Melissa H.

This is not the same Melissa I have written about before.  THIS Melissa has been no less important over the years.  She is in charge of our district's transportation.  She has made sure that Sam gets from point A to point B safely.  She has kept me abreast of Sam's whereabouts when an unexpected snowstorm caused him to be 90 minutes late getting home (with a big smile on his face.)   This whole "Sam care" after school business has been a bit of a nightmare.  I have changed people 4 times in the last month.  Through it all, Melissa has made sure that Sam gets where he should be going, with the correct support and a safe spot for drop off and pick up.  Today, she said she might even have the name of someone I cam hire to get Sam off the bus.

Melissa, thanks for your help and patience during this crazy, crazy transition!

Lisa

Lisa has helped fill in my gaps in Sam care while I tried to find more permanent arrangements.

Max

Yesterday, Max cleaned the bathrooms, did the dishes multiple times, vacuumed, and mowed the lawn.  Today, he did the laundry.  Is it any wonder I want to say thank you to him?

Mom

When I was in my early to mid twenties, I was married and living in my first home.  There was a couple across the street who had kids about my age.  One of them still lived at home.  He didn't pay rent.  His girlfriend spent the night all the time.  I told my (then) husband that our kids would never be allowed to do that.  He looked at me as if I were crazy and asked "Why not?"  I said that if they could have that kind of adult freedom with no adult responsibilities at home,  what incentive would they have to ever grow up and move out?

In my house, 18 does not mean you are an adult.  Being ready to take responsibility and achieve independence means your an adult.  Sometimes, that can only be accomplished through "tough love."  I have recently made some parenting decisions that my intellect recognizes as solid choices, but are almost too much for my mother's heart to bare.

Today, in a moment of weakness, I called my mom to talk through one of my choices.  Could I really stick with the plan.  Should I?  Thank God my mother has the ability to put being grandma aside and speak with the wisdom of a seasoned mother of four.  Her support allowed me to move on so I could do what needed to be done for my kids.

Mom, thank you for the moral support this morning.  Deep down I know it's the right thing, but I don't know if I could have done it without your reassurance.

Michelle O

Tonight was conference night.  It is always very stressful and, quite frankly scary, when a child starts a new school.  Not for the kid, for the parent!  Sam went off to high school and I came up with every possible complication and worry that could possibly happen before school even started.  I will say, it has gone relatively smoothly.  The linchpin of this entire transition was his behavior plan.

One day, Sam was allowed to take a walk when he was having a hard time which is not what the behavior plan says.  I have to say, I panicked!  It just so happened that as we were at the grocery store that night, I ran into that very teacher.  She sought out Sam, said hello to him.  Introduced herself to me.  She was really just a delight.  Then we discussed Sam a little and talked about the plan.  My initial concern was that the plan was ignored.  It wasn't.  This teacher just really liked him and wanted to do something helpful.  We had a "tough love" talk.  Then next day, much to Sam's chagrin, the behavior plan was firmly in place.  It was obvious that she had taken the time to listen to me because she also helped him by going over his schedule again and again which reduces his over all anxiety.

It was obvious from the conference tonight that she truly enjoys Sam.  Not in a pat him on the head "oh you poor disabled child" kind of way.  She enjoyed him as a student and a person who, gosh, just happens to have autism.  She also encouraged me to help Sam attend the homecoming dance if that is what he chooses to do.  Knowing Sam....he just might!

Mrs. O, it was really nice to talk to you at conferences.  I look forward to Sam's time with you.  I'm sure you will stretch him in many ways.  Thank you for taking the time to listen to me and really understand Sam's needs. 

Carole W

Max is taking a cooking class at school.  So far they have made chocolate chip cookies and macaroni & cheese.  He offered to make mac & cheese for dinner one night.  Tonight was the night.  It may have been the very best mac & cheese I have ever had in my life.  He also grilled hamburgers.  This has been a particularly busy week professionally and personally.  Not having to make dinner tonight was a welcome surprise.

Mrs. Wood, thank you for teaching Max how to make a delicious dinner so I could have a night off!'

Mark

A good nephew treats his aunts rambling evening texts as if they are the most important thing in the entire world and answers immediately.

Mark, thank you for being a good nephew. At least I have one!

Peggy

Think about this....

