It Is Done...

I wrote recently about Sammi's IQ testing drama for her re-evaluation meeting (here).  After so much thought and deliberation about whether to even test in the first place, after finally deciding that we would go ahead with it, the little monkey flat. out. refused. to cooperate even the tiniest bit with the psychologist who was doing the testing.  We suspected that it may have to do with the tester herself, not the actual test.  You see, Sammi is a little stinker sometimes in who she'll respond to, what kind of personality they have, what they look like, and if they've ever done anything super-egregious, like omg, scratching their nose when she's looking to the left or clearing their throat as she's picking up her pencil, hell, I don't know.  It could be anything.  My kid's funny that way, and triggers are triggers, no matter how vague or seemingly ridiculous. 

So at our eligibility meeting just before the Christmas break, it was decided that because none of the eligibility categories even came close to fitting Sammi (OHI, Hearing Impaired, Speech on its own, etc.) besides ID, there was nothing we could do other than to attempt to re-test in January with a different psychologist. 

And yesterday that's just what they did.

And Samantha didn't hesitate to respond to her.  Apparently it went very well, and she answered everything without any resistance.  Now we wait for a couple more weeks until our next meeting and see what happens. 

Best case scenario is that she tested well, but not too well to allow the ID category.  We argue the category title, and they give her the Child With a Disability label, a convenient and happier name that prevents any preconceived notions, forces anyone in her future educational life to look deeper into her file, look beyond the easy-to-judge Intellectual Disability, see who she really is and what she's capable of.

Worst case scenario has already been averted, and that would be that she refused testing and we had absolutely no idea how to proceed from here. 

So we hold our collective breaths and wait.

Sammi with her favorite horse dog on the planet, who came to visit us last weekend.