Labels CAN Be Limiting

I don't feel the need to share or comment about everything posted by The Friendship Circle, but yesterday's article is worth passing along.  The title alone, Labels Can Be Limiting, had my full attention. 

I 'm not particularly fond of labels of any kind, period.  I think labels are basically useless and serve no purpose other than to check a box on a piece of paper.  If you didn't already know, I'm a think outside the box kind of person.  I strongly feel that labels play no role in reaching a goal or solving a problem. 

Articles like this strenthen my resolve and give me hope.  I hope it does the same for you! 

You Have the Right to Observe Your Child's Classroom

If you didn't read yesterday's offering from The Friendship Circle, it shared some really wonderful information for those of us dealing with special education.  Their article, Observing Your Child's Classroom: What are Your Rights? is an article that really struck home for me.  I was denied access to the special education classroom during Patty's first year of Kindergarten, and FERPA was the backbone of the argument used to justify the situation.

As you may remember, last summer we decided to have Patty repeat her year of Kindergarten and we also made a move to a different elementary school in our county.  During this past school year I have witnessed so many wonderful things at our new school, that I have tried very hard to forget all of the negatives from the year before. 

It's been hard.  Really hard.

The first sentence of the article says it all:  As parents of children with disabilities we are in a constant state of worry.  Really, that whole article says it all.  It feels like Mr. Dorfman pulled out things from my very own heart and mind.  And, like I've said before in comments on other blogs, it is really nice to know I'm not the only one going through these emotions. 

Sometimes, being a parent, dealing with special education and therapies and insurance approvals and IEPs, makes me feel like the giraffe in a herd of zebras.  I mean, I have no one in my physical life who is dealing with anything really similar to what I deal with everyday.  Sometimes, it can all be really tough to deal with.  Ug, the insurance approvals alone are enough to drive a person crazy.  Articles like this one help me be more diligent, more knowledgeable. 

And I now know that the school was wrong in their actions to block me from Patty's "resource" classroom that first year. Of course, the school system may have additional rules in place to, as they put it, protect the privacy of students in special education. But, I can certainly say it felt much closer to hiding something from me, than protecting my student's privacy.

Because Knowledge is a Powerful Thing

After connecting with a couple other families dealing with developmental delay, I realized another thing we have in common is the feeling that we aren't doing enough to help our kids.  It really is comforting to know that there are people you can relate to.   

So, what can we do to help our children with developmental delays?  We can gain knowledge.

This is What It's All About

I recently found my way to a blog called Finding Ninee. I forget just how I found my way there, but after years of dealing with the term "developmental delay" I was happy and relieved to find another family in a situation very similar to ours. Kristi recently created a link-love feature on her blog where families like us can connect and share. That's what this post is about. If you found your way here from her page, welcome!

Special Education Links from the KDE Website

A few links from the Kentucky Deparment of Education worth bookmarking...if you're printing some of these, be sure you check the total number of pages carefully before hitting that print button!  Some of these PDFs are verrrrrrry long!

More Special Needs Resources to Bookmark

Came across a couple other organizations that you may want to make note of.  I like to bookmark them and add them to Pinterest!

Newest Blogs I'm Following

I have spent a little time this week evaluating the many, many blogs I follow trying to pare down the number from, like over a hundred, to something closer to a manageable thirty-ish.  But, every time I unsubscribe from one blog, I seem to find two more that I want to subscribe to!

First Day Update

OMG!  To say Patty had a rough first day would be an understatement.  The poor kid cried so much that her eyes are bright pink underneath!  When I first laid eyes on her at pickup, I actually thought she'd been hit in the face.  Totally wasn't prepared for the sight.

It's the First Day of School...are you ready?

Can you believe it's the first day of school?  I just don't know where those days of summer went!  I don't remember summers going by so quickly when I was a kid.  Were summers longer back then?  They couldn't have been that much longer, guess it's just because I'm older and can read a calendar now.

