4 days for the ms to screw up
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| Wed, 08-29-2007 - 9:45am |
sorry this is long and all I do lately is come here to vent... but noone else really seems to get the stuff I have to deal with.
so, why did we have a 2 hour long IEP last spring to make sure everything my son needed was on paper before going to middle school? Why did I spend hours before school started walking him through his schedule and talking to the assistant principals, teachers, speech therapist, resource teacher, resource case manager, and guidance counselor. I reexplained his issues to each and every one of them. I emphasized that he needed to know when his schedule would change, when he would go to an assembly, when he would go out to the speech therapist, when there will be a fire drill, they must be sure he understands, not just verbally but that he has the written schedule in his hand so that he can remind himself and get himself ready. We have worked and worked on him being able to sit in a crowd (church sometimes is really difficult but it's good training!), walk through a crowd w/ someone he trusts, be in a noisy place for a short period of time. We went over supplies with him, and asked that they get him a list of what he needs for each class and have a resource teacher (since an aide will not ever be available for him--rolling of eyes) make sure he has his supplies for the first few weeks so he will get in the habit of what he needs. BUT NO! they screwed up everything in the first 4 days!
THANK GOODNESS for a wonderful OT who Weston knows and who knows my son! Yesterday she called and said, "so, how has Weston been at home" HA! stressed out and stimmy. She said, "did he tell you what happened yesterday?" (that would have been Monday) NO! apparently they decided that since the assembly was scheduled and it didn't change his actual schedule (they just left as a class from social studies) that they didn't need to tell him in advance that there would be an assembly! GEEEZ! He can't do loud places, loud noises, confusion, lots of people, esp if they're touching him and you decide he doesn't need to be warned about a middle school assembly with 1000 sixth graders plus teachers there? He melted, crying, curled up in a ball, rocking, yelling for people to be quiet and let him go away! Then, they didn't get the OT to help him-- just left him in a classroom w/ someone talking to him-- then expected him to go back to class after 10 minutes. AND it's not important for his parents to know when he has an episode-- no communication whatsoever came from the school he actually goes to.
The special ed director from the elementary school and the OT were furious! (Yeah!) They called the assistant principal, compliance secretary and special ed director of the district yesterday when they found out. Apparently whoever is supposed to be his case manager at the new school hadn't read the IEP additions we'd made in the spring. The ST who had had him in 3rd grade and was sort of going from what issues he'd had then and a phone call by the other ST from last year-- they disregarded actually reading the whole IEP! geez! (oh, we'll figure it out sometime in the first couple weeks of school does NOT work for an autistic kid)
The OT is having a mandatory inservice for his teachers (all of them, even the PE and spanish teachers)-- so that they will all be aware of his triggers and sensory issues, and since the resource teacher doesn't seem to "get" his other issues the OT will bring in the autism specialist to explain more and have more weight.
I really want people to stop giving me lip service, saying "oh, yes, we've had autistic kids before, we know all about how to teach them" (rolling of eyes!). Just make an effort and listen to me sometimes-- I really do know my kid!
Betsy

Geez Betsy,
Have they never heard the saying "If you've met one kid with Autism, you've met one kid with Autism"?
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
"I really want people to stop giving me lip service, saying "oh, yes, we've had autistic kids before, we know all about how to teach them" (rolling of eyes!). Just make an effort and listen to me sometimes-- I really do know my kid!"
Boy ain't that the truth! I've heard it so often that it's hard not to laugh in their face when they say it. Another thing they do around here is to request that Dad attend the meeting because Mom is too emotional. Actually my husband is very mild mannered and would probably go along with anything they wanted if Mama Bear wasn't around. I feel so bad for your son. So many "incidents" happen in school and when we hear about them we say "Oh come on! they should have seen that coming from a mile away. Are they really that clueless?" Yes they are.