For the past 4 years I have meticulously planned what I thought would be fantastic vacations that would thrill the kids, instead I repeatedly came home disappointed, frustrated and broke.
This year it hit me, I've been approaching family vacation all wrong! Despite the time, money and effort I put into creating our "Perfect Family Vacations" nobody was really ever happy. Evyn (my teenager) was almost always angry that her brother had to be part of our vacation. So when I would say "Let's go do…." she would refuse. She didn't want to go anywhere her brother went (which was everywhere since it was only the 3 of us and leaving him alone was not an option). Then as if on cue, Nicky's agitation would increase - being asked to wait and the tension oozing from me as I begged, cajoled or demanded his sister to join us, only sent him into tantrum mode - reinforcing why his sister didn't want to hang out with him. I couldn’t believe I was begging kids to have fun.
I started feeling frustrated, angry, sad and hurt because it seemed to me that at the very least my big kid could be appreciative or show some visible signs of excitement. It seemed I was the only one who cared if we had a good time. But, in retrospect I realize that I didn't just care that my family had a nice vacation I had packed a extra bag filled with single parent guilt and desires to create fairy tale memories in our very un fairy tale life.
After years of failures I finally learned and this year I got it right. I learned that I cannot "plan" a perfect vacation for our family, because nothing ruins a trip faster than loading it down with too many expectations. I learned to drop all my ideas about "how vacations should be". I learned that I was delusional thinking that my kids would be magically transformed into different people because we were on vacation. So I gave up my fantasy this year and accepted that I can't make us the family you see in the travel video's! So on this trip, I gave in (I didn't say gave up) and just let the cards fall as they may and we actually had moments where we looked like one of those vacation video families. Incredible!!!
So how did I get there, I had to:
• Drop all expectations of having the perfect trip.
• Not spend so much money that if they don't have fun, I will feel angry or resentful or in debt.
• Accept that my kids don't seem to care where we go as long as there is water (preferably a pool)
• Plan a vacation where a pool is the centerpiece.
• Get the teenager her own room (even if it means a cheaper hotel)
• Resist the temptation to pressure my daughter to participate in activities with us.
• Be willing to just go about my business, CALMLY no matter how either of them behaves.
• Eliminate activities/plans that had to attended at a certain time or you forfeit your money because they create too much pressure.
• Commit to enjoying myself, not making them enjoy themselves
• Repeat to myself “Pressure Free” and resist my natural tendency to over plan
• Keep vacations local. Airplanes, passports and borders are too much when traveling with my kids.
• Nothing takes the joy out a family trip faster than stress. Just find a place, park us, relax and enjoy each other.
• Pack our cloths and not my guilt! :)
We’re home now and I’m happy and so are the kids and if I may be so bold, I think they even enjoyed each other.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Off to Middle School. Nicky's Okay, Pray for the Mama!
I remember the roller coaster ride of finding the right elementary school for Nicky. It was so emotional as we enrolled and then left three schools in our area, because they were not able to accommodate his needs. It wasn't fun, but in the end we found an incredible local school with teachers and administrators that were open and willing to try full inclusion and work as a team so Nicky.
Tomorrow I'll enroll Nicky in his new school. The reality that we have left the safe haven of his elementary school and are entering the unknown again, has brought on that "mommy knot" in my stomach.
Half of my brain is excited and grateful that we found a public school where he will be in the general population and not isolated in a special education classroom. His new school boasts an environment where all kids are special, all are unique and each deserves to be nurtured as individuals. As a mom of a special needs kid, I have experienced that some schools really mean it; except for when it comes to our kids with autism, who represent the unknown. By welcoming us his new school has confirmed that they do think all kids have something to offer and all kids deserve a good education with opportunity, not just neuro typical kids. I don't expect that we won't have our challenges, but I'm encouraged that we are starting in a good place.
