Good Night- Where Do I Begin?
*I will be scattering photos here and there just so you can remind yourself exactly how cute Emma is!
Remember awhile back when I told you about Emma’s displeasure for school? You can read about it here or here. Well, it continued to go downward. She was throwing temper tantrums. She was crying before school every morning that she didn’t want to go school. It was horrible. This is the same girl who, in kindergarten, would cry over Christmas break and summer break because she missed school. This wasn’t a good situation. From my point of view, I tried to be the “nice” mom. You know the saying, “Being Nice Gets you Nowhere”? Typically I don’t practice that. I think being nice can get you far. In this situation, though, I was running out of options.
Emma at the Grand Canyon in April (what, you can't tell that's the Grand Canyon in the background?)
I had to be proactive. I was beginning to feel helpless, and helpless wasn’t a feeling I was going to live with for long. I told Brett that I wanted to start looking at other schools. I looked at 4 schools, 2 in district and 2 private. The first school I visited was a private school. Brett came with me, as did the kids. And I asked a friend, who had been in my same situation with her son, to join us. I didn’t walk away feeling in love with the school, I really liked their philosophy. I didn’t like the setting so much. It was a very small school (as in, number of students). But it would definitely benefit Emma academically. However, the biggest piece of advice I took away was to hire an advocate. I hadn’t really thought of this….and I’m not sure why. Along with the packet for the school, I took away a list of advocates. Three were highlighted. Of those three I called two and spoke with them. One advocate had a background in paralegal services. So her background was more from an attorney’s standpoint. The second advocate had a background in family and marriage counseling. After speaking with both of them, I checked out their webpages. Brett wanted me to go with the “lawyer one”. I wasn’t so sure that was the best way to go. After all, my approach with the school has always been more relaxed and not so much “bulldog”, if that makes sense. In the end, I decided to go with the advocate with the counseling background.
We were getting the ball rolling. We were going to make changes. I first met with her on April 26th. And that meeting changed it all.
Good for you in getting an advocate to help you wade through the challenging waters of schooling for Emma. She deserves to have a place where she is happy and learning. I think the biggest problem with our schools is that they try to impose a one size fits all solution on kids. They don’t respect that all kids are different and have different needs, so any child who falls too far outside of the “normal” parameters ends up getting left out.
Keep writing about your experiences! I can’t wait to hear how it turns out. I’m sure you will be able to find a place that’s a good fit for Emma.
Lori, You are dead on. I have been telling people, “Emma’s not cookie cutter ADHD or Autistic. Her delays are global, therefore she needs global approaches to being taught.” Thanks for the comment!
Very proactive! Way to go mom!
thanks!