Training (and training.. and.. training) a Child in the Way They Should Go

SO, where have I been you ask? Refer back to the title of this post. First of all Anastasia is doing great. No, that's not a she's doing great, everything is perfect, I mean she is doing great considering.
First of all in school- She is catching up quickly
Lack of vocabluary holds her back in some situations, she can't comprehend quick enought to act as quickly as the other children. Part of this is due to lack of comprehension the other part is due to her not paying attention.
Math is going great, she picks it up quickly, she can do addition, subtractions, up to number 10 and sometimes above, she can count by 5 and 10s, which I was not expecting yet. She is starting to memorize money and their values, this is proving to be more difficult for her.
REading is harder than math for her but she is still doing good in it. She knows all the sounds of the letter and can sound out small words, she is learning sight words and does well on her reading comprehension tests, although we are still doing the most simple of books, she is doing better and better.
Almost all of her difficulties come from her not paying attention, talking, etc.. She has had her seat moved, which was needed and has helped. People still baby her, teachers, students and parents alike. At this point I'm not sure why. I mean there is a reason she is not in in special ed, she is normal cognitively, but that is not how people treat her. Her teacher is holding her accountable for her actions, and I hope everyone else will get used to her and follow suit, becuase her being the center of attention all the time is not helping her behavior one bit. And I've never known a strong person who got that way by others babying them.
Overall in things other than PT I would say things are going much better than to be expected. PT is torture. I work with her everyday. Her and Gary clash and nothing gets done when he tries to work with her, although this is improving some. PT is full of nothing but self pity, anger, whining, acting out, crying, drama, etc... I know why, I mean she has never had to do anything before she came to us. It's not like any other child with CP who has had this their whole life. But this is beyond that, unfortunely part of her personality. She does not want to work, she does not care if she gets better or worse, if she never had to work again and that meant she couldn't walk, she would be fine with that. There is no self motivation, only self pity. I work and work to instill in her pride about the improvements she has made so far. She sees the evidence, but truly hates to work physically in any way shape or form. Do I sound harsh? Yes, is it the truth? Yes. Was I hoping things would turn around so I wouldn't have to do this post? Yes. Have I given up? No, no, no.

Last week I got a blessing, we got in at the PT clinic here in town. And she has started with a new therapist 2x a week. This therapist is on the same page as me, and is not babying Anastasia. This is a blessing to me because I was the only person holding Anastasia accountable, I was the bad guy all the time. Especially since her old therapist hardly made her do anything and she babied her. Now Anastasia sees that she really does have to work, not only for Mommy. And it takes some of the guilt off of me, I mean this is not fun. I tried to make it fun with prizes, silliness, etc.. None of this helped.
Just this week I found shoes that fit over her afos, that are much less bulky than her other shoes, she is able to walk smoother in them, and also able to sit criss cross apple sauce in them. Well I was observing her in class on Thursday and she was sitting on the floor with everyone else for a lesson. I told her to sit criss cross applesauce, she had done it on her own all during PE the day before without realizing it. So I tell her to do it, no big deal. She just looked at me. So got down on the floor in front of her and told her again, still calm. She just looks at me and smirks. I tell her one more time, then I tell her not to come out to the hall so we can talk. She says sitting that way hurts her booty, hmm, didn't hurt yesterday in PE. And besides she hadn't even tried, she was just plain defiant. So I tell her she will have a punishment to serve when we get home, when Mommy tells you to do something just to not do it is not an option. Well to make a point she went right back into that classroom and did not sit the way I told her to.
Why is this so hard. I mean when she has music and PE and is able to dance like the other children, on her own, something she couldn't do before, she gets a huge smile on her face, she is happy. When she can bend her knees and jump, just barely getting her little feet off the ground, she is so excited. She wants to do what the other children are doing. But if it gets her attention to not do it, she would rather take that road. I don't understand it. But I'm not giving up. I want her to be successful, happy, motivated, all that she can be. Not to sound corny. I don't want her to grow up to be self absorbed, self pitying, just waiting for someone to enable her. We all know people like that. Are they your true friends? Do they love God or do they hate them for the situations they are in? Are they self reliant?
If she ends up like that my heart will break. So right now we are training, training, training, and training this child in the way she should go.