I am officially into the 8th day of 8th grade with my youngest son who is on the Autism Spectrum and already the school has made it a miserable thing to go through.
The 7th day started with him being informed that his new aide was being replaced.
I was informed of it much later in the day when I was told that he was upset with the change because he liked the aide that had been assigned to him.
I spent a lot of time this summer making phone calls and sending emails to the district to arrange meetings with his IEP team to arrange for a full time aide to be placed with him. I had my son meet with her the week before school to make the transition easier for both of them. Discussed with both him and the IEP team what was expected from him and what the consequences would be for him if there were any issues that arose.
It was all very successful ! He had a great 7 days !!!
After placing a call to the administration and "expressing" how I felt about how the change was handled I was given lots of "It's not our fault it's the Union's", we have no control over how these jobs are bid on and how people are assigned to them.
Are these people for real ????
Is it the Union's fault that you couldn't place a call to me LAST week when you knew this change was coming to give me time to prepare him for it ??
POSSIBLY to allow my son and myself to meet this new "biddable aide" to once again make this transition easier ???
If you have a child on the Autism spectrum and have had to spend hours explaining to the special education department how transitions for kids on the spectrum can be difficult and still not be given the courtesy of a phone call ... I feel for ya.
Sadly, it is not and will not be getting any better. It truly is all about the bottom line, job bids, politics and funding.
Your child is an after thought in all that is administrative within a school district, or at least in the school districts that surround where we live.
Constant scandals in this whole area concerning nepotism and kickbacks to the powers that be of not just the school districts, but our local legal system as well, makes getting my son the best education afforded to him impossible and just sad.
What's even sadder is 90% of the time it is not the teachers in the trenches with these kids that cause the problems .. but rather they become the fall guys for irate parents and administrators who dump all their problems on top of them. The teachers do try their best, but get no support either.
My son will move out of the district next year to attend a tech school.
THANK GOD I have at least that option.
Is it ideal.... probably not, no school with kids on the spectrum is but at least the population of the school is smaller and the teachers and administrators will at least "know" my child as he travels through it.
I hadn't yet made that descision, but last night confirmed it was the only thing I could do for him. I just can't deal with the nonsense and the same robot responses for 4 more years from my district. I am over it.
And to think .. this whole rant could have been avoided with a phone call.
Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmm........
