An awful morning at the school

I had a meeting scheduled this AM for D's IEP and she fell yesterday and broke her front tooth so I had to schedule an emergency appointment with the dentist to fix it. The only time they could do it was right after the IEP meeting and it would be tight. SO I take her to the meeting b/c they do not want her attending school until it is fixed b/c it is very sharp and she could get hurt. Fine. I had her sit in the front office until I was finished. She freaks out when I leave her so it turned into a drama, but I was prepared and quite used to it.

What I wasn't prepared for was the meeting. They had postponed the meeting b/c they wanted to discuss her test results with me separately so I could absorb the info and be prepared to make some decisions next week. I have known D does not get alot of things, she more than struggles in school and has a hard time telling a story that anyone can follow. She had been tested at some point over a year ago and we were told she had an IQ of 74. We knew she was having a hard time so that made sense. I found out this morning she only has a 60 IQ. The doctor felt confident this was accurate and explained it is hard to properly test a child under 7 yrs old.

I am devastated. It doesn't change a thing about how I feel for her but it changes my dreams for her. ALl I keep thinking about is one of my first foster daughters and she had a 70 IQ and now as a woman she is married to another challenged person and they have a child together. They both are hard workers and can not support themselves on their pay so they live with his parents in a basement apt. She struggles to parent properly and while she is a great mother, she needs assistance.

This doctor refered to my child as "trainable" and admitted it is hard to tell what she can and can't accomplish at almost 8 yrs old butin her experience she will need assistance for the long haul. One child with this issue is one thing, but I have 3 more that I feel are on the same level as this child. I am scared about their future. They have so many emotional problems to overcome and now this too. I know I am only in the first hours of the diagnosis and I will find a way to get over it but I keep fighting back tears and running to bathroom to hide them from the kids.

Next week we decide what services she needs. They really think she needs a contained classroom and that she will thrive in there. She currently does not have any friends and feels very out of place with children her age. I think they may be right. I have a lot of researching to do now.

She did, however, get her tooth fixed and you would never know she had damaged it. I did take a picture of it this morning before we went to have it fixed. She is such a beautiful child, it was so out of place you had to laugh.