learnin how ti talk.

The e-mail I received from Compleat Rehab on Sat.:


Heidi. I am so sorry for your experience. I will call and further investigate this.

Regards,

______________
______________
______________


The email I sent to them today, following my conversation with them:


Thank-you for finding a spot for my son. I am sure that having the treatment from your program will help him dramatically.

Sincerely,

Heidi Underhill

Somehow they found Joshua a spot! And, it's not with the "new" speech-therapist either. They found an opening with one of their "old" therapists. I'm guessing they magically had an opening appear this week, because there is no way they would have had an opening THREE MONTHS AGO! When we got the doctor's order.

When I told Josh, he said "toomawo? wa?"
"Remember," I answered, "So that they can help you talk. It'll be just you and me."
"YAY!!!"

Dear Compleat Rehab Gastonia,

I feel that you have been incredibly unprofessional, and I don't appreciate it. My 5 year old son was referred to you by his doctor at the beginning of June for speech-therapy. This was good timing, because it gave him 2 1/2 months to recieve help before he started school.

I heard nothing from you, and called my doctor back 3 weeks after the initial order to find out why. I was informed that indeed the order had been sent to you, but that they would send it again. 2 weeks later, I made the exact same phone call to my pediatrician, and this time, as well as sending the order, they gave me your phone number.

I called your office, to explain the situation, and no sooner than when I got the words "My son was referred here..." You told me that I needed a doctors order. I explained that the doctors order had been sent THREE TIMES! This is when you explained that yes, you can see how this happened, because you didn't have enough speech therapists right now, but one was being interviewed for the position that very day.

A couple of weeks later, I recieved a letter in the mail, stating that if I was still interested in services, I could call you to set it up. I immediately called, to set up an appointment.

My son came in for his evaluation, and it was determined that yes, he needs speech therapy, and that you needed to get approval from his insurance. Oh, and by the way, You need ANOTHER doctor's order, because the THIRD ONE you had recieved was over a month old, and therefore outdated. I immediately called my doctor to get this done. For the fourth time.

You called me yesterday to let me know that you had recieved the approval from my son's insurance, but unfortunately, you are completely filled up with patients, but could see him for a half-session once a week until you got an opening.

I am beyond angry.

In the first place, when you recieved the first doctors order, THREE MONTHS ago, and you knew that you didn't have openings, you should have contacted my doctor or myself to let me know. This way, he could have been referred somewhere else to recieve treatment. Furthermore, you should have done this upon reciept of the second and third order as well.

Also, my son has obviously been on the waiting list for three months, and deserved to have had a spot held for him until his insurance order approval came through. It is obvious that you do not care about the individual children who come to you needing help, but rather about getting paid as much and as soon as you can.

I will tell my docor's office exactly how we have been treated, so that they have further information into your practice, and can make a more educated decision as to if they should continue to refer patients to you. I will also post this e-mail on both of my blogs, one of which is on the "Care Pages", and is specifically read by healthcare patients and their parents.


Sincerely,


Heidi Underhill

AAAUUURRRGGGG!!!!

"Fay" hit us last night, and we have flood warnings until 1:30, and a tornado watch until 7:00pm. Our Air-Conditioner froze up last night, our roof is leaking, and this morning we woke up to no water. Rick is trying to work on the well in the pouring rain. One of the dogs is in-heat and bleeding all over, and the other has some kind of itchy, stinky skin disorder.

Education Blues

Written 5/28/08

I know you’re probably sick of hearing it, but I need to blog about my job again. This blog has turned into my main form of stress relief, and without it, I might just go insane.

Let me preempt this post with a disclaimer. I want to point out, without a shadow of a doubt, how much I love teachers.

My mother is a teacher. She is an incredible teacher. I have witnessed, for as long as I can remember, her dedication, long hours, hard work, passion, and frustration with teaching. She is the kind of teacher that I wish my children had every year. She stays late at school daily, and works during her weekends and vacations. She continually stays on top of new teaching methods, and researches the brain’s ability to learn. She takes the time to get to know her students’ different learning styles so that she can adapt her teaching style to teach them individually how they will best learn, all the while maintaining an orderly environment conducive to learning. I can remember, during my childhood, many instances of her bringing students home. These were not the students who were respectful, doing well, and got good grades. The students that my mom took a special interest in were the students who needed it most. These students were her most difficult. The one’s many teachers would like to see transferred to another class. She befriends them, takes them out to eat, and pays them to do petty work around the house. She stresses to them the importance of education, and I am confident that she has changed lives. I could NEVER do what she does. Because of her, I know that there are amazing teachers out there.

That being said, I got my results back from my students math eog’s. (end of grade tests). Out of my 25 current students, I have 4 that passed. Granted, the very nature of my program is to help students who are “at risk”. Therefore, I would have been surprised if the majority of them had passed. But, come on, 4? The worse part of this is that most of my students, because of my program, turn in their homework and have fairly good grades. I have a few students who failed the test miserably that have been on honor roll all year. ALL YEAR. My question is how does a teacher give a student an “A” or a “B” for a grade, when the student obviously has no grasp of the material? I have found that the grades my students are getting have nothing to do with what they are learning. The grades are mostly based on if the student does what they are told. If they sit quietly and don’t draw attention to themselves. If they turn in their homework (even if it is wrong). So these “good” students, whether they are learning anything or not, think that they are. They think, “Well, I have had a good grade in that class all year, I will do fine on the test” They don’t need to study, they don’t need to worry.

WHAT IS GOING ON??? There is a serious problem with the education system in our country. And, we’re the best country in the world. People die trying to come here to live. Why are our students performing so poorly compared to other countries? Why are our high-school students graduating with a VAST difference in knowledge depending on where they live? Why do I feel, as a parent, that I need to use my brother-in-laws address to get my kids into a different “better” school district then my own. It is so SAD that our children don’t have the same opportunity across the board. How does a student get an “A” in math all year, and then fail the math test miserably?


And about my particular students who all failed? My 8th graders will have 2 more chances to take the test, and will then be held back. Some will end up dropping out of school, because who wants to be 16 or 17 in the 8th grade? My 6th and 7th graders will be bumped up, until 8th grade, when they will be faced with the same dilemma. And unfortunately, they don’t understand the ramifications. 2 of my students were really upset. I was trying to console them about the test, and they both gave me blank stares. Then I found out that they had just “broken up”. Lord help us.

I would also like to take the time to thank someone. All of our children are absolutely brilliant, but 1 of them is particularly gifted. She is in the highest level of classes, and “AIG” (the intellectually gifted program). She is amazing. She also received her first “C” this year. Not because she didn’t do the homework, not because she wasn’t polite and respectful. She received a “C” because she was struggling with the material. So thank-you, Mrs. Culbertson, for being honest with her. Even if she cried. A lot. I would much rather my children be prepared and know what they need to work on, than think that they are doing better than they actually are because they don’t give someone problems in the classroom.