Darby’s method of dealing with the health, educational and behavioral challenges her family faced with her son, Max, was mentally to «put those into buckets, and then deal with each overflowing bucket.»
«Max had missed a lot of school due to illness, he was behind academically, he kept getting sick, and he started having extreme behaviors. I felt totally overwhelmed,» explained Darby. Not knowing what else to do, Darby reached out to a friend in health care who referred her to Raising Special Kids. «I followed up the very next day, and it has really helped me.»
The first challenge she tackled was education. «I knew he was behind, and I didn’t want to wait until he failed before we got help.» Darby was frustrated by the school’s response to her concerns, but with help, she was able to get the testing and evaluation she wanted. «Raising Special Kids staff member really listened to me. She coached me in how the process works and gave me pointers that prepared me so much better for the IEP meetings. She decoded terms and reviewed the IEP document with me so I could ask intelligent questions during the meetings.»
Darby noted when the evaluation results came in, «a bunch of problems popped up that we did not even know were there.» With the new data, the IEP team was able to start addressing issues at school more effectively, and Darby had more concrete information to bring to her son’s medical providers.
«The help really empowered me and helped me to become so much more effective. I really feel like she cared about me and my son, and now I feel like I know what is going on.»