Life is not fair. We learn that early in life. However, when life is not fair for a child who has a disability and will have a difficult enough life, it makes it especially hard. Why is it that the people who are supposed to be educators and care about each child individually are the one's who want to take the easiest way out without giving the rough patches a chance to work themselves out? Let me explain....
My aspie son was put back into a regular classroom for this fifth grade year. He has essentially gone from having no homework and very little classwork for the past three years in special education, to having a full load along with changing classes with twenty other children. Because his aggression seems to finally have become under control the IEP team decided last May to put him in the regular classroom this year full-time. This is a child who will only give you as much as you require out of him on the front end, never more.
The school feels that because they have been punishing his behaviors daily, behaviors which are typical of an aspie child when placed in a stressful social situation, they have been accomodating and are wanting to have him placed back into the special ed classroom. The new behavior analyst assigned to my son has not had a chance to complete his report and give them his recommendations, although he did tell me that he does not think "they get it". The teachers have not made any effort to shorten assignments nor help him deal with the social situations that cause so much stress for him and for which he has never had any training even though it has been requested NUMEROUS times.
In short my opinion is this, when they punish a child who has Asperger's for things like making noises in class, or even making threats to other children (who were probably picking on him in the first place), then it would not be any different than punishing a child in a wheelchair because he or she cannot walk. When social skills are the main manifestation of this disability and then those skills are never taught, how can they possibly think it is just bad behavior and punish him accordingly??? Why does it have to be a daily battle? Why do they put our children in typical classrooms but not require the teachers to have any training on how to deal with them so that a lot of these things can be avoided???
Those are my thoughts for the day.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
8 Things About Me
Here are the rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their 8 things) and post these rules. (If you don't have a blog email me.)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged and to read your blog.
********************Random things about me**************************
1. I'm not a morning or a late night person.
2. I love italian food.
3. I am a chocoholic.
4. I love to read.
5. I don't like grumpy people (including kids and teens) .
6. I love my new job!
7. I am a couch potato
8. I can no longer be a couch potato because of my back.
I won't tag anyone, since I don't have 8 people who read my blog, but if you do decide to post please leave me a comment and let me know :)
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their 8 things) and post these rules. (If you don't have a blog email me.)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged and to read your blog.
********************Random things about me**************************
1. I'm not a morning or a late night person.
2. I love italian food.
3. I am a chocoholic.
4. I love to read.
5. I don't like grumpy people (including kids and teens) .
6. I love my new job!
7. I am a couch potato
8. I can no longer be a couch potato because of my back.
I won't tag anyone, since I don't have 8 people who read my blog, but if you do decide to post please leave me a comment and let me know :)
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Recent Happenings
Boy has it been crazy for the past month around our house, which by the way has still not sold after almost 300 days, but the good news is two people are looking at it today.
The IEP team has decided our little one is ready to go back to a regular fifth grade full-time next year. He has matured so much and come such a long way socially and behaviorally. I am finding the more independant I make him, the more he wants to be independant. The little bugger told me last week that he could do his own bath all along, it's just that I "always get in there first so he let's me do it." He will be going to six flags next weekend with a friend of his and their parent's and he can't wait!
My oldest is now a Junior in high school :(. In less than a year and a half he will officially be an adult. I just put him on a plane alone to go visit a girl and her family that we met last summer on our vacation (they have been in contact daily ever since). I totally trust her family and I hope we are not wrong about that. The security would not let me walk him back to the gate since he is already sixteen, but I thought that it was not fair, it should at least be eighteen when you have to let them go......(of course he was happy about it). I've been totally useless all day tracking his flight to NC, but he just landed twenty minutes ago so I might be able to breathe again until Tuesday when he gets back on a plane.
The IEP team has decided our little one is ready to go back to a regular fifth grade full-time next year. He has matured so much and come such a long way socially and behaviorally. I am finding the more independant I make him, the more he wants to be independant. The little bugger told me last week that he could do his own bath all along, it's just that I "always get in there first so he let's me do it." He will be going to six flags next weekend with a friend of his and their parent's and he can't wait!
