Aspie Mom

Moving

This site may not be updated for a week or two. We will be moving into a new house next week. I doubt I will be online at all next week actually. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a great weekend. See you around the first of December.

FamilyEducation.com

When I was working on one of my sites a bit ago, I happened to catch one of the ads in my Google Adsense section. I jotted down the url in the ad and went to that site… FamilyEducation.com. I immediately bookmarked it because it looks like there is a lot of great info and other things there!

One thing I found very interesting was their section on Asperger’s Syndrome. There is a lot of good information there so I thought I would post about it here.

The conferences

We had the parent/teacher conferences last night. I’m not tremendously happy. Kiddo’s mainstream teacher strikes me as quite the grouch and a perfectionist. When we got there, the teacher was with another parent so we waited of course. The teacher was griping that the child didn’t do this, didn’t do that, won’t do this or that… Was just complaint after complaint! I would have lost it if she talked to me like that. Good grief! No wonder Kiddo gets so miserable in that class. GEEZ!

When it was our turn, she was a little less critical but she said some things that I’m a bit angry about. As per Kiddo’s IEP, she is REQUIRED to take tests in the resource room (or another less distracting room). It is a requirement. Her mainstream classroom teacher sees this as more of an option rather than a requirement and only allows it if SHE feels it is necessary. Um… sorry. No. I don’t care what she thinks. If it is in the IEP, she is to do it whether she agrees or not. I wanted to argue about it but I simply stated that it is required and left it at that. I figured this was best left for discussion at the IEP meeting we have tomorrow.

Then, when I left that conference, I ran into the special ed teacher. I love her. She is so bubbly and nice. I can see why Kiddo is happier in her room. HUGE difference. As we were talking, we discussed Kiddo’s anxiety over math. It is a serious trigger for her. Even the simplest basic math problem can send her over the edge. She asked me if I still wanted Kiddo in the mainstream class for math. I was shocked because I have been telling her mainstream teacher for weeks that I want her moved back to Special Ed for math. I’m just furious about this and this will also be brought up at the IEP meeting. I told the special ed teacher that I definitely want her in the special ed class for math… if not more. She needs it. She can’t handle the pressure of the mainstream class when it comes to these difficult subjects. It’s too hard on her. But honestly… even if it were me, I would rather be in the special ed class too with the nice teacher than be in a regular class with Mrs. Sourpuss!

Kiddo went back to school today for the first time since breaking her arm. I am worried sick about her but I’m picking her up early today anyway. I let her decide if she wanted to try to go all day or if she just wanted me to set a time to pick her up early. So she will come home at 1pm. She wanted to stay for lunch so that’s fine. And of course I wrote a note saying that if she gets too tired, she is to be allowed to call me and come home. I think she will manage ok though. She doesn’t really get too tired til later in the day so coming home at 1pm should be a good time for her.

Quick Update

You can read the entire sorted story over here but in short… Kiddo put her Aspergers and anxiety to the test a couple of days ago when she fell in gym class. We rushed to the ER hoping it wasn’t too serious but luck wasn’t on our side that day. We were there for thirteen miserable hours. She had to have surgery to put 2 pins in her elbow. She dislocated and fractured her elbow on her dominant arm. She has never been through anything like this and I can’t begin to describe how horrible it was for her. She was so scared and so freaked out that she was screaming most of the time and tried to run away at least twice. I thought they were going to have to strap her down for awhile but I was able to keep her under control for the most part.

She is doing ok though. She’s getting around fine and managing with the cast. The real test will be when she goes back to school of course. I’m worried about that. They have state tests this week though so she really needs to be there if she’s up to it. Someone will need to write for her though.

Oh the frustration!!

I just talked to the director of student services. I had emailed her a heads up that I was sending a formal request for a meeting. Anyway, she called me to tell me that she was surprised at the problems I mentioned because she just talked with Kiddo’s special ed 15:1 teacher and she has been saying how wonderful Kiddo is doing. Huh???? Ok number one… I have NEVER spoken to the special ed teacher. I don’t even know a thing about her because no one has told me anything or sent a letter home or anything! And the mainstream teacher is constantly sending notes home about how Kiddo won’t do the work, won’t concentrate, having social problems, etc, etc, etc. So how is she doing well???

Then the Director went on to tell me that we are sceduled for an IEP meeting on the 16th of this month. Nice… No one informed me yet. Would have been nice to know.

Two years ago I said that this was one of the most disorganized schools I have ever seen. I see it hasn’t changed over the past two years. What a mess.

I guess it is good that we at least have a meeting coming up… 2 days after parent/teacher conferences. But this lack of communication on behalf of the special ed department is really bothering me. No one is on the same page here!

I’m just so angry right now.