-Mostly I’m writing this blog because I found this graphic that was just too good to pass up. It speaks volumes to how 2006 has been for us. I know many of you have followed our school issues. We have a decision from the judge in our elongated, incredibly painful due process case. The word DENIED is in big bold letters. Yet…it is a mixed decision in many ways…and produces a whole range of mixed emotions in me.

What the judge didn’t deny was that to experiment on LuLu, provoking her behavior, using the things known to trigger her anxiety (like loud noises – sensory) or her handwriting/perfectionist tendencies (OCD) was not to be allowed…hello…not a bad decision there judge! And to give her a complicated point system behavioral chart to earn her way out of the alternative school and back to the regular school would only frustrate her and increase her anxiety. Again, a good call, since her teacher for the last three years had dropped any type of visible reward/consequence system like that because it increased LuLu’s frustration. These are substantial points – and it was good for the judge to recognize the harm these things would have done to LuLu. But the overall complaint was denied, so…

What happens next is anyone’s guess. In a world of cooperation where schools, teachers, and parents all hold the child’s best interest at heart, there could probably be a mediated solution that would be a win-win. We would be able to go back to the table, hold another IEP meeting with all the new information that has been gathered since then, and work this all out. But that is not the world I am living in. The desire to push us out…to no longer have the problem of my child in their school…appears to be the motivation for the district, at all costs.

So, while I’m poised to jump into 2007 with great anticipation of many positive things (mainly because 2006 has been the worst year on record for our family and because we have a track record of doing much better overall in odd numbered years…), we still have the dragon to battle.

I’m smarter (wiser) for having traveled this way. Going through this due process experience has been frustrating, stressful, anguishing and totally disillusioning. BUT, you learn so much more from the hardships in your life than from the easy times. And I don’t plan on wasting a thing I’ve learned.

For now, though…it’s celebration time! My family is slated to arrive in about 5 hours (and if I don’t get to the grocery store we’re in BIG trouble…) So this Santa’s going to push that dragon back into the desk drawer and deal with him later. We have reason to celebrate – God is good and life is good, too!

Merry Christmas!