The End-of-Summer Blues
Pulmonary testing
We're back from Memphis. Everything healthwise looked good. We're still waiting to hear from endocrine, his labs weren't back by the time we left.
Steven's oncologist took me aside alone on Tuesday, the day after his MRI, to tell me his MRI was clear. This good news was immediately followed by a really blunt discussion about Steven's future academic and vocational prospects, a discussion that left me in tears and that I just can't reconcile with what I see in him.
We arrived home late Thursday night to see that his STAR test results had arrived. He got a 484 in English and a 513 in Math (out of 600), placing him well into the advanced levels. Shouldn't college be at least a possibility for him if that's what he wants?
I'm trying to strike some sort of balance between what I see in Steven and what his doctor, who has seen first-hand the after-effects of radiation on hundreds of children, sees.
Parenting a child in this situation isn't easy. I want to push him to perform to the best of his abilities, and no more than that. But it seems the doctor and I have different views of what his abilities are.
School starts on Monday for Steven and Sean.
So much of what I had hoped to accomplish this summer hasn't come to pass, but I think I can still say we've had a great time (photos later).
- Kathleen
posted by Kathy at Sunday, August 24, 2008
2 Comments:
Hey Kath,
Let me know if you need to talk!
(just getting caught up on your updates...)
Hi, I found my way to your blog via Stacie Smith's blog. I wanted to ask if you had been given information regarding 504 accommodations for Steven at school? I have had a long career as a psychologist both in a children's hospital working with pediatric rehab patients and their families, and also in schools as a school psychologist, so I have been in on planning for many students to work around their weaknesses, and emphasize their strengths.
I realize that different states and schools handle things differently, but there are legal protections for Steven, outside of special education, which are designed to support him, and to let him become the person he is meant to be, not to limit his academic and intellectual growth.
Colleges also increasingly have supports in place for students who require them, so his dreams should be doable.
Hopefully you will have been given this information before, but if not let me know and I'll give you some links if it would be helpful.
Shelley Geyer, EdD
Tulsa, OK
magtulok@cox.net
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