Updates of a Completely Unrelated Nature

The last few weeks have been crazy with a Capital K.

Update #1: New House

We moved! We bought a house! We own a single-family home in suburbia! And yes, we still own the townhouse, a situation that fills me both with dread and freak-out-ed-ness. The decision was made to rent out the townhouse for a few years until (hopefully) the market improves (or we save enough money) to sell it. But we shall see… who knows what the next years shall bring us!?

In the meantime, I have decided to be in love with our new house. And I am totally in love. The view is lovely (lots of green and trees) and the space is perfect. We are sllllooowwly settling in. Jonathan loves it too… big back yard and lots of room to run. He drags me to the door constantly to go outside.

Update # 2: More and Go

We officially have TWO signs now: More and Go. ‘More’ has turned into the sign Jonathan uses for everything he wants. EVERYTHING. Which I had been warned about… that kiddos will default to the “more” sign when they want things. But that is ok. Intentional communication, even if it is simple, is better than nothing at all.

“Go” started and picked up speed almost immediately! Generally, it is preceded by my prompt of “Ready-Set-…” , but not always! Occasionally he will give the sign “Go” when mom is just too darn slow for his taste. The other day at the park Jonathan pushed me towards the swings and wanted me to sit on one. I did, and he signed “GO”. So I started swinging and he laughed and laughed.

HOORAY!

Update #3: The Response to the Letter

Because many of you have emailed me wanting an update to our Speech/OT Clinics response to The Letter, I thought I would pass it on.

Essentially, we never heard from them.

So, last week… my ‘pair’ being shy…. I sic-ed Dan on them. Dan called the clinic and spoke with M. He asked her if she received the email and wanted to talk to her about it. He told me later he got the distinct impression she was reading it as they were speaking. Anyway, the sum total of the discussion was that their position was that too many families were canceling and they needed to implement a tough policy. She stated that this policy was for more ‘problem’ families, but they needed a blanket policy to address it. Dan explained our position AGAIN, but she wouldn’t budge. So basically Dan told her that was fine, but as soon as this policy gets to be a problem for us we will start shopping for new services elsewhere.

Suddenly she budged. A little. Not wanting to lose business, I am sure, she asked us to please please talk to her if it became a problem and something could be worked out. Ahh-haaa…

I feel for the families who don’t know they can challenge policies like this. I feel like, in any other business, if there is a policy that in unreasonable the customer can easily say ‘Screw you” and go elsewhere. But when you are dealing with children (special needs or not), the game changes. And when it comes to therapy… which I believe the relationship between child and therapist is very important… you just don’t want to uproot the child. So I think parents are inclined to suck it up and not make waves. I say… MAKE WAVES!!! I don’t want to take him out of therapy, but I will challenge this policy.

Pia

Embracing Suburbia

We are house hunting.

We've owned a townhome for about 5 years. We (of course) bought it when the market was 'red hot'. That means we paid WAY to much for it! Of course... my luck. Anyway, given the current and no doubt long term downswing in the market, we figured we were pretty stuck here for a while. So we weren't even looking at getting a new home... even tho this one feels a bit on the tight side... for a long long long long time.

But we caught the bug.

It started out innocently enough. My dad sent us a link to a news story about a real estate agent who does "house swapping". My hubby called her and she came and chatted with us. She suggested that we consider renting this one out (since the rental market is "red hot".. HA HA) and look into a second home. OK... THIS IS RISKY FOR ME. But, we caught the bug. We looked. Bad idea. Cheap foreclosure houses at rock bottom prices and great quality. It is like a rash that you can't get rid of.

Itch itch itch.

So the hunt has started.

In pursuit, I spent the greater part of the last 2 weeks looking at houses online. Now, here is the rub. I reeeaaalllly want an older, cooler, more hip house in the city. You know, the ones with the great 'bones' and the cool coffeehouse at the end of the block. The progressive hippie-wanna-be neighbors and ultra-hip cool parents wandering the streets. THAT neighborhood.

But therein lies the rub. Because those ultra-hip-cool neighborhoods are also in the city with marginal schools. And the 'good' schools are in neighborhoods well outside our price range. And with our boy... and who knows WHAT needs he might have come kindergarten.... we have to go where good schools meet bargain basement prices.

We must live in SUBURBIA.

We have lived there for a while, to be sure. But that is not my dream. Strip malls and soccer moms and commuting and minivans. Sooooo not my dream. My hubby loves it.... big yard, big basement for his big TV, big 3 car garage for all his 'man-stuff'. His dream of dreams. Not mine.

But life is full of compromises and this is one I guess I am making.

However, if I am going to compromise for my family, then I want to make sure that what we get (especially for Jonathan) is perfect. And that means excellent schools. But how does one find out what are the good schools, especially for special needs kids?

Well, it isn't easy.

I called the Department of Education for the State of Minnesota. Yes, I did. I spoke to a woman in the Special Education division and basically asked her... given we can move anywhere... where the best schools are for a special needs boy (specifically speech delayed)? Here is a summary of her answer:

" All of our schools need to be in full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and IDEA. If your son has it written in his IEP, then it needs to happen. If it doesn't, or you can't get what you think he needs, then you can call us for advocacy and mediation".

Sure. Thanks for the PC answer. Don't get me wrong, I am sure she HAD to say all that. But the problem is that I CAN be a good advocate and WILL call them if we can't get what he needs. THAT is not what I am asking. The truth is... if there is a school or a district that already has their shit together, then why should I choose to go to one that doesn't? Like I need MORE battles?! I understand that all the schools are suppose to comply. But there is a distinct difference between the ideal world and the real world. The truth is some districts have more money or better people and programs. Other districts place their focus elsewhere. THAT is the real world.

Oh well, the hunt will continue.

Pia