Splat Goes Life.

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...

This blog is meant to chronicle Jack's journey through his school years, as a child taking a number of medications to help him manage his emotions. We've been visiting with a new pediatrician for the last 3 years now, and they really have nothing to do with his diagnosis. We are , however, still seeing the same child psychiatrist that we've been seeing since the start of middle school (if not 4th or 5th grade? Time flies!). Although we only need to visit every few months or so, I'm still quite happy with her. (I still rave to people that she was the one willing to do the GeneSight testing . Had someone thought to do this before then, we might have skipped some of the trauma Jack has experienced). Jack has been on the same cocktail of meds since 6th or 7th grade- Risperidone and Prozac. (I hate typing that word, because it automatically shouts "crazy!". However, I know my son. He's not crazy). He's been on the lowest dose of Prozac since he started ...

The crazy train to high school is officially rolling into town. In less than a week, I will have two highschoolers on my hands! On Tuesday, I picked Savannah up from Marching Band Camp, to register her for school. (I've found it seems less complicated for the high school grades. However, if you need to walk a new student around a huge building, or need to see the guidance counselor, you'll be wishing you were dead). She'll be a Junior this year, and that just kind of freaks my brain out a little bit. Yesterday, I registered Jack. We made a morning out of it. We dropped Savannah off at camp, drove a block down to the local Kroger to buy him shoes for gym class, and then stopped off for breakfast (iced coffee for both!) before heading back to the school for 8:30am registration. It actually went pretty well, despite my needing a pen to fill out some form for Freshman "Make Friends" day. (Okay, I don't recall what it's called. I doubt my kid will be t...