Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me." ~ Hosea 5:15
It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'" So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. ~ Romans 14:11-12
As a mother of a child diagnosed with epilespy, I wonder if I am guilty of passing the buck on her education. My oldest daughter repeated kindergarten because she wasn't socially ready to move on after the first year. During her second year of kindergarten, she was diagnosed with epilepsy. The neurologist estimated that she was having absence seizures (staring spells) approximately 200 times a school day.
When I brought the diagnosis back from the neurologist, her teacher refused to accept the diagnosis as a reason for her not following directions. We, on the other hand, believed that she wasn't following the directions, because she wasn't hearing them.
Since then, she has struggled in school. She was on meds for the end of her 2nd year of kindergarten and all of first grade. At the end of first grade, an EEG showed no seizure activity, so she was weaned off her medicine. Praise the Lord we have not seen any seizuring since then. She had an EEG in August before she started 2nd grade and again in August before 3rd grade to confirm that she was not having seizures that we were missing.
In 2nd grade she seemed to be struggling, so we took her to our local Sylvan Learning Center and their testing revealed she was behind in reading. So, we began a 9-month reading program with them. She thrived there and got caught up and even started into 3rd grade level skills before school started.
When she started 3rd grade, we chose to wait to have her tested at school for learning problems because we wanted to see what she could do on her own since she was caught up again. By November, her teacher expressed concern because she seemed to be slipping again. So we had her tested.
Her test results showed that her IQ is Low Average. Her scores on her testing were too close to her IQ (less than 20 points away), so she doesn't qualify to receive help. I have expressed my concern as a parent not being able to help my child. I am a teacher myself, so it is VERY frustrating to me that I am powerless to help my child who is struggling.
We are now just three weeks away from my daughter entering the 4th grade. Although my child is not currently on meds for epilepsy, her neurologist has told us that it is possible as she enters into adolescence that the seizures will resurface and could even be worse than the were a couple years ago.
How do I, as a parent and employee of the school she attends, continue to fight for the best education possible for my child and still keep my job? How do I explain to her teachers and the administration that I am NOT making excuses for her performance? She has a medical diagnosis and should be given additional help.
Am I guilty of "passing the buck"? Or am I guilty of "loving my child and wanting the best for her"? I honestly don't know.
"Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. It was the first game of pass the buck in human history. Some of us may still be playing this game. We fail to accept responsibility before God for our own feelings, thoughts and behavior. We say it's our boss's fault that we missed our child's baseball game, when we scheduled the appointments. We may blame our spouse for failing to allow us to finish school, when we are the ones who gave up too soon.
Each one of us has a choice. We can choose to accept the things we can't change and learn to act on the things we can change. We gain self-respect when we decide to stop blaming others for our dilemmas and start taking responsibility for our own choices." ~ Joan C. Webb in Women's Devotional Bible 2Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold. ~ Proverbs 8:10
Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me." ~ Hosea 5:15
It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'" So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. ~ Romans 14:11-12
As a mother of a child diagnosed with epilespy, I wonder if I am guilty of passing the buck on her education. My oldest daughter repeated kindergarten because she wasn't socially ready to move on after the first year. During her second year of kindergarten, she was diagnosed with epilepsy. The neurologist estimated that she was having absence seizures (staring spells) approximately 200 times a school day.
When I brought the diagnosis back from the neurologist, her teacher refused to accept the diagnosis as a reason for her not following directions. We, on the other hand, believed that she wasn't following the directions, because she wasn't hearing them.
Since then, she has struggled in school. She was on meds for the end of her 2nd year of kindergarten and all of first grade. At the end of first grade, an EEG showed no seizure activity, so she was weaned off her medicine. Praise the Lord we have not seen any seizuring since then. She had an EEG in August before she started 2nd grade and again in August before 3rd grade to confirm that she was not having seizures that we were missing.
In 2nd grade she seemed to be struggling, so we took her to our local Sylvan Learning Center and their testing revealed she was behind in reading. So, we began a 9-month reading program with them. She thrived there and got caught up and even started into 3rd grade level skills before school started.
When she started 3rd grade, we chose to wait to have her tested at school for learning problems because we wanted to see what she could do on her own since she was caught up again. By November, her teacher expressed concern because she seemed to be slipping again. So we had her tested.
Her test results showed that her IQ is Low Average. Her scores on her testing were too close to her IQ (less than 20 points away), so she doesn't qualify to receive help. I have expressed my concern as a parent not being able to help my child. I am a teacher myself, so it is VERY frustrating to me that I am powerless to help my child who is struggling.
We are now just three weeks away from my daughter entering the 4th grade. Although my child is not currently on meds for epilepsy, her neurologist has told us that it is possible as she enters into adolescence that the seizures will resurface and could even be worse than the were a couple years ago.
How do I, as a parent and employee of the school she attends, continue to fight for the best education possible for my child and still keep my job? How do I explain to her teachers and the administration that I am NOT making excuses for her performance? She has a medical diagnosis and should be given additional help.
Am I guilty of "passing the buck"? Or am I guilty of "loving my child and wanting the best for her"? I honestly don't know.
3 comments:
Great post Kristi! It doesn't sound as you are passing the buck, and we can't love our children too much! I think your concerns are genuine and I agree that she should receive some extra help.
I wish you luck and offer my prayers too.
Danielle
Kristi, I can easily relate to this post. My son wasn't diagnosed with epilepsy until the end of 5th grade. He is on meds, but I sometimes wonder if some of his behavior is related to neural deficiencies. His seizures were taking place in the part of the brain related to verbal reasoning, and sometimes he seems to just not understand what we are saying. He spent all of 6th grade on the honor roll, and is soon to start 7th grade. The school counselors dismiss my concerns because he is getting good grades. What's a mom to do?
I wish you the best in figuring out how to help your daughter. It is "painful" when we can't help our children.
Thanks, Julie, for your comments. Because there were no prior tests, and because my daughter was terrified of the MRI machine, we have not been able to pinpoint the location of the seizures. I do appreciate that there is another parent who can relate to what I'm going through. Good luck with your son's education as well.
Post a Comment