Kindergarteners through 6th graders can go to their school buildings after school childcare program.  If the district doesn't have one, the district will bus them to a local Youthland or Goddard.  By the time that kiddo is on 7th grade, they can ride the bus home, et the self in the house, make a snack, and start homework.  Except some kids can't.  Sam is one of those kids.  Unlike some families who can afford a full time nanny for after school care, that luxury is not in my budget.  It is VERY challenging to find somebody to hang out with Sam for 2 hours between when he gets home and I get home.  Peggy from Babysitease to the rescue!

Peggy, thanks for helping find somebody to help with Sam.

Julietta

Well, first....look back at the posts and find the one about Chris P.  I told you many wonderful things she did for us.  One thing I did NOT mention was that when she changed positions, she hand picked an equally wonderful person to take her place.  Yep!  It was Julietta.

Unfortunately, Julietta is so good at what she does, she was promoted so she could supervise and guide others.  I know that for the greater good of the disability community it was a necessary change....but I miss her!  Especially now that I all I can think about is transition, transition, transition.  I emailed her to tell her how spoiled I was by her knowledge and efficiency.  She emailed me back and said to let her know if there is anything she can do to assist us.  I know her caseload and responsibilities are 80 hours of work crammed into a 40 hour week.  How great is she to take the time to offer to help?  Really great!

Julietta, thank you for the offer to check up on things.  I'm sure I will be c
Asking to pick your brain!

Janet B

This is a dangerous post.  Janet is a retired teacher who will be disappointed in my lack of proof reading.  Especially since I'm a speach langwaje putholojist.  (Oh, she just cringed.)

Aside from having a long and illustrious career working with students who were not always cooperative or motivated, Janet is also one of my many cousins.  Last weekend, we were chatting at a family gathering.  I was sharing my long term plan for one of my kids, which goes against everything parents in my high achieving, high strung district believe.  I include myself in that group.  Well, the high strung group.  Nobody has ever accused me of being high achieving.

After viewing a report from school, I have to say, I'm very tempted to scrap the plan and start a rescue mission.  If it weren't for Janet telling me last week that she thought it was a good plan, I would have already cried uncle.  Janet, thanks for supporting my parenting choice.  It's really hard to stick to at the moment, so your words of encouragement mean a lot.

Kelly

Sometimes, it's nice to have somebody who can be your back up information person.  Thanks Kelly.

Jill C.

On Monday, I had 2 SLP friends over to get advice on therapy ideas.  Not only did I get great ideas, I also got peanut butter pie!

Jill, thanks for the pie.  The kids and I have enjoyed it all week.

Josey

And the speechiness just won't end.

Josey helped me cut apart some story sequencing cards I laminated for tomorrow.  Made my evening much easier.

Thanks to Josey.

Jill Kuzma

Yes....this is ANOTHER speech language pathology specific thank you.  Sadly, that will not change the fact that I am not proofreading it for mistakes.  Really, people.  I have less than 14 minutes to write this, finish packing lunches and fall asleep.  Sorry.  Sleeping over proofreading during allergy season.

This also has the potential to be creepy for the recipient.  I know, those of you who have received a thank you and texted, emailed, called, or unexpectedly hugged me in public find that odd.  But let me assure you, for some people there is something just a wee bit creepy about a handwritten note appearing in the mail.  That's what the girl from Things Remembered said a few weeks ago.  Right after she thanked me, she said she was a little taken back at first.  Jill does not know me.  I don't have her actual address, which means I had to send it to the school district where she works which is....ever so slightly stalkerish.  But we are all going to put that icky feeling aside and focus on what really matters.....GOOD LANGUAGE THERAPY MATERIALS FOR FREE!!!!

Last year, Sam's school based speech therapist, whom I LOVE, emailed me and suggested I attend a presentation given in a nearby county.  Jill was the presenter.  If you serve students who have pragmatic language issues, I'm sure you already know her.  If you don't know what pragmatic language is, it is social language.  Like when you ask a male, "Does this make my butt look big?" and he makes the mistake of saying "Why, yes it does!" and is utterly confused by the nonverbal cue of you winging the nearest object at his head.  That really is a good example.  After all, Max did tell a girl once that she had a butt like a lead anchor and was then confused why she punched him.  Sometimes, a boy needs a social autopsy.

