You know how you leave an I.E.P. (individual education plan) meeting and then digest everything that was said, then you're like ...WTF?
I had 2 meetings in the same day. Both were successful. In fact, I was extremely proud of Red! He ran his meeting like a champ! At Last Year's Meeting Red sat down and said, his number one goal was to become popular! That’s it! I was flabbergasted. While Blue ran his meeting like a total boss! This year was like night and day for Red.
Red's Powerpoint Presentation Prepared 100% on his own |
If you're wondering why I still have 2 meetings, even though Red is finished with his high school credits. It's because he is in the Adult Transition program through the school district. The program is helping him grow personally in to adulthood -preparing him for independent living and transitioning into college.
Blue has some concerns about the STARR test for Language Arts, which is the latest Texas version of standardized testing. This is the only class where he has an 82 average. All other classes are 90’s and above. He just does not get all of the figurative language, and the author's intent, especially in fictional writing and poetry. He also probably could give less than a damn about the author's intent. Kind of like I felt about algebra when I was in high school.
Blue posed the question to the committee, “What if I don't pass it?”
The answer given was he would be given several opportunities to retake it. In the end, if he didn't pass it, the I.E.P. Committee could decide to wave the testing and change his graduation plan to minimum plan. Which would mean, he would have to go to Community College before he goes to a university.
Since I know he will pass, I didn’t take issue with the answer. But after the fact, I thought about this and I'm like ...really? WTF? So a kid who is taking AP math and Science and getting A's would be reduced to minimum plan because he doesn't get figurative language and can't pass some stupid, subjective, standardized Language Arts test? Um. Hell no!
He will pass. They just try to scare the shit out of them and make the test seem harder than it is, so they will end up passing. This within itself, pisses me off. But what about those students who can't pass it? This is ridiculous! The state of Texas Department of Education needs to hear from this big mouth mama, and from you too if you have a kid with an I.E.P.
If it came down to them changing his graduation plan, there would be a law suit. Idiots!
Adelaide Dupont · 273 weeks ago
And for those of us who knew and appreciated these points in high school to a greater or lesser extent - always good to have a refresher and feel them through the current and future generations who we survived to be able to see.
I especially appreciated points 5, 7 and 10.
And young women not settling or settling down yet is a good thing.
"It's never too late to live our dreams" - but it may be too early for some of them!
And 8 of course.
nicole · 231 weeks ago
Risa · 219 weeks ago
LAH · 210 weeks ago
Maira L. Coral · 205 weeks ago
I was looking for information for my Multi-Genre Disability Research Project from my Early Childhood Special Education class on the web, when suddenly I came across your blog. I started reading this out of curiosity and I want to tell you that as you said yourself, you will not be Amanda Gorman, but you managed to make me shed some tears, perhaps because I felt totally identified with your words, especially in the part that you speak of your son. My son also has Asperger's syndrome, he is 19 years old and he is in the second semester of College. Also like yours, he takes classes from home, likewise my eldest daughter is also taking college classes from her room. At the same time, that I work as a preschool teacher from my kitchen through a computer, my husband sleeps in the room during the day because he works at night. Also in the afternoons I myself take virtual school classes. I am a 51-year-old Latin woman who began to learn the English language as adult, so maybe you find some deficiencies in my writing, however, I was very moved by how proud you express yourself about your son. Referent your mother, I liked the humorous tone that you give when your talk about her, so I did not want to miss this opportunity and stopped my assignments for a moment to let you know that your words do make a difference, since they reach the heart of at least those who have opportunity to read you. I want confess you that is the most long I have written to someone I don't know, because your words inspired me, thank you...
Gavin Bollard · 197 weeks ago
Thanks for this post. I've been very distracted of late and so this was how I found out about our friend Kate. Kate's struggles were very real but they were so constant and so wide-ranging that it was difficult for people around her to address them. I think it's going to take a while longer for me to process all this.
I learned so much from Kate because she was always quick to point out the many injustices in the world. In her glory days, she was very much a crusader and she cared for everyone. Over the years, as her situation took its toll, I came to realise that it was the fact that she couldn't be put in a single specific category, that made the system fail her. She needed help that they weren't set up to provide.
She needed more care and she needed to be less alone. I'm so sorry that this has happened.
For a long while we were corresponding almost every day but a couple of months ago, I realised that she had become so stressed that nearly every interaction I had with her was starting to trigger her. I backed away to give her a bit more space. She only had a little time that she could stand to be online and there were too many things that she wanted to do in that time. I thought that by taking a step back, she could reach out to more people who might be geographically closer and able to assist.
Kate was a beautiful soul and she will be sorely missed by all of us.
diyalabs6192603 11p · 180 weeks ago
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Spoil your cat · 110 weeks ago
Many of these living arrangement aren't good, and many of the people who run those places really don't have the residents' best interest at heart. Those places are like old age homes and foster homes, where you sometimes hear horror stories. They're hard to trust. But then there are good ones, of course.
The best thing for an autistic adult is either to go on living at home or working and renting an apartment and living independently, but that isn't always an option.
Duncan · 100 weeks ago