The Struggles of finding out what is wrong

          Today is about my boy, my star, my sunshine, my muffin, my firstborn, my son Devin. Over the last few years I have noticed my little dude's attention span shrinking by leaps and bounds. I listened to people tell me it was normal, that kids his age are flighty, they don't focus well.
          This year I decided that once school started I was going to push to have this looked into, something was wrong with my little dude! BUT 2 weeks into school my mom passed away, and my son spiraled down a road of sadness that I couldn't help him out of. I was so stuck in my own grief that I just couldn't do much of anything really. By the 2nd week in September it was time to face the Race for the Cure with out my mom, but with my entire family, and many friends behind me. At the end of the race something amazing happened, I played Amazing Grace on bagpipes on my MP3 player with a speaker. We all stood together and then tons and tons of Dragonflys took off behind us, my moms favorite bug and something she had just started to collect. Suddenly my son started sobbing, the first time he had cried since the day I told him his Mimmie, his best friend was gone. My dad took him over to the side and held him, rocking him while he cried. It was sad, but also the best day in a long time, he finally let go, let go and cried and grieved. Things started to settle to normal again.
          By November I felt confident that it was time to get his attention issues looked into. I let my husband handle things, his mother is a teacher at the school, and he knows the people there. We felt that he would rock the boat less than I would, so he would try first. He approached the Principal who is also the special ed director about getting Devin evaluated. We were told that he didn't need to be evaluated, that his grades were just fine. Yeah, my kid was PASSING because we were spending 4-5 hours a night doing homework with him, struggling to focus. Eventually because my husband kept pushing, we got a review from a special education group in the school, but NOTHING was done, no report given, no help for my son. I was FED UP! It was MY turn now and honestly I am thinking they wish they had just gone along with my quiet husband! I spoke to friends at the school, got tips and ideas on how to proceed from parents who had dealt with the system. Then I wrote a letter to the school, in the letter I gave them until March 31st 2014 to come up with a written plan of action on getting the evaluation done, that I expected them to keep me informed, give me updates and work with me on getting my son the help he needs. I also let them know that he will be seeing his regular physician to be evaluated too! That day I had a phone call from the school superintendent stating that we would be working towards a resolution soon! Then a call from the school scheduling a meeting. Than a call from the counseling service assigning a caseworker to help us.
          Things are rolling along nicely now. Devin has a doctors appointment with his pediatrician on the 21st,  we have an IEP meeting at school on the 24th and a meeting with our case manager that we hired on the 25th! I am glad I have a great team backing me up from friends, to family, to Facebook only friends who just want to support us! We are lucky that we have them, and I have told the school that I WILL use them if need be, I can get my "army" together to go to the school board if we don't get anywhere with this first IEP meeting, and we have no problem marching our butts down to the state board of education if needed either!

          My son is my best buddy, my little dude, and NOTHING is going to stop me from finding out what is going on inside that little head of his and getting him the educational help he needs to succeed! I am his fiercest protector, his bright fiery mother of Scottish ancestors.... these quiet French Canadians have NO idea what they are up against!