This past Friday was "Open House" at my daughter's middle school. As usual, the Open House was not publicized and we rushed at the last minute to get to the school. I ask my daughter, Sarah if she was ready to go, and after the verbal back-and-forth battle, we were finally on our way.
Once we arrived, there was a list posted on the office door with the 7th grade homeroom teacher's and the students assigned to each class. We checked the list and traveled down to Sarah's homeroom, where we introduced ourselves to the teacher. I knew we were in trouble for yet another year, when we got the "deer in the headlights" look, when we asked her if she knew Sarah had autism. Here we are at open house and her homeroom teacher doesn't even know our daughter has autism. Keeping my cool (as my wife holds firmly onto my arm), I encouraged the homeroom teacher to review Sarah's file and Individual Education Plan (IEP) so she can be prepared for Sarah this school year.
With any child with special needs, we as parents can receive "reasonable accommodation" from the school for our child. As a dad, of a daughter with autism, it has been an up hill battle every school year to ensure the principal, staff and teachers responsible for Sarah's education understand her rights and the content of the agreed upon IEP. Only asking for reasonable accommodation each year.
I asked the homeroom teacher if she knew who Sarah's other teachers were and she had no idea. So we did the usual "right thing" and gave the teacher our telephone numbers and email addresses, and asked if she would please contact us on Sarah's progress or any issues we could help with throughout the school year.
Next, we went to the multi-purpose room, where we found the principal, and reminded her that Sarah's IEP stated, that this year she would only have two teachers instead of the six identified. The principal proceeded to tell me that this was not agreed upon and Sarah would have a full schedule or she would be placed in "Remedial Class" for make-up students and students with English as a second language. Again, for yet another year, even the principal had no idea of the school's portion of responsibilities for Sarah's education. Not to make a scene, I told her I would be requesting a meeting shortly after school started to address my concerns for Sarah's education, and we left the room.
We finished up the evening speaking to each of Sarah's teachers (the principal conceded in giving us a copy of Sarah's entire schedule), a couple of which impressed us with their approachability and their interaction with Sarah. But in the end, not one of her teachers knew in advance of Sarah's autism or read her school file in advance.
I look forward to another school year of challenging the system for the sake of my child, and challenging my child for the sake of the system. With 1 in every 150 children diagnosed with having some form of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), you would think we would be well beyond having to challenge the system, but instead be working together for the betterment of our children.
To all of you parents out there, and especially those with children with special needs and disabilities, I pray for you to keep up the good fight and stay the course, because after all the tears, all the tensions, all the "homework", all the late nights and all the "crap" the system feeds us, we are our childrens best hope.