My oldest is now a Junior in high school :(. In less than a year and a half he will officially be an adult. I just put him on a plane alone to go visit a girl and her family that we met last summer on our vacation (they have been in contact daily ever since). I totally trust her family and I hope we are not wrong about that. The security would not let me walk him back to the gate since he is already sixteen, but I thought that it was not fair, it should at least be eighteen when you have to let them go......(of course he was happy about it). I've been totally useless all day tracking his flight to NC, but he just landed twenty minutes ago so I might be able to breathe again until Tuesday when he gets back on a plane.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
My Baby Turns 10 today!!
My little one is officially in the double digits now. Wasn't it just yesterday we were bringing him home for the first time ?!? Where does the time go. From a 20-1/2 inches bundle of joy to a 5 foot precocious boy. He has matured a lot over the past year too. He told me the other night that he really doesn't care about presents this year, he only wants his friends to come to his party to play.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
I am sooo Bummed out!
I have been really really busy lately and have not been able to post, but I just have to get my frustrations out.
I have discovered that Goodwill has an auction site, can you believe that?!? I have found so many great deals and bought many wonderful, some brand new things for practically nothing. Well, yesterday afternoon in those last few minutes before the workday ends, when it's too late to start working on something, but too early to go ahead and leave, I was browsing the website. What do I find you might ask? Well, I found a 43 pieced set of my great-grandmother's china for $9.95. I am missing several pieces of the set, so this would be perfect to complete it. Granted the shipping was $40, which is a little steep, but for that much antique china it would have been a steal.
Well I put my bid in with a max of $15, with only two hours to go and no bids already. I left work and went home where the power had been out since early that afternoon. I didn't think anything of it because no one was bidding on the china, so I thought I was a shoo in. The power did not come back on until 4:30 a.m. this morning, so I did not get to look at it anymore last night.
When I got in this morning and checked, I had lost the set by $1. Can you believe that????? One lousy dollar. This totally depresses me because now I have looked at what the pieces are going for seperately and it will cost a small fortune to complete the set piece by piece.
On the bright side though, this is the third time I've seen the set, once at an antique shop, once at my local Goodwill, and now online, so hopefully it will turn up again :)
I have discovered that Goodwill has an auction site, can you believe that?!? I have found so many great deals and bought many wonderful, some brand new things for practically nothing. Well, yesterday afternoon in those last few minutes before the workday ends, when it's too late to start working on something, but too early to go ahead and leave, I was browsing the website. What do I find you might ask? Well, I found a 43 pieced set of my great-grandmother's china for $9.95. I am missing several pieces of the set, so this would be perfect to complete it. Granted the shipping was $40, which is a little steep, but for that much antique china it would have been a steal.
Well I put my bid in with a max of $15, with only two hours to go and no bids already. I left work and went home where the power had been out since early that afternoon. I didn't think anything of it because no one was bidding on the china, so I thought I was a shoo in. The power did not come back on until 4:30 a.m. this morning, so I did not get to look at it anymore last night.
When I got in this morning and checked, I had lost the set by $1. Can you believe that????? One lousy dollar. This totally depresses me because now I have looked at what the pieces are going for seperately and it will cost a small fortune to complete the set piece by piece.
On the bright side though, this is the third time I've seen the set, once at an antique shop, once at my local Goodwill, and now online, so hopefully it will turn up again :)
Friday, March 02, 2007
Up Up and Away!
This week I flew to New Jersey on business. This was the first time I've flown in over ten years, so things have changed a lot. The first thing of course was going through security with my shoes off. Now, first thing in the morning I can see where that would be okay, but late in the day when people have had them on for a while I imagine it gets a little bit smelly. Next thing I noticed was how quiet everything was. Gone are the days when family and friends can see you off or wait for you at the gate. Only passengers with tickets are allowed past security so I had no trouble getting a seat in the waiting area.
This was also my first time up north in about twenty years. It is very different up there. Since I was only there for an overnight trip I'm sure there is a lot more that I would find interesting, but the one thing that I could get used to that we do not have here in the South would be not having to pump my own gas. They have state employees that do that in New Jersey. You pull up and they take your payment and take care of everything right there.
Another thing they have up there that I have never seen down here in the South are Cheese Doodles. We have Cheese Puffs down here but they are no where near as good as the doodles. My favorite author writes about these in her books and I had no idea it was not a ficticious name until I got there. The morning before I flew out I saw them in the machine and I just had to try them, after all Janet Evanovich wrote a whole book around them. So that's what I had for breakfast that day. Next time I go up I will have to try the Tastykakes she is always referring to in all her books. I can see me telling my boss she has to send me back up there so I can try them.
