This is good news--right??

For those of you who know me personally or have followed this blog for a while, know that we have a very special son named Ryan. He is 8 years old and just terrific. His brain works a little differently and after homeschooling all last year, I realized he wasn't ready for 2nd grade, so we enrolled him in the local public school. God graciously placed him in a wonderful class with a teacher who won teacher of the year this year! She has done an incredible job,and Ryan has made some progress-- Ryan adores her and she loves him, too.

Even with all of this, it has become apparent that Ryan is struggling with academics. We requested testing and yesterday got the results of all the tests. We had an IEP meeting (Individual Education Plan) with his teacher, the principal, vice principal, school psychologist, speech therapist, special ed teacher, and Edgar and I. They had administered many tests, some of which we had requested. We met for an hour, they gave us a lot of information and recommendations. Very little of what they told us was new information, more just confirmation of what we had suspected for a long time. Part of me wanted to scream, "This is what I tried to tell all of you last August", (we had an IEP then, but I was told he had to be in school 12 weeks before they could do further testing). As I have thought more about it I realize that having Ryan have the opportunity to be with his First Grade teacher has been a huge blessing and he would have missed that experience had he been tested the first week of school.

Ryan also seems to have ADD, not hyperactivity, but Attention Deficit Disorder--this was suggested by the clinicians we saw last summer in Chapel Hill. He struggles with staying on task and becomes easily distracted. We requested that he be screened for Asperger's Syndrome, which they did. This is a disorder that falls in the spectrum of Autism and affects one mostly in the social and language areas. Only a medical Dr. can diagnosis this, but the results of the screening indicated a high probability in all areas.

The bottom line is that he qualified for Special Ed across the board. Beginning this Monday he will go to a special class for 2 hours each morning and 2 hours each afternoon with 4 other children. He needs one on one help with reading, writing, math, working independently, and social language assistance. He will still be with his regular class first thing in the morning, and for his extra curricular subjects-- PE, Spanish, Music, and Art. He will also have lunch and recess with his regular class, and then end the day with them. He still needs to have an Occupation Therapist do some screenings so he can receive help with writing.

I know in my heart this will be of great benefit to Ryan, and that this is good news. This validates what I had been suspecting, and he now qualifies for extra services, but I also know that he struggles with change and new environments. So we ask your prayers for a couple of specific things:

1. That the transition will be smooth and Ryan will quickly bond with his new teacher
2. That the children in his new class will be about the same level as Ryan behaviorally, academically, and mentally--he imitates peer behavior so we are hopeful for positive role models
3. That we will make the right decisions regarding possible medication for him
4. That all of this will prove to be effective and through it all Ryan will improve academically andmaintain a good self image.

Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement. We are taking things one day at a time and claiming God's promise, "I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future" We know God has a wonderful future for Ryan and we are so thankful He has entrusted him to our care while He prepares Ryan for whatever that future will be.