One local school found excuse after excuse to deny Nicky’s entry into a general education program I wanted for him. I gave up trying to get him in the school after receiving a phone message from the school saying "Hi, just calling to discuss if this school is r e a l l y the right place for Nicky and the other 33 children he would share the class with?”. This was not a very welcoming statement and I felt that her concern was not for Nicky, but for the other kids and maybe unequipped teachers. At that moment I stopped the battle to get in because I realized nothing would be gained by forcing him into a place where he was not wanted. I believe that she was worried about the problems she "believed" a student like Nicky would cause, and completely lacked any understanding of the gifts his presence would have been for the other students. I am also certain that this person was ignorant of the blatant discrimination and the pain it caused me to hear her bias. What I do know is that not having students like Nicky will be their loss. Nicky has so much to teach, he has talents typical kids don't have, he loves to learn and in elementary school he taught his peers and his teachers everyday. Over and over Nicky broke someone’s paradigm about disabilities, retardation and autism. It was a miraculous thing to watch and everyone benefited from his inclusion.
I pray that in his middle school experience - where the doors of tolerance and acceptance seem open - everyone will learn from this amazing little man!
The other half of my brain is worried that middle school will be an insensitive place filled with expectations that Nicky will not be able to meet. He won't easily blend in among the second language learners and kids who are at different stages development. Gone will be the sweet stereotypical kindergarten type teachers. Middle school is busy, fast-paced, the kids enter puberty, boys snap girls’ bra straps, they form clicks, kids have up to 6 teachers per day, they begin dating, judging others, the pressure of college begins, and social activities become everything.
Nicky still looks and acts like a little kid. I can't imagine what puberty will be like for him (or me. His clothes look hip because I hate that special needs kids dress like Erkel. His very hip therapist will help me pick the latest styles for him, so he looks good, but it’s not because Nicky cares. If he is interested in girls, I can't tell. If he wanted to talk to one, he couldn't do it. He would just jump up and down and make noises, stare at his hands and try to poke her in the tummy. Hot...NOT. He's not interested in any sports, and his passions are puzzles, letters, signing, animals, writing lists and videos - hardly middle school "In" stuff. At this moment, I just can't imagine how he will fit in. I can't imagine how he will feel because he doesn't have the ability to verbalize many of his feelings. I'm worried for him. His classmates in elementary school have loved him and taken care of him, and I wonder who will look out for him with the social pressures of middle school. And if no one does, how will that affect him? Will he feel the pain when he realizes his friends have moved on? Is now the time that he is going to become aware of how he is different? Is the time coming when I have to explain autism to him? Will he be sad and not able to tell me? Will I be able to help? Will he plateau now that he’s out of elementary school? Is a cure out of sight for him?
Then I take a deep breath and I am reminded that he's not scared. Nicky doesn't really know what middle school is, because he hasn't been there yet. Clearly, I’m the one who is not emotionally ready for Nicky to cross this bridge. I’m the one who is worried about the future I cannot see, not Nicky. He doesn't have any of my dread, and I envy him that. He's just anxious wondering if the new school will have a library and eyewitness videos.
As I think about it, we are as prepared as we can be. We have an all male behavioral support team that will be at school with him. So he won’t look funny with a girl aid and he can learn the man stuff that the girls can't teach him (you might want to read my post about urinals - very funny). I think they are the greatest male therapists on the planet and they will be there everyday. We even have one big guy, who is so cool the kids love to hang out with him. And he loves Nicky. I know Nicky will be safe, and his team will continue to protect him, teach him and create opportunities for him to make friends and fit in.
Some moms have even told me that their teenage kids made some of their greatest strides around age 11. So that is the picture I will hold up - not the image of my kid in a corner alone, sad, unable to communicate or understand his feelings.
Truth be told, no one around Nicky would let him sit in a corner alone, and Nicky can't sit still for more than 20 minutes anyway! I don't have to worry about that. Nicky will be okay. We will all be okay. Here's to the future and possibilities that are yet unknown to us.
Oh one more thing. This school goes through high school. So, god willing we won’t have to go through this for another 7 years! Yippee
Friday, August 14, 2009
Great Day!
The school support NPA agency we work with just found a new male BI to go to school with Nicky in the fall! Yippee Not easy because we not only look for excellent skills but folks who have a good attitude and a philosophical match with the team. The fact that they found the person before school starts is great too because he and Nicky will have a chance to get acquainted before Nicky begins his new school in September.
Oh yes, it's great when things fall into place.
AND
Miss Evyn is off on her first swim party on her own. I know she's 16 but she is very very slow to pick friends and even slower to accept invitations. She's been in high school for two years and this is the first time she has accepted or extended an invitation from a kid at school. To me it's a sign that she's growing up and getting comfortable in her skin. This make me very happy :)
So thanks for the little miracles!
