Lessons in Learning

First and foremost, I wish to apologize for not having written a new post in nearly 4 months.

 With the start of school last year came a whirlwind of activity.  There was much time spent advocating for an interpreter for Shea, as well as staying with her at school until one was found.  The main problem was that there were no certified interpreters in our area.  This is mainly due, of course, to the fact that this area pays them so little that even local individuals who attend the interpreter program at a local university that they tend to move to other areas affording them larger salaries.  After giving news interviews (Yes, sweet Shea is officially a TV star! http://www.dothanfirst.com/story/shortage-of-interpreters-creates-classroom-barrier/d/story/Hw2XlvI5m0KxDyooeSecBA) and talking via phone and e-mail with anyone and everyone who would listen, we finally got Shea's interpreter.  It actually came about because a a lady in the norther part of the state saw Shea on the news and contacted a friend of hers who is Deaf and told her that she would be able to be Shea's interpreter because she has years of experience as an educator for the Deaf and, obviously, is fluent in ASL.  This was a huge blessing to us because, as it turned out, we already knew this wonderful lady from attending Deaf Family Christian Fellowship!  As a matter of fact, she had even been to our house before!  She had been unaware that she would be able to be Shea's interpreter.  Overjoyed by this news, we met with Shea's new interpreter, giving her the ins and outs of what the students do in class and giving her a list of all the classmates and teachers so that she could familiarize herself with them. And so, for the last couple weeks of school, Shea had an interpreter whom she knew and was comfortable with.  All seemed to be going well.
As generally happens, school ended and summer overtook us.  We traveled to VA to see Shea's Aunt, NY to see her grandparents and great-grandparents and then, yes, we made it to Sesame Place! And now a new school year is upon us again.  She will have the same teacher as last year.  She loves her, so we are thankful for this.  We did, however, receive a text message from our dear friend who was interpreting for her and she informed me that she would not be Shea's interpreter for this school year.  It seems that another interpreter who was under contract already had her student transfer to the Alabama School for the Deaf so the school board was obligated to use her first because she was under contract.  This came as quite a shock to me because we had not yet been notified of this change, and school was about to start in a matter of weeks.  Upon receiving this news, I immediately contacted the Special Ed Coordinator for our county school system.  She explained the situation to me and assured me that they would still use our previous interpreter should this new one be absent for any reason.  OK, that's great, but my daughter is 3 and I'd like for her to be comfortable with this new person, so I asked the Spec. Ed. Coordinator to please give our new interpreter my contact info so that we could set up a meeting with her, both for Shea to become familiar and comfortable with her as well as for her to get to know Shea and see how she signs and understand some of her quirks.
Yesterday was that meeting.  We went to the Open House at the school and saw Shea's teacher, as well as her new interpreter.  She seems quite nice and Shea got along quite well while we were there.  We also met some of her new classmates.  It turns out that, because of having to fill the full time schedule of this new interpreter, Shea had to have her class days switched.
So, in the end we got what we needed - an interpreter for our daughter.  Is everything exactly as we had hoped?  Not by a long shot!  Will we ever get everything we want for our daughter's education?  Certainly not in the public school system.  For now, we have done our best to provide her with what she needs, but in order for her to receive what we believe to be the absolute best education, we will have to make some huge changes in the near future.  What does it mean?  Well, stay tuned as our family embarks on the road less traveled....