She's Eligible

Well, what we didn't realize, going into the eligibility meeting for Arlington County special ed preschool yesterday, was that we don't actually find out whether she'll be recommended for the full-day (well, 5-hour) program until the IEP meeting. Yesterday's meeting was just to determine that she qualifies for services through Arlington County schools. Well, duh. I mean, the kid has Down syndrome. I think that alone should qualify her. They did choose a label for her. The two "labels" on the table were CD (cognitive delays, formerly known as MR) and DD (developmental delays). We were hoping for the DD, but were worried it wouldn't allow for her to be eligible for the full program. Well, they did choose DD (which means that she has significant delays in more than one area of her development), but at the end of the meeting everyone (including the special education person from Arlington County schools who headed the meeting) pretty much said they'd recommend the full program! It just won't be official until the IEP meeting on April 22nd. Incidentally, DD has to be removed by the time she's 9. Whether this means that she gets moved to another label, or if her services are removed, remains to be seen. She'll be re-evaluated every 3 years until then. I'd love her to not need services, but I imagine she'll need at least speech therapy through her life.

Samantha was sooooooo good, just sitting on the floor and playing while the meeting went on for an hour. It was a conference room full of people--The teacher, the occupational therapist, speech therapist, Arlington County Schools person, PIE services coordinator, social worker and psychologist. The only person not there was the physical therapist. Phil, the teacher, sat near Samantha and played with her during the meeting--she's quite taken with him, which is great!

On another note, Steve started his job with Arlington County Special Olympics the other night. He said there were 26 athletes that needed coaching for a track relay event. They ranged from mild to severe cognitive disabilities, but mostly moderate to severe. Apparently only some of them will qualify for the State trials in Richmond in June, and Steve has been chosen as one of the people to accompany them there. After that, they may have another job for him, but at this point it's just temporary. He really enjoyed it, and worked closely with some of the more severely disabled athletes. I love that he's doing this!

Local Celebrity

Samantha's photo is in the April issue of Parents Magazine! It's under the letters to the editor, in a section called "Caught on Camera". It's from a year ago, and is the same photo that's shown in the NDSS Times Square Buddy Walk video for 2007! Even though I've known it was coming up in April, it was such a thrill to open up this issue and see her there! I think we'll be buying several more copies of this.

Blog Links

Hi, Everyone (well, all three of you that read this!)!

I've added the blogs of some friends into the links section to the right--if one of you would rather that I didn't include your link there, please let me know, and I'll remove it!

Other than that notice, I just thought I'd mention that a)Sammi is loving her new walking skills and is practicing a lot! and b)Steve got a job with Arlington County to work with Special Olympic athletes a few days a month! This is very exciting, because it should open up some doors for him going forward. He'd been a coach for years and really wants to get back into that in some way, and Special Olympics is something we hope to see in Samantha's future as well.

No pics tonight. It's past my bedtime. :-)

New Strides!

Well, I don't have a photo to commemorate the event yet, but Samantha is now taking 6-8 independent steps, mostly between the couch and one of us. She'll take nice, measured steps to start with, then, as she gets closer to her target, she'll pitch herself into my arms, laughing. It's so wonderful! She'll mainly do it when prompted, but a couple of times she caught me off guard and I had to quickly drop what I was doing to catch her. She's been working on standing up without holding onto anything, too. She can do it sometimes, but not consistently yet.

On another note, Samantha's cardiologist has given her a clean bill of health, and doesn't have to see her again for another two years!! Steve said she was soooo good during her echocardiogram yesterday, and just lay back watching Tellytubbies while the doctor did the exam. That's my girl!

So, while I don't have walking photos yet, I'm going to add in this lovely pink photo of her at the playground last weekend. She absolutely loves the swings. Steve took her to the playground on Monday, and when he told her it was time to go, she got very upset, shaking her head "no" and reaching towards the swingset. Oh, she'll let us know what she does and doesn't want, that's for sure!

