Failure to Yield...

Eeekk, What a way to begin the week.

My dear husband (aka Lance Armstrong) was out for his usual morning ride when he was struck by an oncoming car making a left hand turn in front of him. Well, he ended up flying over the hood and landing on his head (he is now the poster boy for wearing your bike helmet). He was knocked out for 15 minutes or so and was rushed to Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston. The CT scan and x-rays were negative. He does have *major* road rash on the complete left hand side of his face, and this morning woke up with a nasty looking black eye (not something you would ever imagine Randy with ... a black eye). He is home and feeling, well, like he has hit by a car...

The person who hit him was cited with "Failure to yield to a Cyclist" which carries a $35 fine.

Just an update...will keep you all posted.

That's It...We aren't going to take this any more

Well, we have finally done it. We are going to sue for private placement and compensatory services for this past year that "Redd" has missed out on. We are waiting to hear from an Educational Consultant to observe the classroom "they" recommended - which of course are completely inadequate - not to mention the fact that a kid who tortured him all of kindergarden and 1st grade would be in his class, not his grade, his *CLASS*.

Just to mention this kid's name causes this visceral response in Redd. He got so upset, then said "I never have to think about her again, she is so, so, so out of my life now. I never want to think about her again. Can we change the subject mom".

So...there is no way in hell that I will put him in that position. Not only that but it's no secret that even thought this is a "great" program, that it is what it is, a behavioural program. And when you have a kid that has no concept of social pragmatics and relies on modeling to learn, you don't put him in a "behavioural" program.

Deep cleansing breaths. Again, today Redd was excluded at school. His little sister "the bean" had a presentation in class. Many of the 1st grader's siblings are in Redd's class and they were invited to the classroom. Redd was somehow "out of the loop" that's the term they are using these days. Instead admitting that he has been "excluded", they say "out of the loop".

The Bean did a great job, I can see her on Broadway in no time...

They choose not to "GET IT"...

So last night my son comes home in tears. I find out later that his aide was absent at school that day. They are supposed to call me to let me know...(They just don't get it - it's a little thing that can make or break his day.) Today they are on a field trip and the aide Mr. RP is with him (thank goodness).

Also find out that my son's special chair, (it's a game chair - low to the ground, wraps around him, rocks, helps tremedously with Sensory Intergration issues) has been taken away and is piled upside down atop other chairs in the classroom.

I know that understanding the way a child's mind with Asperger's works is challenging, but to not even try? My son work twice as hard as any other neurotypical child in that school does. He not only has to contend with learning what ever is being taugth, but is trying to enterpret the teacher's facial expression, his voice intonation, body lauguage, sensory stimili such as the room temperature, brightness of the classroom, the flickering overhead lights, the kids talking in the hallway, the tickling of the clock and list goes on. With all that my son has to contend with during his school day why wouldn't this teacher agree to his accomodations? What is so hard about writing a schedule up on the board? Or perhaps informing my son (one day before or even one hour) before moving all of the desk around in the class (not only does this create anxiety and one more thing for my child to worry about, but the noise alone of 23 kids moving their desks must be unbearably difficult for a child with sensory issues). Not using defecit based lanuguage (this guy *LOVES* using defecit based language - and even thought we have asked him on numerous occaisions). I get comments like "He dosen't mind, he said so". Well my son is always going to say he doesn't mind and then the anxiety builds.

Some nights I am just so sick to my stomach over all of this. How do you protect your children. You send them to school. You make sure that you have the proper accomodations included in an IEP. You try to communicate with your child's teacher (he "lost" his voice mail code so he isn't available via phone - only email or your can leave a message at school - but he always said he didn't receive it). Everyone agrees that your child needs help but no one is there to coordinate and supervise and ensure that the accomodations and the IEP are being adhere to...

and the saga continues...