It's ironic that right after I posted this blurb about "I'm not going to write as much on this blog" that I suddenly have something very important to say.
This is going to offend some people. This is going to irritate some people. Color me apathetic in that regard.
About a week ago, my son came home with homework in his folder. This is Logan, who can barely write his own name, who can barely sit still long enough for me to read him a story. This is Logan, who enjoys playing Starfall and pbskids.org on the computer, but who has zero interest in learning letters and numbers on paper. This is MY KID, who has a wicked sense of humor, who longs to fit in, who is great at building things, who desperately wants friends and longs to play baseball. Now that we're clear on that, let me tell you about the homework that came home with him.
It was a worksheet. And it had a picture on it. And it directed him to "write a story about the picture".
I was a touch flabbergasted. Did I mention he can barely write his own name?
Just to clarify, I did ask his teacher about this. I was directed to help him with the homework, which I have no problem doing, and that as long he "puts something", it would be okay.
Perhaps it would be okay for her, but for Logan, it would cause a great deal of frustration, and he would get absolutely nothing out of it.
My kid, since moving up to 6th grade at his middle school, has been put in a drama class. It looks great on paper. It fulfills an arts requirement. It's also a class that he cannot effectively participate in. I got an email today about a monologue that he is supposed to do next Tuesday. This child has trouble communicating his most basic needs to me. I emailed his drama teacher about what exactly she expected from him. She hasn't replied as of the writing of this post.
It gets worse.
Today I met with some other parents of special needs kids and I met a lady who I will decline to identify. She brought her two sons with her, both special needs, both autistic. She told me she was homeschooling them. Why? Because the school enrolled one of them in a physics class. This kid could communicate effectively. Understand scientific concepts related to physics? No. Her description of the way the high school treated him? Just silly. That's what she said. I believe her now.
Another friend of mine, who also has a son on the spectrum, wanted to play football. He knows football, he has played football since he was in PeeWee. He was so excited. And while the school allowed him to enroll in football, he got off the bench once. No one helped him out in the locker room. He was eventually put into an algebra class, a class he could not possibly pass. Guess what that meant for him? No more football.
I worry about my son every single day that he goes to school in this district. He had excellent teachers in elementary school who strived to follow his ARD to the letter and truly cared about him, and I guess they set the bar pretty high. I know that I can always call an ARD meeting to address any concerns that I have, but the truth of the matter is it won't change anything. We have many dedicated, hard-working teachers who love their special ed students and bend over backwards to help them, but they are forced to work within the system that is in place. The truth is, and I want whoever is reading this to hear me, loud and clear, that this school district is not designed to accommodate special needs children in the best way possible. Many staff members are not knowledgeable about autism. Do you understand what that means? It means that this school district is doing its special needs population of students a great disservice. The number of autistic students is growing, every year. Why aren't teachers more educated about this disorder? Why isn't more training available? The other truth is that the school, and the community, can do more. We just agreed to a deal for our city that will allow for a ballpark, multiple eating establishments, hotels, and shopping venues, but my son's 6th grade teacher doesn't understand why an autistic child would want to wear the same clothes every day, and the school is putting him in classes he can't possibly succeed in. You know why? Because they have no where else to put him. There are no adaptive programs at our middle schools. And it's a shame because there could be. They could have adaptive art. They could explore musical instruments with these kids. They could offer adaptive sports. They could participate in special olympics. They could even include our children in newspaper stories and Facebook posts the same way that they include "normal" students, but it doesn't really happen. They could admit, finally, once and for all, that these kids are not given the same consideration that other students are given. Stop throwing our children into classes that they cannot possibly thrive in. Stop throwing worksheets at them that they cannot possibly do. Stop labeling it a "least restrictive environment". It's not. By trying to incorporate kids into situations that they aren't prepared for, in classes that they cannot possibly succeed in, (physics, for crying out loud), you are restricting them in the worst way. You are saying, We don't know what to do with you, so we are going to put you in here, even though we know you will never be able to calculate mass or understand gravity. Instead, could you actually, possibly, really care, and care enough to find out what they really need to work on, and what their strengths are, and maybe, possibly, incorporate that into their IEP, the way you're supposed to? Because we are tired, us parents. We are tired of fighting for what we know our kids should have. It would be so much easier if we went from A to Z without having to visit every other letter in the alphabet along the way. But I will tell you this. We will. If we have to, we will.
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