Splat Goes Life.

I sometimes wonder to myself how it is that the people I have entrusted my son to- his body, and his education- do not seem to care about what they're doing? Okay, 1.) First off, all teachers- all school staff- are human. They make mistakes, they f-ck up. This, I get. They might really care about Jack, and they STILL mess up. (Not much different from being a parent. Heck, I probably screw up in some way on a daily basis. Does not mean that I don't love that kid). 2.) They have a LOT of students to manage. (Which means almost twice as many guardians). The local high school has almost 3,000 kids. I do not have the stats for how many are "special needs"- on an IEP, a 504, requiring constant supervision, etc.. NO idea. I do know there are well over a dozen Intervention Specialists at this particular school, and they each have any number of kids to attend to in some way, 5 days a week. So, again.. I get that. BUT! what I do not get is the lack of communicat...

For those of you with these "anonymous" blogs.. have you ever gone back after your child has graduated, and shared these with their former school, or the teachers? Just so they know what they did wrong? How their school, and how their own behaviors have negatively impacted your family? Because shouldn't they know? Should they be allowed to continue treating our children (other ASD/SN kids) how they have been? Granted, not all schools are generally bad. Not all teachers are bad. BUT it is a fact that our special needs children are not being treated the same way our neuro-typical children are. Savannah has not had the same experiences Jack has. Sure, they're two different people with different needs. But that's beside the point. If you've done this- printed out your journal and mailed it off to the school- anonymously or otherwise, I would LOVE for you to respond to this. PLEASE. I'm dying to know.

It's been ages since the last update, and that's because life turned upside down for a while. It's still not quite "right", but it's about as best as it's going to get for a while. Thursday was my first official IEP meeting as the parent of a high school student with Autism. That's a huge milestone for any Autism parent (or parent of a kiddo with special needs), that most simply do not think about. Many parents take for granted that their "typical" child will move through preschool, and then K-12, with zero hiccups. It's just how it is. Sure, grades go up and down like a kid's moods, but they all end up with a diploma at the end. (We hope). However, parents of ASD kids often find themselves wondering how to get their kids an education, when their kids seem unable to learn, or read, or even speak. Jack is not in that situation, thank goodness for him. However, given his entire past history of behaviors, there was no taking for g...

I don't know what things irritate you as a parent- kids asking you to play "Tea Party" with them, or perhaps finding them reading under the covers with a flashlight, etc. For me, it's kids who think a bright idea is going to make them mad amounts of money. Don't get me wrong. I love stories on the news about young kids raising money for (let's say) homeless people. Maybe they're collecting food, new socks, new and unwrapped gifts, etc. There are a lot of kind-hearted kids out there. I don't begrudge them at all. (I do wonder a bit if that was really their own idea, or their parent's? Call me cynical). My kids have never been those to want to give back. My daughter, Savannah, did once sell about $50 worth of pipe cleaner animals she made, but was ultimately only allowed to sell them if she gave the money to the school for the local low-income residents in our city. Kind gesture, though certainly not what she had in mind. My son has had his ...

There are some mornings- some days- where I shake my head and just don't even know what to say. This would be one of those days. Jack is a Freshman this year.So far, the year has gone pretty swimmingly. Grades are A's and B's, there have been no calls home, he's only had one missing assignment (and it was turning in a form for a class about safety). I haven't heard a peep about problems on the bus, either. All in all, it's been good. Then there are these moments that I just can't believe. The PSAT is today, and per the email from the school, Accommodated testing (504 plans and IEPs) may last as long as 5 hours, if your extended time results in 2 days worth of testing you will be notified of your day 2 testing location prior to the close of day 1. Please plan for a sacked lunch if you have accommodated testing. Notice that nowhere in that statement does it say the following: 1.) If you have extended time accommodations, you cannot leave after y...

A week or so ago, the Freshman had a special event at the school football game. My son is not at all into the sport, but because his friends were going, he wanted to go. (This a good thing, obviously. It also gave me and his dad a good few hours alone, for a "date night". Jack was at this event, and Savannah was in the event. I dropped him off at the high school, but walked with him (or, well, separately but on the same path *rolls eyes*) to make sure he was able to find his friends amongst the crowd. One of the mothers there recognized me, and we chatted for a few moments. What I found out was literally jaw dropping. I'm still going "HUH?!" When the kids registered for classes in the Spring, one of their options was for a Robotics course- "Intro", which should have been little-to-no issue, since the kids had pretty much all taken a version of this class for half of the previous school year. After the kids selected their classes, parents of kid...