Oh yes, it's great when things fall into place.
AND
Miss Evyn is off on her first swim party on her own. I know she's 16 but she is very very slow to pick friends and even slower to accept invitations. She's been in high school for two years and this is the first time she has accepted or extended an invitation from a kid at school. To me it's a sign that she's growing up and getting comfortable in her skin. This make me very happy :)
So thanks for the little miracles!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Fight To Be Heard
Do better whatever you do. No matter how capable, we must work, think study and do better. This alone leads to mastery, leadership and independence.
G. Borglum
This morning I read an article summarizing California's budget crisis. The story was short, but not sweet. It said what we all know. The state has been out of fiscal control; many who represent us have acted irresponsibly and the time has come when we all have to pay.
As a mom who began going to Sacramento five years ago asking our legislators (on both sides of the isle) to please respond to the autism epidemic and our state's (then pending) financial crisis I can't tell you how disheartened I felt each time I left Sacramento. There were the occasional bold politicians who would not make time for us and the ones who had no knowledge of the entitlements in place for people with severe developmental disabilities. But for the most part one "public servant" after another would say, "Of course I want to help disabled children and of course I understand and appreciate that we must protect the most vulnerable individuals in our communities." or “I really didn’t understand the impact of the autism epidemic until now and I agree that something must happen to help families.” or "I've always been an advocate for the special needs community and I won't stop now." or "I understand and I'm doing all I can, but the problem is not me it's those other guys."
Well intentioned bureaucrats push out plans and policies, because on paper the numbers add up, then they pass them along for implementation. The result, I fear, will always be many bad decisions stacked upon more bad decisions that will not achieve the desired result because, in reality, major system-wide changes made by people who lack intimate knowledge of ALL the working parts are subject to failure for a myriad of reasons. For now it seems we are just putting our finger in a dike praying for a miracle before it explodes.
But it will explode, with plans that are too expensive to implement, impossible to implement (because of real world limitations), offer short terms solutions that fail to address the underlying problems are simply inadequate or in some cases destructive.
For example; I was told that one California school district may stop funding any after school in home interventions (i.e: ABA or priming) for our children unless they can be provided in a clinical setting! An impracticable maneuver because few parents can leave work to get their kids to a clinic after school, and few NPA in-home/school service providers have clinics that can accommodate the numbers of children getting after school programs. I was also told that in response to California’s budget crisis, one regional center cut all its social skills programs, determining those services fell into the same category as summer camp "social recreation" which the state has stopped funding. Our kids have no life without social communication; real social skills training is a proven therapy for children with ASD it is vital, not recreational.
In another cost cutting move I hear that a major school district may be charting a move away from their existing "inclusion" model and back to the restrictive model of special classes for all children with ASD. Hardly the "least restrictive" environment we are promised by law, but a major cost cutter when you think how much cheaper it would be for schools if they did not have to provide kids with one on one aides or NPA behaviorists.
It's not easy to keep my faith in our representatives who collectively, for all the talk and promises, didn't change course to avoid this crisis. As I learn about vital services and programs that our kids need being cut daily. School districts and state run programs are scrambling to stay afloat by taking away everything from summer school, to PE, to transportation. Regional Centers and their vendors are trying to manage the impossible task of figuring out how to follow the law, maintain the integrity of the entitlement system, while abiding by the mandated budget cuts, when they have been living with rate freezes the populations they serve continue to grow to record numbers.
If I sound angry, I am. But I am not just angry. I am horrified, not for me but for us, our society our children. I don't understand what it will take for us to learn that bad decisions stacked on bad decisions in search of short term solutions never work, they only postpone the inevitable.
It seems so obvious to me that we must take care of our most vulnerable populations to insure a better quality of life for each of us. It seems obvious to me that the individuals impacted by the autism epidemic have such potential and they deserve the opportunity to live their best life. I assumed other people agreed and we were safe. Well, I don't feel safe. I don't feel as if I can assume anything. I don't believe that I can expect anything. Right now I feel as if our country is turning its back on my son's life struggle, a situation not of his own choosing and from which all dignity will have been stripped if he is not valued in our society. Without a social safety net, where will he live? Will we bring back the massive institutions to house the DD population that we worked so hard to close? If not, what? Will he live in substandard housing, lacking social skills, without access to a work program, without a job, unable to care for himself, unable to afford qualified assistance, vulnerable to predators and stripped from having the opportunity to contribute to society?