Oh well, back to reality and trying to get fit and healthy with all my blogger friends. Gotta get some work done now :)
This was also my first time up north in about twenty years. It is very different up there. Since I was only there for an overnight trip I'm sure there is a lot more that I would find interesting, but the one thing that I could get used to that we do not have here in the South would be not having to pump my own gas. They have state employees that do that in New Jersey. You pull up and they take your payment and take care of everything right there.
Another thing they have up there that I have never seen down here in the South are Cheese Doodles. We have Cheese Puffs down here but they are no where near as good as the doodles. My favorite author writes about these in her books and I had no idea it was not a ficticious name until I got there. The morning before I flew out I saw them in the machine and I just had to try them, after all Janet Evanovich wrote a whole book around them. So that's what I had for breakfast that day. Next time I go up I will have to try the Tastykakes she is always referring to in all her books. I can see me telling my boss she has to send me back up there so I can try them.
Oh well, back to reality and trying to get fit and healthy with all my blogger friends. Gotta get some work done now :)
Friday, February 16, 2007
Oh My Valentine!
My Aspie son has his first crush, although he doesn't actually know he has a crush yet. Let me explain...
There is a young girl in his classroom that has taken a liking to him. The first few weeks of school she would tell everyone that she was going to marry him. He would grin but say he hated her. Several people have teased him about her to the point of him declaring he "hates ugly so and so". He has been picking on her every chance he gets since then.
I dropped him off one day and was talking to his teacher. As soon as he put his things away he went right over to where she was and sat down. I mentioned this to the teacher and he said it was like this all day long, either him going over to her, or her going over to him.
Well, last Tuesday I was filling out his Valentines and I kept asking him to come and help me. He said he was not giving one to her. I told him if he did not come and help me then I would write her a card that says he loves her. Well that got his goat. He stomped over and plopped on the couch. I suggested we find the least "loveable" card to give her. That seemed to pacify him. We went through what each one said and go to one that said "I hope you have an Enchanted day" or something like that. He asked me what that meant and for lack of a definition on the spot I said it was sort of like falling in love or something. He said good, he would put on there that it was so she could fall in love with someone other than him (the little stink).
Well, he called me that next day and he had gotten in trouble at school and had to stand in the corner. When I asked him what for he said it was because he tried to hit the girl. Mom was in the background telling him to tell me why he did that and he said it was because she tried to kiss him. Of course I explained to him that we never ever hit girls under any circumstances. He said he would do it again if she tried to kiss him again.
Ahh young love!!!
On the older love drama, my oldest son came home with a hickie. He said "we just did it to see if you would get mad about it". Well let's just say he found out the answer to that and I don't think he'll be seen within a mile of her dad anytime soon.
Till next time :)
There is a young girl in his classroom that has taken a liking to him. The first few weeks of school she would tell everyone that she was going to marry him. He would grin but say he hated her. Several people have teased him about her to the point of him declaring he "hates ugly so and so". He has been picking on her every chance he gets since then.
I dropped him off one day and was talking to his teacher. As soon as he put his things away he went right over to where she was and sat down. I mentioned this to the teacher and he said it was like this all day long, either him going over to her, or her going over to him.
Well, last Tuesday I was filling out his Valentines and I kept asking him to come and help me. He said he was not giving one to her. I told him if he did not come and help me then I would write her a card that says he loves her. Well that got his goat. He stomped over and plopped on the couch. I suggested we find the least "loveable" card to give her. That seemed to pacify him. We went through what each one said and go to one that said "I hope you have an Enchanted day" or something like that. He asked me what that meant and for lack of a definition on the spot I said it was sort of like falling in love or something. He said good, he would put on there that it was so she could fall in love with someone other than him (the little stink).
Well, he called me that next day and he had gotten in trouble at school and had to stand in the corner. When I asked him what for he said it was because he tried to hit the girl. Mom was in the background telling him to tell me why he did that and he said it was because she tried to kiss him. Of course I explained to him that we never ever hit girls under any circumstances. He said he would do it again if she tried to kiss him again.
Ahh young love!!!
On the older love drama, my oldest son came home with a hickie. He said "we just did it to see if you would get mad about it". Well let's just say he found out the answer to that and I don't think he'll be seen within a mile of her dad anytime soon.
Till next time :)
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