Riley and Avery

Nothing all that exciting has been going on.  It's rained a bit and thus melted some of the snow, so that's exciting for me.  Also, it seems to be climbing up into the mid-40s now, so perhaps spring really is on its way.  The neighbor has taken the snow blade off of his truck, so I am looking at that as a good sign.  You can actually see grass in some places!  The mud has started already, though, and it's not even "mud season" yet, so I am wondering what that will be like.

The speech therapy fight has resumed.  I don't know how many ways to say that I really can't stand the school speech therapist.  Really.  I rarely see her with a child, and when I do, the child is playing on the dry-erase board while the therapist sits on her computer.  She is saying, again, that Riley's speech is not sufficiently impacting her academics, so they want to wait and see.  So, as far as I can tell here are my options:

1. Wait and see.  Yeah, not gonna happen.
2. Contact an advocate and force the school to provide speech services.  I think this will take as long as the wait-and-see approach, so I might as well wait and see.  Which, again, is not gonna happen.
3. Pay for a private evaluation and pay for speech services.  From what I hear, there is no way that we can afford this option, since our insurance doesn't cover speech therapy at all.  However, insurance will cover speech therapy if the school system writes a letter saying that they are unable to provide the services.  Which brings me to option 4...
4. Pay for an independent evaluation ($$$, paying rent is overrated anyway.  Who needs food?  Or heat?), take the results to the school and demand that they either provide the services or write a letter stating that they are unwilling or unable, and then, hopefully, insurance will cover the therapy.  Hell, while I'm at it, I'll get them to reimburse me for the cost of the evaluation since the school should have done it themselves.  I think this is my best option.

I just cannot stand this speech therapist.  She is lazy and crooked.  I think she is also new to the school, so I am fully aware that the teachers and principal still have faith in her.  I don't.  This is effing ridiculous.  AND SO FAR THIS WOMAN STILL HASN'T DONE A FORMAL EVALUATION!!!!  If Riley cannot say her r's what makes them think it will magically happen when she is eight?  Do they see how little sense that makes!?  She cannot say r's!  Cannot!  Not "will not" or "isn't in the habit of saying them correctly."  Oh, I'm done....

...wait until Avery comes to school next year with her inability to say r's.  That'll blow their little minds.