So, all I can do is live the quotation I placed at the top of the page, and do better. Fight for my son while I wonder if maybe, just maybe, as a result of the seemingly overwhelming challenges we take on 24/7 raising our special needs kids (that people can't begin to comprehend), combined with our grief, exhaustion and overwhelming schedules, I have not been loud enough.
Clearly not, or I would not have the need to write this. We must find a WAY TO BE LOUDER. We must leverage everything we have as voters, so that our politicians and bureaucrats will know that even when autism brings silence to an individual it does not mean that they have no voice. We are their voice!
G. Borglum
This morning I read an article summarizing California's budget crisis. The story was short, but not sweet. It said what we all know. The state has been out of fiscal control; many who represent us have acted irresponsibly and the time has come when we all have to pay.
As a mom who began going to Sacramento five years ago asking our legislators (on both sides of the isle) to please respond to the autism epidemic and our state's (then pending) financial crisis I can't tell you how disheartened I felt each time I left Sacramento. There were the occasional bold politicians who would not make time for us and the ones who had no knowledge of the entitlements in place for people with severe developmental disabilities. But for the most part one "public servant" after another would say, "Of course I want to help disabled children and of course I understand and appreciate that we must protect the most vulnerable individuals in our communities." or “I really didn’t understand the impact of the autism epidemic until now and I agree that something must happen to help families.” or "I've always been an advocate for the special needs community and I won't stop now." or "I understand and I'm doing all I can, but the problem is not me it's those other guys."
Well intentioned bureaucrats push out plans and policies, because on paper the numbers add up, then they pass them along for implementation. The result, I fear, will always be many bad decisions stacked upon more bad decisions that will not achieve the desired result because, in reality, major system-wide changes made by people who lack intimate knowledge of ALL the working parts are subject to failure for a myriad of reasons. For now it seems we are just putting our finger in a dike praying for a miracle before it explodes.
But it will explode, with plans that are too expensive to implement, impossible to implement (because of real world limitations), offer short terms solutions that fail to address the underlying problems are simply inadequate or in some cases destructive.
For example; I was told that one California school district may stop funding any after school in home interventions (i.e: ABA or priming) for our children unless they can be provided in a clinical setting! An impracticable maneuver because few parents can leave work to get their kids to a clinic after school, and few NPA in-home/school service providers have clinics that can accommodate the numbers of children getting after school programs. I was also told that in response to California’s budget crisis, one regional center cut all its social skills programs, determining those services fell into the same category as summer camp "social recreation" which the state has stopped funding. Our kids have no life without social communication; real social skills training is a proven therapy for children with ASD it is vital, not recreational.
In another cost cutting move I hear that a major school district may be charting a move away from their existing "inclusion" model and back to the restrictive model of special classes for all children with ASD. Hardly the "least restrictive" environment we are promised by law, but a major cost cutter when you think how much cheaper it would be for schools if they did not have to provide kids with one on one aides or NPA behaviorists.
It's not easy to keep my faith in our representatives who collectively, for all the talk and promises, didn't change course to avoid this crisis. As I learn about vital services and programs that our kids need being cut daily. School districts and state run programs are scrambling to stay afloat by taking away everything from summer school, to PE, to transportation. Regional Centers and their vendors are trying to manage the impossible task of figuring out how to follow the law, maintain the integrity of the entitlement system, while abiding by the mandated budget cuts, when they have been living with rate freezes the populations they serve continue to grow to record numbers.
If I sound angry, I am. But I am not just angry. I am horrified, not for me but for us, our society our children. I don't understand what it will take for us to learn that bad decisions stacked on bad decisions in search of short term solutions never work, they only postpone the inevitable.
It seems so obvious to me that we must take care of our most vulnerable populations to insure a better quality of life for each of us. It seems obvious to me that the individuals impacted by the autism epidemic have such potential and they deserve the opportunity to live their best life. I assumed other people agreed and we were safe. Well, I don't feel safe. I don't feel as if I can assume anything. I don't believe that I can expect anything. Right now I feel as if our country is turning its back on my son's life struggle, a situation not of his own choosing and from which all dignity will have been stripped if he is not valued in our society. Without a social safety net, where will he live? Will we bring back the massive institutions to house the DD population that we worked so hard to close? If not, what? Will he live in substandard housing, lacking social skills, without access to a work program, without a job, unable to care for himself, unable to afford qualified assistance, vulnerable to predators and stripped from having the opportunity to contribute to society?
