Coming to the end of the school year, I have to write a post that really comes from my heart. For all the year's that I have advocated, guided, controlled, and most importantly, helped my daughter in school and life, we come to the end of her high school years. I have tried to write about all the issues that I feel people should know about, how I dealt with them, and maybe, someone out there can glean some information for their child. This past weekend some pretty monumental occurrences happened in my daughter's life. The first huge hurtle was that she drove herself to and from school last week. Why do you say this is monumental? Well my daughter has NVLD and an anxiety issue in which she doesn't display much self confidence. Driving alone and to a place that she knows is Huge! I am so proud of her, this is a life skill she will need for the rest of her life. This skill is what is going to help her get to a job, and help us as a family. Big Hurtle! The second monumental hurtle was in school. In my daughter's high school in order to graduate they had to complete a capstone project. This project was given to them in Junior year. They had to pick a profession that they felt they would like to go into and pick a mentor. In picking this mentor, they had to log in time hours and at the end present to a panel of peers and teachers to pass and graduate. My daughter took this project head on, went and advocated for herself, found a mentor and proceeded do her project throughout the year. Yes, there were hiccups, don't get me wrong but they have finished the process and now they have to present. On Friday my daughter's Special Education teacher wrote me the most wonderful email I could have gotten. She asked my daughter to give her presentation to her guided learning class, as sort of a pre-presentation. She said that she was not nervous, was poised, confident, head held up and knew everything she presented. She presented for 10 minutes straight. She wrote that she was so proud of my daughter and that if I were there I would be just as proud. Cry, you betcha! For a child that had no confidence, very little self esteem, I knew that everything that she worked for throughout the years all paid off and will continue to be with her going forward in college. Don't get me wrong there will be setbacks, but I realize now that setbacks are all learning to get her where she needs to be. Of course the icing on the cake was that this weekend was the prom. Yes, she had a date, and it was lovely. She met her friends at another girls house and they had a great time. Another monumental hurtle, ADD and NVLD had difficulty with keeping friends. This was most rewarding seeing her have friends that she had a good time with. This took quite a bit of work and group therapy on her part, but it certainly paid off. I guess my advice today is patience, perserverence , love and hope, these are key to helping your child.