Comments on: The Anxious Season

By: CarrieT

CarrieT — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:29:34 +0000

Well said, as always, Rob! I have always thought basically the same thing, although not put as eloquently. My hubby and I are the main ones advocating for our daughter (with SNs) and indeed for her 3 brothers too. The school has for the most part done a good job but they have many children they care about equally and that is THEIR job. I have 4 children on my watch s. Many times we are on the same page with them, but our priorities are not quite the same. Hope all goes well with Schuyler’s IEP today. I will check out your blog later to see.

By: GB's Mom

GB's Mom — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:24:35 +0000

When you know what organic damage drives your child’s needs, you can figure out what best serves those needs. When you have a child and are not sure what they need, the whole process becomes more difficult.

By: farmwifetwo

farmwifetwo — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:00:48 +0000

Parents also need to know what their child requires… we go in with the wish-list but we need to come out with the right supports.

Parents need to know the legislation available to them and why they require it. How to get that placement – certain words/testing matter. How to get the right document – ditto.

Once you understand how the system works, you get do a lot, with a little negotiation. Our school didn’t want to put in Ont PPM 140 – ABA for schools (social, communication, transitions, behaviour teaching – not 40hrs/wk therapy) for my HFA son. Once they realized – through lobbying by me – that it was a token system, social stories, no more or less than what they were doing for the others but had to be individualized not generalized… They have taken to it and run with it. But they didn’t understand that it was easy, not time consuming and the child thrived knowing how to cope in the hall, the classroom and the playground.

Trick is to pick your battles. And that one started out ugly and for the last 3yrs has been the best thing I ever fought for.