So, all I can do is live the quotation I placed at the top of the page, and do better. Fight for my son while I wonder if maybe, just maybe, as a result of the seemingly overwhelming challenges we take on 24/7 raising our special needs kids (that people can't begin to comprehend), combined with our grief, exhaustion and overwhelming schedules, I have not been loud enough.
Clearly not, or I would not have the need to write this. We must find a WAY TO BE LOUDER. We must leverage everything we have as voters, so that our politicians and bureaucrats will know that even when autism brings silence to an individual it does not mean that they have no voice. We are their voice!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
RIP Eurice Shriver Your Legacy will live on in our kids forever!
I received this Message from Tim Shriver (Enice Shrivers's son) this morning in my Email and I wanted to share it with everyone. Her life is a reminder that we all have something special to give. We may not all start the Special Olympics but we all have something special to give.
It is with a heavy heart that I write to let you know that my mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, passed away early this morning.
At the time of her death -- as it was throughout her long and full life -- she was surrounded by her family, her husband, her children, her grandchildren and those who loved her.
Though at the end her body had become weak, her heart was strong and it was abundantly full. It was overflowing with faith in God’s will. It was replete with a sense of contentment about the past and a deep hope for the future. It was full of love and gratitude for those to whom she had dedicated her life’s work and who had in return given her life the gifts of clarity, aspiration and friendship.
Her heart was full indeed of faith, hope and love. She was very much at peace.
As I write to you, her extended family of the Special Olympics movement that she loved so deeply, it is hard not to recognize that these same traits that sustained her at the time of her death had fulfilled and motivated her throughout her lifetime of advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities -- or as she always said, her "special friends."
Her faith in the athletes of Special Olympics was unfailing, even from the very start. When she was young and Special Olympics was still just an idea, few people particularly cared or knew about people with intellectual disabilities. Fewer still shared or understood her dream to awaken the spirit and denied potential of this forgotten population. And yet, though others could not see, she still believed, conceiving Special Olympics in her heart before she could unveil it on the field of play.
She believed that people with intellectual disabilities could – individually and collectively – achieve more than anyone thought possible. This much she knew with unbridled faith and certainty. And this faith in turn gave her hope that their future might be radically different.
Her faith in them allowed her to hope for an army of supporters – coaches, volunteers, donors, fans – that would emerge and grow and become the foundation upon which a worldwide human rights movement would be built. It allowed her to envision a world of formerly skeptical people who would witness the accomplishments of our athletes and say "Yes! I understand!" Hope allowed her to see the invisible, fight for the isolated and achieve the impossible.
But mostly, it was her unconditional love for the athletes of Special Olympics that so fulfilled her life. As Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and social activist reminded us: "the beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image, lest we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."
Her love for the athletes of Special Olympics was always just like that. She never hoped that people with intellectual disabilities should be somehow changed into something they were not. Rather, she fought throughout her life to ensure that they would be allowed to reach their full potential so that we might in turn be changed by them, forced to recognize our own false assumptions and their inherent gifts.
She fought the good fight, she kept the faith, and though she knew the race for equality was not finished, she knew that the army of supporters she had hoped for long ago had become a reality that would carry and someday complete her vision. On her behalf, as we prepare to say our last goodbyes, my family and I thank you for your shared commitment to that dream.
My family and I would be proud and honored if you would take some time to learn more about her life, share your own remembrances about her, and read the remembrances of others at a website that was recently established to honor her legacy, www.eunicekennedyshriver.org . In the spirit of her hope that everyone would share in the power of Special Olympics, I hope you’ll not only read and contribute to the site, but share it with friends.
With great appreciation,
Timothy P. Shriver
Chairman and CEO
Special Olympics
It is with a heavy heart that I write to let you know that my mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, passed away early this morning.
At the time of her death -- as it was throughout her long and full life -- she was surrounded by her family, her husband, her children, her grandchildren and those who loved her.
