***

That’s how I remember the call, and how I reflect now upon the impression I made then.

At her more distant remove, here’s how the judge between us, Dr. Susan Escheidt, recounts it:

HER DECISION OF June 3, 1996: 

On July 13, 1994, the appellant [that odd legal name for myself] contacts Mr. Eugene Pratt, the Keystone AEA Director of Special Education.  She indicates Ruffin has been seen by Dr. Temple, a pediatric neurologist at Gundersen Clinic, who has made a provisional diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disabilities and suggests she contact the AEA about services.  The appellant indicates she wants to proceed with having Ruffin evaluated by Keystone AEA with the possibility he be enrolled in an Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) class at the beginning of the 1994 school year. (See Development and Evaluation Report 8/1/94 [the bit of written evidence from my son’s thick educational file upon which our administrative law judge [ALJ] relies to establish these facts]).[1]

[1] Decision, p. 2. Past tense in decision shifted to present tense.