Saying I Love You

Saying I Love You
Originally uploaded by sammi's mom

My favorite of all of her signs.

Nothing else to say today, but just wanted to share the warm fuzzies.

A Work of Art

My cousin, Jenny, is an incredible artist. Not only for beautifully accurate depictions of the subjects, but for an incredible imagination that really makes you wonder and think. I love that she has chosen to paint Samantha, too. It's such a neat feeling to see that little face in a work of art. Check out some of Jenny's other paintings here: http://jennifermajeske.com/
Now on to preschool evaluations. Samantha had her first round last week at Claremont Elementary School with the teacher of the 2-3 year olds program and two physical therapists. As we had anticipated, Samantha just sat there and stared at the floor, trying as hard as possible not to acknowledge anybody in the room. She got very floppy, too. The PT kept trying to get her up to do things, but she was like a little sack of sand. It's funny--as much as we want to get her into the 5-hour-per-day program, and need them to see how much she needs it (the fear is that if she does too well they won't accept her for the full 5 hours, and just have her there for 1 hour for speech and PT in a group, which would be pointless) we felt this overwhelming need for them to see who our daughter really is, and to see her shine for them. So after a lot of encouragement, she finally decided that playing with new toys was much more interesting than doing her very best imitation of a footstool. She was up and playing and chit-chatting away! The teacher asked lots of questions, and both he and the PTs scribbled lots of notes. Next, we have a few more evaluations, then they'll inform us of their decisions.
Someone from the Child Neurology Foundation contacted me after seeing Samantha's photos on Flickr, and wants to use a photo or two of her for their website! The woman said that the website, as it exists now, is a bit depressing and lifeless, and that she wants to update it with more joyful photos! Samantha is definitely joyful!

Getting Ready for School!

Important Reading!
Originally uploaded by sammi's mom

I can't believe it, but school is just around the corner for Samantha! The time has absolutely flown the last 20 months. She'll be starting in Arlington County's 2-year old program in September. We still don't know if she'll be in the full five-hour-day program, but everyone assures us she will. Her first evaluation is next Tuesday, at her new school, with her new teacher! I'm taking a half-day at work so I can attend--I certainly can't miss this! I'll also take the opportunity to vote in Virginia's primaries that afternoon.
Samantha's still doing her sponge impression--she learned 5 or 6 signs in a day last week. Steve's been an amazing teacher. He basically went through this entire little book of signs (not the one she's holding in the photo) for children that Matthew gave Samantha for her birthday last year, and for every picture on every page, she either can say the word or she can sign it. She now signs, "book", "doggie" (which she has been able to do for about 8 months now, but she's now doing the ASL version of it), "hat", "bird", "telephone" and "food". She gets so excited every time she signs, and claps, I guess because we always get excited and clap! She also pats her chest when you ask if something is for her, or if it's her turn, and she can identify her head, hair, nose, ear, eye, mouth, foot and hand when you ask her. One of her toys plays the song, "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes", and she gets great pleasure in playing it over and over again, laughing hysterically as I bust my backside doing the motions from a standing position. I can't even touch my toes without bending my knees. She says, "more" when it's over and makes me do it again. Talk about an aerobic workout!! I sooo don't have it in me anymore.
About 6 years ago, when I was managing the Oilily store in Tysons Galleria, one of my part time employees, Dani, was also a special education pre-school teacher by profession. She was always so amazing with the kids and the parents who came in to shop, and I used to ask her about her job teaching. She left because she got very sick with leukemia, and I only ever heard anything about her through occasional e-mails sent out by her family. The last I had heard, she was in remission. After Samantha was born, I thought about her often, wondering if she was still teaching. Well, last week, we attended one of the school transition meetings we've been going to, and it was held in the classroom of one of the local schools with the pre-school program, and Dani was there as one of the teacher-presenters! I was so happy to see her and to see that she's still teaching, and thrilled that she got to meet Samantha. She teaches the 3-5 year old class at a school that's nowhere near where we live, unfortunately.
It's a small world.