Currently Doing Research
March 21, 2006
I’m doing some research to find out what all my rights are in regards to M’s “educational experience”; and to see what I have to gather for my battle to get the aide hired and put into M’s class. The hiring process that my county has is whacked-out; and it explains a lot as to why nothing gets done quickly or at all.
It’s incredibly frustrating. And annoying.
Truth be told, I’m scared. I’m scared that if the administrations and county leaders don’t listen and work with kids like M; kids who are smart and should be in a mainstream classroom; kids who test well; they will have more kids who either commit suicide later on or bring weapons to school to defend themselves against situations they don’t understand and haven’t been adequately taught how to deal with IN REAL TIME. See, that’s the key. I can send my son to program after program, spend thousands of dollars to teach him what to do in certain social situations, but he doesn’t apply those lessons in real time without cues and modifications. They can give him a written test on what to do in those situations, and he can answer them beautifully, but does he do it right in real time? Well…sometimes. Mostly, though? Not really.
Unless he gets these lessons, in real time, intensively…. well, the next 7 years scare me to death. Everyone knows that the school years for middle and high school are brutal, but for kids like M, they are even more so.
All I’m trying to be is a pro-active parent that assists the schools my son attends to better his (and his classmates’) academic experience. I thought that was what the schools want from their parents. It continues to frustrate me that the reality is that schools want my involvement to bring in snacks, read stories, organize functions and raise money; but if I actually take an interest in my child’s ACTUAL education?
Um….thanks, but no thanks.
What’s up with that?
So this is my battle. Hopefully, in the end, I will win the war.
