homeschooling special needs kids

[mopinko]

i had no idea that i was doing this, really. i don't think she would have ended up being identified and helped in the "regular schools". she sure wasn't when i eventually did send her. in fact, they really exacerbated her problems. she was dx'ed at 15 as bipolar, and may have that "upped" now that she is 18. she sees me as a purely bad person. we struggled all through our 8 years. and yet, because she got to do what she wanted to do, now that she is in therapeutic school, she is getting straight a's, and coping pretty well with her problems. especially, she had trouble learning to read, but once she got it, she read ALL THE TIME. i felt at the time that that was accomplishment enough, and i think it was.
but mostly, i felt like a complete failure. now that i see what we were up against, i can't believe we are all still alive.
anyone else here homeschooling special needs kids?