more like her "normal" self now. I just hope I can get some relief from the students tormenting her.

November 12, 2001

Just thought I would update this, after leaving it empty for so long. Amy is doing well, NOW! She still had so many problems at school, and students, though she does have several friends that have kept in touch with her.

We eventually had to get the police involved with the crank phone calls when they turned to a sexually asaultive nature. I will NOT tolerate anyone even threatening to hurt my daughter like that.

AS far as the students at school, I had Amy handle that through the school, and went with her as she went to the vice principal and the councelor at school and that did get things straightened out basically.

Accedemically, Amy is not going to public school this year. I did not want to start all over from scratch with the High school, like I had to do with the middle school. I am homeschooling her,Going through a school in Pennsylvania, so she could still earn a diploma, even as I am doing the teaching.

We are struggling to pay for the educational information. The school supplies 12 PACES per subject, with the tuition. The only thing is, Amy is going through all that information like a sponge. Alot of this stuff is new to her. She was at least a grade behind in English, and somewhat behind in Math. So, we have had to go through and teach her some things that the school hasn't been.