A few weeks ago, I was stopped by E’s preschool teacher when I came in to pick her up from school. She approached me awkwardly in a motion that, as a former preschool teacher myself, I recognized immediately as body language for “I need to speak to you about something important.”

I froze. What could it be? Did something happen at school today? A flurry of thoughts bombarded me as I tried to read the teacher’s face … did she have good news or bad news?

“I just wanted to chat with you real quick and let you know that … well, I think E is ready for regular preschool if you were interested in placing her with some typically developing peers.”

Say what now?

To clarify, the preschool that our daughter attends is an early intervention program provided by our school district. It’s a free program but to qualify a child has to be at least 3 years of age and have a significant enough of a development delay that early intervention is required. The kids in her program typically have a diagnosis of some sort, everything from autism to Down Syndrome.

When we first placed her in this program, it was when I was in the thick of the fog as I now like to refer to it – that first year post diagnosis when I was still struggling with the fact that autism was going to be a part of my child’s life and our family, whether we liked it or not. Her dad & I obviously both had hopes that eventually E would catch up to the point where she could be with other kids and it wouldn’t interfere with either her or the other kids’ learning experiences. We still hope for the day that we enter an IEP meeting at her school and get told that she doesn’t need any additional support anymore. And that may happen for her eventually! And it may not. But regardless, I just never imagined that I’d be told something like this before she even started kindergarten. When you want something so badly you almost don’t even dare to think about what the day it comes true might look like – to do so would be to tempt discontentment if it doesn’t happen. So all this time, I’ve just been putting one foot bravely in front of the other; focusing on the here & now and praying & planning that the Lord do what He wills with E. I usually don’t think too much about the future because I don’t know what to expect. So to be told at this point that as far as a preschool setting is concerned, our daughter is ready and able, is incredible news. It took everything in me not to hug her teacher on the spot and squeeze the life out of her.

I still don’t know what’s going to happen regarding kindergarten placement for E – whether she’ll be mainstreamed or what not. Realistically, she will most likely still need some kind of support during kindergarten … but I’m not going to dwell too much on that right now. For now, I’m still celebrating the fact that she’s come this far and I’m so proud of her for it.