You Know Your Child Best

You know, when Patty began Kindergarten last year, I had no idea that things were amiss.  Some of the information I was getting seemed a bit strange, to me.  Like it was a little more than I really needed to know as a parent of a Kindergarten student.  I often compare the experience with buying a used car.  When someone is trying to sell you a real lemon, they try really hard to make you think you're getting the best lemonade money can buy, right?  Well, that "used car sales man" feeling snow balled for me during that first year of public school.  It was a wake up call.  It was the reason I started asking more questions and paying closer attention.  It was my blessing in disguise.

Your Family Will Thank You for Reading This Article

I love the articles posted by The Friendship Circle Blog.  They are helpful and informative and hit really close to the matters that matter most to me.  When I read 10 Hurtful Comments From Relatives About Your Child With Special Needs in my email today, I knew I had to pin it to my Pinterest board and put a link on the blog.  Here's the one piece of advice I would add to The Friendship Circle article: Do NOT compare my child with another child with a special need. 

Partners in Advocacy: A Guide to the IDEA Process

A mother with a hearing impaired, six-year-old left a comment on my post Does My Child Need an Interpreter and I've had it on my mind since.  I wanted to make a reply immediately, but I also wanted to take time to think it over.  So, after a very long day and a mostly sleepless night, I am ready to write.

Sometimes, You Just Have to Ruffle a Few Feathers

Oh, wow, it seems I have ruffled a few feathers with my blog post about the school board meeting.  I'm happy to see that two individuals took the time to comment on my ill-informed rant.  I'm really just happy two people read it!  If you were one of the two anonymous commenters, please head back to that post to read my replies.  If you hadn't cared enough to comment, I wouldn't have been told that the Licensed Educational Interpreter is for hearing impaired students.  Thank you for sharing that with me.  I wouldn't have known that the Special Ed CIAs who have been pink slipped, will be rehired later in the summer.  Do you know how scary it was, as a parent of a special needs student, to hear that the CIAs in the department designed to help my child were getting cut?  Thank you for giving me the hope that an appropriate number of staff will be provided to meet the needs of not just my child, but all of the students in special education next year.

Does my child need an Interpreter at school?

I couldn't stop thinking about the parent who left the comment telling me that the Licensed Educational Interpreter is for hearing impaired students.  If you read my original post, you can see that I never said our school system didn't need that person.  I simply said I wanted to know what that interpreter was for.  So, thank you, parent who commented telling me more about it.  But, it's the other things in your comment that have stuck with me this morning. 

Modified Recess

I happily received a call from Patty's doc at Vandy this afternoon and she had a really great idea for helping Patty navigate her recess time.  It was really quite simple.  Make a schedule to help Patty focus her playtime attention on the different areas of the playground.  A kind of to-do list for her time at recess.  Those folks at Vandy are so smart. 

That Helpless Place

If you're a Facebook Friend, you may have read my status yesterday afternoon: 

Do u ever have days when u just feel so helpless u dont know what to do w/ yourself?

I'm having one of those days today.

Tune into the blog tomorrow for a full recap of my journey into the helpless place.

I wont be here for long, though.

I'm going to grab this situation with both hands & figure out how address it.

This Mother's Outrage

Good Sunday morning.  Well, it might be a good Sunday morning for some folks, but my day isn't turning out as good as I had planned.  All week I've been reminding my husband that we have to pick up a copy of the Sunday Messenger because it's going to contain coverage of the "Olympic Field Day" hosted at Central High last Monday.  All week I've been looking forward to this.  And now, with newspaper in hand, I can simply say that I am outraged.  OUTRAGED! 

Central Hosts "Olympic Field Day" 2012

Monday, April 23, 2012; Hopkins County Central High School, Barnsley, KY.
Hopkins County Central High School students and faculty came together to support fellow students today in the South end of the county. Each year, Central hosts an "Olympic Field Day" inviting students with special needs to participate in a wide variety of sporting events and a game carnival. This year's event welcomed students from many of our elementary and middle schools.