Here is what I really appreciated about Jill's presentation....she actually gave us strategies and therapy ideas that we could use with students.  You would be surprised how many times you spend several hours shaking your head in agreement with research or theory only to leave thinking, "But what do I do with my student?"  Not after Kuzma presentation.  You will have solid ideas from goals to treatment.  Jill also has materials that you can download and print on her website at no charge.  This year, I started a new job with a new district.  I can tell the person I followed also went to Jill's presentation.  Kind of a nice little bonus.

Jill, thank you for giving such a fantastic presentation with very practical useful ideas.  Thank you for offering to share your materials at no cost on your website.  Thank you for sparking all kinds of ideas and making my life just a little bit easier.

Leslie

Back when I was in grad school, there was a girl a year behind me whom I really liked.  Very young.  Very sweet.  I loved her insight in classes.  Like me, she learned about disability through real life experience with family members.  When 2nd year students had to pick a first year buddy, I picked Leslie.  She appreciated my no sugar coating, tell it like it is introduction to grad school.  I gave her all of my GRE, and then my praxxis books with the understanding she had to pass it forward.  I did that, because I could see something special in her and wanted her to get into our program.   I encouraged her to go for a particular program at Children's her second year because I knew she would be a good fit.  I had completed the program myself and been involved in one way or another for several years.  after I told her to apply, I contacted the people I knew at the program and talked her up, telling them the million reasons why she would be such a benefit to the program.  Tonight, I had the chance to see just how right I was about my girl.

For many people, the caseloads I had the last two years would be challenging.  I worked with all levels of the autism spectrum, emotionally disturbed students, students with multiple disabilities, English Language Learners, and kids who had been suspended or expelled.  None of that phased me.  This year, I have a lot of little ones who can't say s, l, k, or r.  For me, that is the scariest thing ever!!!!  I invited Leslie over to give me some therapy ideas.  Holy cow!!! She is the phonology master.  I am now ready to kick some Hodson butt while opening a can of Geirut whoop &$@.  It takes a very good, experienced SLP to blend methodologies like that.

Leslie, thank you for the ideas tonight, but most of all, thank you for proving me spot on right about what an awesome speech language pathologist you would turn out to be!

Mom

Thank you for taking the kids to Skyline today!

Max and Matt

Both worked to move gravel and bring my neverending backyard project just a little closer to finished.

Urgent Care

Well, I have been dealing with a major allergy attack all week.  The only thing that helps when I get this bad is Flonase.  Unfortunately, I let my supply run out and my script expire.  When I called the doctors office, they said I would have to come in.  I had resigned myself to another weekend of allergy hell.

In the mean time, I had to go back to urgent care to get my stitches removed.  When the doc walked into the room, she asked me a zillion questions about my cough and congestion.  I explained it was a bad allergy attack, I was out of meds, yada, yada, yada.  And by the way..... I'm actually here to have stitches removed.  She took the stitches out.  Then had mercy on me and gave me a script for Flonase.  By Monday, I may actually be human again!  I knew when we pulled out of the parking lot I would be sending her that days thank you.  Unfortunately, all the coughing caused me to zonk out the second my body touched my bed.

I may be a day late writing it, but I am no less thankful for the wonderful care I received at Urgent Care for my finger and my allergies.

Max

Thank you for helping with Josey's Spanish homework.

Matt

My brother in law....

Today was high school open house.  My math skills may not be the best, but even I could figure out that 1 mom trying to cover 2 schedules is an issue.  My wonderful brother in law stepped up to help.  That is a really good brother in law.

Thanks, Matt.

Mom

Starting a new caseload is always a challenge.  My mom was nice enough to hang with my kids for a bit so I could get a few extra hours in at work.

Thanks mom!

Josey

Need I say more?

Caitlyn @ Kroger's

When your child has "chronic health concerns" you have to follow all these silly rules at school.  Like, when the kid is in elementary school, epi pens and inhalers are kept by the nurse and the kid may not touch them at all.  When they are in junior high and high school, they can carry them, but must leave an additional one with the nurse.  It is just good sense to have one at home too.  Epi pens have a co-pay....CO PAY...between $75 and $100.  I'm not sure what the full cost is, don't want to think about it.  Josey has had a script for epi pens since she was two.  Knock on wood, we have never administered one.  Our scripts and pens always expire, which is what happened this year.  Off to the pharmacy for 2 epis and a spare inhaler.  All of which costs over $130 and will sit on a shelf until the year ends.  They will then come home for the summer to sit in the closet until they expire again in August and I start all over.