Though at the end her body had become weak, her heart was strong and it was abundantly full. It was overflowing with faith in God’s will. It was replete with a sense of contentment about the past and a deep hope for the future. It was full of love and gratitude for those to whom she had dedicated her life’s work and who had in return given her life the gifts of clarity, aspiration and friendship.
Her heart was full indeed of faith, hope and love. She was very much at peace.
As I write to you, her extended family of the Special Olympics movement that she loved so deeply, it is hard not to recognize that these same traits that sustained her at the time of her death had fulfilled and motivated her throughout her lifetime of advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities -- or as she always said, her "special friends."
Her faith in the athletes of Special Olympics was unfailing, even from the very start. When she was young and Special Olympics was still just an idea, few people particularly cared or knew about people with intellectual disabilities. Fewer still shared or understood her dream to awaken the spirit and denied potential of this forgotten population. And yet, though others could not see, she still believed, conceiving Special Olympics in her heart before she could unveil it on the field of play.
She believed that people with intellectual disabilities could – individually and collectively – achieve more than anyone thought possible. This much she knew with unbridled faith and certainty. And this faith in turn gave her hope that their future might be radically different.
Her faith in them allowed her to hope for an army of supporters – coaches, volunteers, donors, fans – that would emerge and grow and become the foundation upon which a worldwide human rights movement would be built. It allowed her to envision a world of formerly skeptical people who would witness the accomplishments of our athletes and say "Yes! I understand!" Hope allowed her to see the invisible, fight for the isolated and achieve the impossible.
But mostly, it was her unconditional love for the athletes of Special Olympics that so fulfilled her life. As Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and social activist reminded us: "the beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image, lest we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."
Her love for the athletes of Special Olympics was always just like that. She never hoped that people with intellectual disabilities should be somehow changed into something they were not. Rather, she fought throughout her life to ensure that they would be allowed to reach their full potential so that we might in turn be changed by them, forced to recognize our own false assumptions and their inherent gifts.
She fought the good fight, she kept the faith, and though she knew the race for equality was not finished, she knew that the army of supporters she had hoped for long ago had become a reality that would carry and someday complete her vision. On her behalf, as we prepare to say our last goodbyes, my family and I thank you for your shared commitment to that dream.
My family and I would be proud and honored if you would take some time to learn more about her life, share your own remembrances about her, and read the remembrances of others at a website that was recently established to honor her legacy, www.eunicekennedyshriver.org . In the spirit of her hope that everyone would share in the power of Special Olympics, I hope you’ll not only read and contribute to the site, but share it with friends.
With great appreciation,
Timothy P. Shriver
Chairman and CEO
Special Olympics
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Discrimination, Ignorance and Middle School!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This post is all about venting!!!! Seems some folks at my local middle school have forgotten what it means to be a "Public" School.
They have been batting me around like a cat does a mouse, giving me excuse after excuse why they have not "Yet" enrolled Nicky in their SML technology program. I’m just being stalled because they don't know how to say "We just don't want him here" or "We are afraid it will disrupt the other kids" or "We don't understand this population and we don't want to deal with something we don't understand".
Adding insult to injury, I really think they believe I am too stupid to know they are making excuses, or that I could actually do something about it.
How could any school administrator not know that record numbers of ASD kids were going to leave elementary school and show up on their doorstep, many ready and capable of participating fully in general education classrooms. Wake up folks…gone are the day’s of just special day programs and costly NPA’s for ASD kids. They are here and each is entitled to get an education in the “Least Restrictive Environment”!
More to come….when I cool off.
They have been batting me around like a cat does a mouse, giving me excuse after excuse why they have not "Yet" enrolled Nicky in their SML technology program. I’m just being stalled because they don't know how to say "We just don't want him here" or "We are afraid it will disrupt the other kids" or "We don't understand this population and we don't want to deal with something we don't understand".
Adding insult to injury, I really think they believe I am too stupid to know they are making excuses, or that I could actually do something about it.
How could any school administrator not know that record numbers of ASD kids were going to leave elementary school and show up on their doorstep, many ready and capable of participating fully in general education classrooms. Wake up folks…gone are the day’s of just special day programs and costly NPA’s for ASD kids. They are here and each is entitled to get an education in the “Least Restrictive Environment”!
More to come….when I cool off.
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