Pre-School Graduation (ESY)

This last school year was a doozy! When Hailey started her 2nd year of Special Ed Pre-K she was just starting one of the worst episodes we would have experienced. She was only in school for 1 week until she lost her ability to walk. We didn't know at the time but the white matter had practically vanished in the central nervous system of her brain. When this had happened we had to have Hailey placed in her wheelchair and when I told the bus driver that came to pick her up they said they couldn't take Hailey to school because her being in a wheelchair wasn't written into her latest IEP. I had to call the school to request an IEP meeting to have this in place and in the mean time I was the one that took Hailey to school and put her in the wheelchair and then came back and put her and the wheelchair back in the car and took her home. This was so hard on my back and was really unfair to both of us. I had later found out that you can request an emergency IEP meeting and you can get things done a lot faster. Keep that in mind if you ever need to adjust your IEP...

After Hailey lost her ability to walk and the spasms started we were told to drive down and admit her to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake and that's where we stayed...for a while...

Hailey ended up missing a TON of school and in the end qualified for ESY (Extended School Year) This was the second year in a row that Hailey had gone to ESY but this time all was in place. She was able to be transported by bus, she had her 1 on 1 aide with her, she was a happy girl, until another episode hit. 

We had thought that summer school would be a no go with her symptoms of weakness and vomiting hitting her so hard. Long story short (which is new for me, right?) she ended up going to summer school and not missing a single day! 30 days of participation! There were a couple bumps in the road and in the end Hailey did it. 

My sister was visiting that same week and was able to attend Hailey's graduation. Hailey was SO happy to have her cousins and her aunt there and was even happier that Daddy was there too! There were children there that didn't have anybody show up for them and that broke my heart! Your special needs child graduates from pre school and you don't show up?! How is that possible? I know that there are parents that work and there are certain situations that come up, but it was very sad when I'd take a picture of Hailey and her award and a child would come up to me and ask me to take their picture too cause, "mommy's not here." It may be just a pre-school graduation but every child wants to be recognized and congratulated and feel special. Try to take the time to do that for your child. 

Thank you to my family for being there for Hailey!