Tick tock tick tock

It felt so great to call our developmental pediatrician last week and CANCEL our next visit. Without a reschedule. If you recall from a few months ago I have been pretty peeved with the treatment we get from her & her front office staff. I love, love, love her physician's assistant, but can no longer stay with her just because of him. So I finally began listening to my gut and following my promise to be a better advocate for Dylan. My first step was to cancel our appointment and get a new dev pediatrician. I had a very long discussion with our primary pediatrician and he was super supportive of this decision and going to begin the process for a new referral. I even supplied him with a list of 7 or 8 doctors and therapists who have been referred to me by friends. Apparently most of my list wasn't really appropriate for Dylan's needs. And the one who was - and was very highly recommended - has a 1 1/2 to 2 year wait. Seriously? How can a doctor have a waiting list that long? Can any parent even consider waiting that long to have their child seen? I'd go absolutely insane. Honestly ... you'd need to get your child on the list before you even conceived just at the chance there might be a need.

So ... now I question if I did the right thing by canceling our appt with our other dev pediatrician. It sure felt good at the time, but did I do it at the detriment of Dylan? It seems like we should still be seeing her while waiting for a new referral, but she's just pushed me so far that I don't know if I can even stomach a visit with her. What to do? Any advice?

This parenting thing is so freaking hard. You never know if you're doing the right thing. And when you think you are - and it feels good - it seems to bite you in the hiney!

My head is spinning ...

I've calmed down a bit since my posts last week. Thankfully. I think I was a little stressed out and amped up last week so that made everything feel even crazier. Anyway, I'll do my best to get right to the point - but as you all know, and Bryan will tell you, getting straight to the point and stripping out all the little details isn't my strong suit!

So, we've decided to completely change our plans for Dylan's school next year. We were planning private preschool followed by pre-K then kindergarten. That plan would put him at 6-7 years old for kindergarten. We had that plan for a host of reasons, but primarily to give him more time to develop his speech. However, things didn't feel completely right to me ... and at the urging of our trusted & loved speech therapist, Amanda, we talked to Leaps & Bounds about alternatives. [Leaps & Bounds is the special education preschool Dylan attended last year & the ones who manage his IEP.] They agreed with Amanda that Dylan should enter the public pre-school program next year. So here's our new plan - as of today:

• Dylan will attend the public preschool in Brunswick


• He will be enrolled in a co-teaching class where he will have a regular pre-K teacher and a special ed pre-K teacher


• D will receive speech services AT school


• He will have access to additional special education services for his more general delays (if you recall he was categorized as significantly developmentally delayed last year when he was evaluated by Leaps & Bounds)

I feel good about this. It's different than I'd planned and will require me taking him to Brunswick daily - which is a drag - but it's for the best so that's what we do. They do have pre-K classes offered at the elementary schools here on the island, but a) they are filled early through a lottery of island residents and b) they do not have all the special ed & co-teaching services offered by the campus in Brunswick.

ALSO ... I had a conversation with Nancy Kaufman yesterday. She's THE speech apraxia guru who runs the clinic in Michigan. She thinks Dylan sounds like an ideal candidate for 2 of her programs this summer. I will be sending her a DVD of Dylan's speech sessions this week for review (assuming I can get it the final edit done). The two programs she's considering are:

• An 8-week program, Words & Wiggles, which will require us relocating to Michigan for the summer. The thought seems daunting and I have no clue how I'll pull it off, but we're strongly considering it. The program seems like it was designed specifically for Dylan!


• A 3-week program, SPEAK, will seems perfect for Dylan as well, but is all full this summer.

So ... once they evaluate the DVD we'll make a decision about how to proceed. Possibly one of these programs for this summer, or next summer, or work with them to develop a personalized, intensive family program for us this summer.

LOTS going on. My mind has been racing. I have been sick for the last 3 or 4 days so I'm not thinking clearly. Bryan is traveling. Not a good combo!

Beyond that we're doing OK. Implemented a new behavior management chart and am very hopeful that this will help minimize some of the tantrums we're having. I think Dylan feels bad for me since I've been so sick so he's been SO sweet the last few days. Letting me correct his words and even trying to repeat the corrected way. I'll take it ... even if it is just for sympathy :)