We’ve been standing at a crossroads for the past few weeks. It’s not the first time I’ve found myself here.
I remember the dreaded crossroads of our adoption journey – did we keep pursuing an Ethiopian Adoption or leave the program?
Crossroads come with hard decisions.
During our adoption journey, God continually impressed upon my heart: Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)
I’ve been reminded of that same verse several times these past few weeks as we stand at our current crossroads.
We’ve got some big decisions to make regarding Jackson’s therapy and education.
Do we stay in public school or try private school? Do we keep going to Occupational Therapy (even though we aren’t seeing the results we’d hoped to see) or do we try something new? Is ABA Therapy our next step? How will we afford a therapy that isn’t covered by insurance? Does he need an AAC device? Are we doing everything we can to help him overcome his disorders?
Jackson starts PreK in August and that makes this mama nervous.
He loves school, but the classroom presents a lot of challenges.
Take his inability to express his needs and wants, add some Sensory Processing Disorder, and you get a frustrated and overwhelmed kid!
I don’t want to hold Jackson back from what he’s capable of doing, but I also can’t feed him to the wolves.
It’s such a fine line between letting him fly, but not letting him fall.
I’m the only one who will make sure he doesn’t slip through the cracks when he enters the inclusive PreK class come Fall.
I’m the only one who will fight for him, making sure his needs are met.
I’m his voice right now.
The other day as I waited for Jackson to come out of school, this verse popped up in my Facebook newsfeed.
The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in EVERY DETAIL of their lives. Though they stumble, they will NEVER FALL, for the Lord holds them by the hand. (Psalm 37:23-24)
Those words immediately brought me peace.
God knows the tough decisions we face.
God knows we are doing everything we can to ensure Jackson succeeds in the classroom.
God is our provider.
And whether we turn to the right or to the left, we will hear a voice behind us, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Oh this spoke to me too. We have been dealing with some huge decisions like this as well. We are in NM though so I am sure laws are different but we did not get far with much help with an IEP here (long story) but have learned quite a few things along the way. If you have never heard of hippotherapy see if there is anyone near you doing it. It’s helped my son SO much more than traditional OT. They bill our insurance as regular OT. Also if that is not an option look into therapeutic riding. Something about the movement of the horse for my son in the last two years has been magical for him. He’s finally speaking well enough that strangers are understanding him!!!! We also began PROMPT speech therapy (which can also be so hard to find) about 6 months ago (after 2.5 years of speech and not much progress). The PROMPT SLP has done wonders with him as well. I also recently discovered a school
Liaison officer who will
Help me now in the future with his IEP etc and she is amazing. I’m sorry you are having to naviagte this journey too because it’s a hard stressful lonely road at times but it sounds like you are An amazing mama who will fight for her child just like the rest of us on this journey.
Hi Katie –
I actually wrote this past about a year ago and since then my son has made HUGE progress! He’s talking up a storm these days 🙂 He actually participated in therapeutic riding for about a year and then our local program shut down. He loved riding the horses every week and it was on top of the horse that I heard him say “orange” for the first time. He could say all of his colors except orange and after that day on the horse he could say it. It was incredible! My son has also been in PROMPT therapy for more than 2.5 years. We have an amazing speech therapist who is considered one of the top Apraxia experts in our state! We thank God for her every day! He wouldn’t be talking if it wasn’t for her.
We are also on the right track to a better school for him come kindergarten. It feels good to have a game plan going forward! 🙂