Catching up

Hello peeps, yes I know "long time, no blog"...sigh.....

I swear one of these days things will slow down and I'll have more free time to actually work on the blog more (yeah right). The kids were on Spring Break this week -- of course we didn't do anything exciting. I had a few things planned that I wanted to accomplish, but suffice to say a good chunk of that didn't happen.

To add to the chaos, Taz's case worker decided she wanted to stop over twice this past week for "home visits"....oh yippee....like I didn't have enough going on. The first visit we discussed plans for next year (High School) which in some ways was a bit helpful, but the second day was a total waste of my time. She just sat here on the couch rambling about random topics.

My "to do" list is super long, and it seems like more items are added to it on a daily basis. I am so thankful for my little pocket calendar....I have to write EVERYTHING down in that, and heaven help me if I ever lose that thing cause I'd be totally lost! I used to be so organized, and now I feel like I've become senile....can't remember stuff without looking at my calendar.

Wow, can you believe the school year is *almost* over already??? Holy cow, my schedule is packed full between now and the last day of school.....field trips, class parties, IEP meetings, etc. In some ways it cracks me up, the "powers that be" have all assumed that Taz will attend the High School from Hell (ok that isn't the real name of it)....suffice to say it is NOT my "school of choice" for him. Yes it does have a program similar to what he's in now, BUT...and this is a huge but...it is located in the worst part of town possible, the academics there totally suck (they received very low scores from the state), and rather than following the whole concept of "inclusion" -- they have the ASD kids totally isolated in a far corner of the building completely away from the rest of the student body (which in some ways I guess is a good thing, cause I really wouldn't want Taz mixed in with a bunch of bad kids).

The thing that irks me though is that "they" all just ASSUME that Hell High is where we'll be sending Taz. I guess the "plan" to get him back into his own school district was just tossed out the window huh? To be honest, no I haven't gone to visit the program -- I really have no desire to do so. My plan has always been to transition him back to our school district -- that is our school of choice. From what I've been told, the high school here is working on developing their ASD program more (much better than what was at the middle school), and I really want to go and visit to see if what they have available will meet the behavior, social, & academic needs that Taz has. If not, then I'll consider other programs....but Hell High is my LAST choice.

I'm not 100% impressed with how things have gone thus far this year -- Taz was suppose to be "going out" to Gen Ed for his 4 core classes (Science, math, Language Arts, Social Studies) and thus far he's only going out for Science. The Science teacher really isn't thrilled about having an AI student in his class and has been kind of a jerk about Taz being there. Taz isn't where he needs to be academically, although the "team" claims that he is.....and my numerous requests for copies of his classwork and an academic report have yet to be provided. Last year he had homework on almost a daily basis....until recently, he has brought nothing home for homework (a week or so ago he started bringing science work home once or twice a week). Not 100% sure what he's doing in Language Arts....sure isn't writing term/research papers or book reports, that's for sure.

I'm starting to feel like the "team" has given up...like they don't want to bother with investing any more of their time or energy into helping Taz achieve his full potential. Based on comments Taz has made, it feels as though the teachers really aren't trying to challenge him academically.....seriously.....this kid brought home a "spelling list" a few weeks ago and the words on the list were words that I KNOW he already knows, stuff that he would have learned several years ago. When I asked the teacher about it, the response was "well this is where the class is at"....ummm, no....perhaps some of the students in the class are only at that level, but that is something Taz has already done thus why aren't you challenging him and providing separate work? Probably because it's easier to just have all of the kids on the same level, but that isn't acceptable for me.....just because little Johnny is struggling with whatever the class is working on, that doesn't mean that you hold everyone else back until little Johnny can catch up -- that's not right. Don't hold the other kids back from being where they need to be and where they are capable of being.....

Suffice to say, I'm not 100% impressed with where things have gone thus far this year. The "plan" to work on Taz's social/behavior needs hasn't really been followed, thus I feel like he hasn't been properly prepared for the demands of High School. And it appears as though he hasn't been challenged and prepared for things academically, thus I worry that he will struggle regardless of what school/program he is in. So....although I have a million things on my "to do" list for the next week or so, I'll be devoting more time to checking into the various programs available (or not available) within our district and other schools in the area, to determine what would be the best fit for Taz going into High School. I'll be working on putting together my notes, etc for our upcoming IEP meeting (still no clue when they plan to schedule that)....and preparing myself mentally for what I'm sure will become a battle.