The little bonus this year?  The prescription coverage card I had didn't work.  Not my plan.  Not through my employer.  Not an easy thing to try to fix without having to make a phone call that will certainly be aggravating.  Caitlyn, bless her little heart, offered to call Josey's dad and get the correct information.  If you asked me to look over the last 250 thank yous (yes, that is the current count) this would make my top ten.  Maybe even five.

Thanks Caitlyn!

Ross

Let's just be honest, it is very hard to feel good about certain professionals.  Nobody says, "Man, I love my proctologist!"  Not because they are evil people, but because if you need to see one it is for something unpleasant and it isn't going to be cheap.  But if you have to see one, you sure hope she's the best.  I think attorneys are kind of the same way.  It's almost never a good thing to need one, but when you do, you want a good one.

I needed one recently and was happy with his skills.  Good to feel like I at least got my money's worth.  But what was really nice, was that when I had that last final document to sign, Ross went out of his way to accommodate my schedule.  I'm not going into one of those "woe is me" I work for the school and have no time diatribes.  I have a lot of days off over the course of the year, just not always at the exact moment I need.  Which everyone deals with on some level and is just my tough luck.  But Ross was kind enough to work it out so I didn't have to use my personal day.  Which is very nice since I already know I will have to attend at least 2 day time meetings with my kids' schools this year.

Ross, thanks for meeting me on my time schedule.

Sherry

Even though it's after midnight, I am still awake so I am counting this as being September 6th regardless of what my iPad thinks.  That is the end of my justification so that I'm not counted as late 2 days in a row.  I don't want to be arrested by the resolution police.  On to the thank you....

There are times when life is so off kilter, irrational becomes rational and crazy is baseline.  I was in that place 6 years ago.  Luckily, after a jumbo serving of extra crispy crazy, I came across Sherry.  She helped get things on track in a very sensible way.  I turned to her several years later for some help which she was unable to provide.  It was for good, happy reasons, not ill will or complacency.  She did provide me with some excellent advice which seems to have worked out well.

Sherry, thank you for the suggestion.

Linda G (late)

Tuesday was open house at Jojo's school.  Mrs. G gave the parents an assignment.  We had to write a million words or less about our child and turn it in to her by mid Septemberish. I know some of you are rolling your eyes.  But if you have been following me since January, you have already read about my miraculous transformation from Mrs. G doubter to major Mrs. G fan.

Josey knew about the assignment and asked me last night if I had turned it in yet.  I hadn't, and it wasn't due yet, but I know how much my list making, rule following daughter hates procrastination.  So I wrote it yesterday.  Gotta be honest,writing about how wonderful any of my children are is an easy task.  We were told that the letters would not be shared with anyone, but when it was finished, I decided to share mine with Josey.  It's good to tell people you love exactly why you love them when they don't expect it.  I'm glad I told Josey last night, although it did make me forget to write my thank you yesterday.  Oops!

Mrs. G, thanks for another good and meaningful assignment.

Max

He did dishes twice today.  Helped get dogs in the house this morning.  And kept Sam from missing the bus by the skin of our teeth.  Big time helper today!

Gale

You know how when you have a baby or major surgery people bring you a casserole?  My sister brought me food because I got stitches.  Isn't that the best?  She didn't make a casserole because between dietary restrictions and beliefs, there isn't much you can throw into one dish.  Instead she brought a plethora of yummies including cookies, fruit, veggies (all with dip), Hawaiian rolls (known as Aunt Gale rolls in these parts), guacamole and homemade potato salad. Mmmm.  Just typing it makes me want to get another scoop. 

Thanks for the goodies Gale!

Mom & Dad

All summer long I have been working on my yard.  I have used a chainsaw multiple times.  I ran the excavator and helped with the ditch witch.  Not once in using all that heavy equipment did I even get a scratch.  I'm down to the finishing touches of my project.  Can you believe that TODAY I injured myself?  I sliced my finger with a pocket sized hand saw.  I had to get 2 stitches and a tetanus shot.  I knew the
second it happened there was too much blood to get away with just a bandage.  I also knew I didn't want to drag Sam to the doctor with me.  TGIG....thank goodness for grandparents!  Mom drove me to the doctor.  Dad hung out with Sam.

Mom & dad....thank you for helping me out today.  You will be happy to know those ER trips for stitches when I was little paid off.  The doctor said I was a very brave girl!  (As long as I didn't look.)

Kelly

Thanks for being the on call sitter