Public School?

After the last meeting with Learning RX, where we got to see her post-test and talk about her 24 weeks of cognitive brain training, we face a conundrum concerning our plans to put Caroline in public high school.  The head of Learning RX  highly recommended, actually implored us, not to put her in public high school because of her short-term memory issues.  She said that she would get eaten alive academically.  You see, the post-test revealed huge gains in most of the cognitive areas that she has been working on for the last six months at LRX, such as auditory processing, visual processing, processing speed, etc.  But her scores in short-term memory, long-term memory and working memory remained abysmally low, like in 1% percentile.  We were so disappointed to see this obvious learning disability persisting, but they felt that another 12 weeks of LRX training, focusing exclusively on these areas, could help.  That would be great, except that we probably can't afford to do this.  The director has a son with this same learning disability and she has taught both gifted and special needs kids and so she is speaking from experience.  She says Caroline wouldn't be able to keep up with the workload at a big public high school and deal with the social aspect as well.  So now we are unsure of our plans to put her in public school in Colorado.  The LRX director recommended homeschooling her another year, but I just don't know that this is the best thing for me.  When do my needs supersede my daughter's needs?  Do they have to be contradictory?  We would look around for a small private school, but we can't afford it at all.  So this is really a new problem.  Well, really an old one.  I hate that nothing is ever a great fit for her.  She really does best for other teachers, having the same routine every day, having a definite schedule that I don't seem to provide to the degree that she needs.  She is so excited about going to public high school that I am dreading having to tell her it may not be the best thing.  Or it might.  Sigh.  I can't think anymore about this until we get to Colorado next week.  Right now I have to organize and pack.  I think I am going to consult an educational consultant out there to help us navigate the options for Caroline and determine what is best.

On the bright side, the Learning RX training gave her a boost to her IQ, about 13 points, so that is good news.  She is still below average, and we hope that if we can continue therapy for the memory issues, which bring down her IQ score pretty significantly, that the score will rise.  She was gifted at age 5 and 7 when tested.  Very hard to see her scores now.  Again, whether this is medication related, or bipolar related, or something else, I am not sure we can know.

Last week we said good-bye to Caroline's amazing psychotherapist, her pediatrician since she was born,  and to her psychiatrist, who has known her since she was 7.  This week we say good-bye to another friend, our family therapist for the last 9 years.   I know I will shed some tears.  We have been very blessed to have some truly great providers for Caroline and our family here.  Now we have to start all over again.  Our house goes on the market on Monday.  We are praying it sells quickly for a great price.  Confident in God's plan and His providence.

In the Zone!

I am in the zone as far as getting ready to put our house on the market.  Now that school is done (sort of) I am filled with new energy to purge, pack and prepare to sell our house and move to Colorado.  Thank goodness that my feelings have changed.  Previously, I was lacking any energy to keep sustained attention to the huge task in front of us as long as I had all of these educational issues in front of me.  But now I feel single-minded, finally!  But now I am sick, bummer.  But we are painting, fixing, rearranging, and making many trips to Goodwill.  I am looking forward to living more simply, with far less clutter, hopefully, and with more purpose to what I am doing.  Caroline is a little bored right now but she can paint, so we keep handing her things to do.  Our house is already looking so much better and I will be sad to say good-bye to the beauty of a 70 year-old, classic Colonial, even if remodeling it killed us.  Someday I would love to have an old home again, with a giant wrap-around front porch and nine-foot ceilings and wainscoting, but for the next 10 years, at least, I just want something that has everything already done to it!  Parenting a bipolar child is enough work in and of itself!