Nine years ago a doctor told us "God did not deal you a good hand."
I'll never forget that day or that phrase that stung bad.
Nine years ago that same doctor as well as many others said words like "mental delay and mental retardation."
Words that were hard but words that we were ready to deal with day by day.
And day by day we realized that those words were not true.
With each passing year Katie thrived in school.
Learning came natural.
Then..
Last Summer at Spina Bifida Conference I sat in a huge room where the speaker spoke about watching out for ...
third grade.
Third Grade seemed to be when the struggle really started.
multiplication, division, cursive, etc. mixed with hydrocephalus (water on the brain) can be really hard.
My stomach was in knots.
I went into the new school year ready to tackle the third grade with whatever extra help we needed.
Last week I opened a letter addressed to "The Parents of Katie Hull."
I opened the letter...
and cried (what's new, right).
and cried some more.
Katie has been recommended to test for the Gate (Gifted and Talented Education) program. A program "designed to meet the needs of high ability and intellectually gifted students."
All i could think about was "Watch out for third grade."
She still will have to test for it, but regardless of the outcome, just being recommended is huge in our eyes.
This is also just another one of those things to add to the letter I plan on sending to that above mentioned doctor.
