A Christmas Miracle

There simply are not enough words in the human vocabulary to express my feelings. You could start with overjoyed, amazed, awed, proud. For those that have not read previous blog posts I will explain here that my youngest daughter has had problems in school since the second or third grade. She began falling asleep in the second grade and even more in third grade. She failed math her third grade year. The whole year. Every test. Every report card. She just couldn't do it. We moved on to fourth grade and she slept away the morning every single day. They tried to wake her up. They tried shaking her, giving her candy, making her get up and walk around for a bit but to no avail. I tried to get her some help, I knew something had to be wrong. The administrators that year were less than helpful. They didn't want to "label" her so they did nothing, despite my requests for testing. And again she failed the year for math. She always made good grades in everything else, it was always the math. To me that was indicative of a disability.  I knew she was a smart as a whip, but for some reason math just escaped her.
On the last day of fourth grade, when presented with her TAKS test score, a fifty, I wrote a letter to the superintendent of schools. I told him I had just found out that by law they should have administered the testing I desired or told me why not within thirty days. He was prompt with a response and shortly I was on the phone with her new principal for the coming year who promised help. Who told me she was "appalled" that something hadn't been done before now. I finally felt like I had somebody on my side and when school came around again she did not disappoint. She had my little girl tested and it turned out she had some serious math disabilities as well as something called Sensory Integration Disorder. Also I had had her tested for ADHD over the summer and the doctor had prescribed medication for her. We also found out she had brain damage.
Between the staff at the school and the doctor, and the medications we soon began to have a success story on our hands. She didn't fall asleep anymore. She began to pass math. We continued working with her, we continued the medication, and I prayed for that girl every day that she skipped up the steps and into the school.
She really began to improve. By the end of the sixth grade I was impressed that she passed the year, even if it was just a seventy. It was passing.
When seventh grade came around this year I was worried. I was worried about the change to a new school. I was worried about how she would get along with the older kids. I was worried that she would be overwhelmed with the work. I continued to pray.
My worries, it turns out were completely groundless. I requested the usual beginning of the year conference with her math teacher to discuss her problems. I was completely taken aback when she told me "I don't really know why you needed this conference, she is doing so well in here. Her average is an 84." Of course she had no idea that her words were anything out of the ordinary. She could not know of all the struggles we had gone through to get her this far. She told me that sometimes Ally even helped the kids around her. I was a wreck of emotions inside as I heard her words. I tried to stay professional but it was difficult. What an amazing, amazing thing! I didn't think I could feel any better than I did at that moment, (not that it's all about me) but yesterday we got her three week progress report. I have never, ever been so proud in my life.

The math grade is the very bottom one. My daughter has an A in math. An A!!!