Keep on Keepin on

For those of you who haven't already heard the news:
WE DID IT!!!!!!!!

What is "IT"? In a nutshell- We fought the system and won. Diva Girl's therapy is going to be paid for by the public education system. We will even be reimbursed for some of the months that they should have been providing her with services and didn't. Quite honestly, I'm still shocked. This sort of thing just doesn't happen, at least not to anyone who doesn't have loads of money to hire lawyers. Well, that's what I always thought until now.

I've had a few people want to talk over it all with me, they want to know what magic we've worked. The same thing happened after we got ABA therapy through TEIS. They ask for advice and I feel a bit sheepish giving it because the truth is that in many ways we have just plain been blessed. Sure, I can give some basic advice about how we did things, the kind of language we used, etc., but really...I don't feel like some brave warrior who went to battle and won. I feel like a tired old woman who had her prayers answered.

I almost gave up. I almost wanted to walk away and let them get away with completely failing at providing my daughter with what she has a legal right to. Because they seemed so big and strong and completely uncaring. Because it takes money to fight, most of the time, and we are sorely lacking in that department. The stress of it all was wearing on me in ways that are hard to describe. I cried with relief when I realized that we were getting everything she needed.

And even now, in the midst of that relief...in the back of my mind I know that this is a fight that never ends. In January Rascal will be evaluated and we will being the process of dealing with Metro with him. In August Diva Girl will redo Kindergarten in a local school. And there will be more IEP meetings and more fights. That is my job, to speak up for my kids and ensure that they get the services they need and the education that they deserve. Just thinking of it makes me so fully exhausted that I just want to crawl back into bed and hibernate.

So I will push all that out of my mind and try to revel in the moment. My kids are getting what they need, for now, and making spectacular progress! We will keep fighting, as many times as we need to. And I can't help but hope that maybe I can somehow make this battle a little easier on other families in the future. Raising children with special needs is hard enough, we really don't need the added stress of trying to make schools do what they are legally obligated to do. Our kids deserve better than that.

These kids deserve so much more.