Kitty's IEP meeting

As expected, we didn’t get Kitty into the special school, yet. They tried to claim that she was “obviously back to normal,” by pointing to her bright affect compared to “Puddle” of last year. Hubby said he wished to make note that we completely disagree with that statement. As soon as he started talking, Kitty just sagged (laid her head down and looked like she was going to cry). Her school case manager stopped the conversation and asked if it was OK to have Kitty wait in the lobby until we were ready to talk about her schedule. We all agreed (I know I was relieved!) so she stepped out with the MHMR case manager, who is a useless lump anyway (nice lady I’m sure, but has nothing to contribute).

{I talked to Kitty on the way home about why she got upset and she said she felt criticized by Hubby. I reminded her that she doesn’t want to be in regular ed with inclusion help, and we were just trying to let the school know that she still needs the support of Applied classes (smaller class that teach only "core" material). That she HAS come a long way, but we know she agrees that she’s not ready to jump right in to regular ed. I explained that we do still believe she would do better at the special school, but as that’s not an option right now, we would make sure she was getting what she needs. I can’t tell if she felt better, or just flipped the switch, and shut the feelings off.}

Basically the school put her in all Applied core classes (special ed). Her electives are small too. She’s in a Leadership class which has only 13 kids instead of PE. She’s in Reading 180 which is general ed, but smaller and highly personalized. We’re on record as letting them know that is not enough. She’s signed up for testing - FIE, FBA, and counseling… without which she can’t get any more services. They’re supposed to start the testing this coming week.

We do have a new “Crisis plan” – that basically says if Kitty’s not feeling well then she’ll request the school behavior staff to come and assess whether or not she should go to the nurse. If she is feeling stressed or overwhelmed then she can request the behavior staff to take her to the guidance counselor who will be trained in calming techniques by Kitty’s skills trainer. Last Friday she’d gone to the nurse (and I ended up taking her home). Tuesday morning (day of the IEP meeting) she went to the nurse with a sore throat. The IEP committee decided it was just stress from being in the wrong classes (she had 2 regular ed classes with inclusion help and some larger classes, like PE).

So we changed all her classes on Tuesday, but on Thursday she went to the nurse because she was tired, and I ended up taking her home. She hasn’t slept well in weeks. Will be talking to the school about the fact that the “Crisis plan” doesn’t go far enough. Basically she’s exhausted, has a sore throat, or headache… things that behavior staff and the nurse can’t prove or disprove. The nurse lets her rest, but there’s no step in the plan for getting her back to class. We’re right back where we ended the school year, only this time we have no note from the psychiatrist so we’re in danger of truancy.

Her new psychiatrist (met her a week and a half ago is refusing to make any med changes until she has a chance to review Kitty's files and that won’t be until her next appointment. We called her earlier this week and told her that Kitty hasn’t slept in days and she did say we could go up on the Traz*done (anti-depressant/sleep med) after we try putting Kitty back on Melat*nin (over the counter sleep med). Melat*nin didn’t work, but the pdoc hasn’t called in a new prescription for Kitty so we’re out of Traz*done (I hate holiday weekends). I’m kind of afraid to give it to Kitty anyway because she’s showing increasing levels of mania.

I’m starting to wonder if what we thought was ADHD when she’d occasionally miss her morning meds was actually mania, since she’s been off Conc*rta all Summer and we haven’t seen the hyperactivity. Now with the stress of school we’re really starting to see it again. She is chattering nonstop. She is also super sensitive to everything and the meltdowns are increasing. Of course that could be blamed on the lack of sleep, which could also be caused by mania, or of course by stress. Maybe one of her meds has stopped working or isn’t as effective. Something else to talk to the new pdoc about on Tuesday.