Whenever you are dealing with a child with disabilities, you are constantly thinking about their education...what is best for them? What is hard for them? What modifications do they need? Well, we have been thrown into this decision making process, yet again, but for some reason this time it seems harder.
My children attend a public school that is on the year-round schedule. Brea has been going into the Functional Skills for a few hours every day, along side her regular resource class. Then whatever time is leftover in the day, and of course for Prep-times, she is with her general ed class. We have the task of deciding what track we want, and which general ed teacher we think would work best with her personality. With 2 other children in the school, we definitely want all of our children on the same track. Luckily our other children are pretty flexible, and do well academically, so I have no worries about their classrooms...as long as the teacher is not a crazy person. ;) We have a unique situation, where we would like her to be on the same track as her resource teacher. Obviously, this will work best for her, because of her need for routine and same environment. Plus, we have seen great improvement academically this year, and we want to keep that progress coming!!!
Because of the year-round schedule in our school, we have to put in a request year for which track we would like. Of course there are those which are more "popular", and usually those have bigger class sizes. We made our request this year, and assignments were handed out recently. To our dismay,we received our LAST CHOICE, when it came to track choice. I was flabbergasted!! We are allowed to make a request for a track change---which I will be doing---but seriously!!! This just made my husband and I start thinking a little different than we had before. The biggest thing that we came to understand is that our school, whether it be the principal, or whatever are the powers that be, DID NOT take into consideration that our daughter has and IEP.
So, this is what we're going to do...I am going to schedule a time to meet with our principal and just make him aware of our concerns. We will also make a point to bring it to the attention of our school administration that in this process of class/track assignments, something needs to change. It is imperative that students with IEP's are being noticed. It is essential that those students with special needs are taken care of FIRST. It is necessary that the school knows who students with IEP's are, and that it is recognized. I know every parent feels like their child is the most important student in the school---don't we all really feel that way! I get that! But, school administrators need to understand that there are certain needs, for certain students, that should and MUST be met!
If you have a child with an IEP, and something is not happening in your child's school/classroom, bring it to someone's attention! Because your child needs a little something extra, make sure it happens!! They NEED it, and they have been PROMISED that, in their IEP. I'm very willing to fight for my little ones, and do whatever it takes to get them the best education they can get. Don't give up, don't give in, and do what YOU KNOW IS BEST for your child. You know them better than anyone else, and they were put into your care for a reason. I'm hoping to be that advocate for my daughter, and get her what she really needs, so she can succeed and reach her highest potential.
Our big decision happens now...what track do we choose? How do we go about choosing a teacher? I know that my questions when considering a teacher for Breanna, are much different than another parent. I need to know who's going to handle her immature answers and waaaaay below grade level behavior. (She's not a behavior problem at school. It's just a matter of her having different habits than those who act age appropriate.) I need to know what teacher will include her, as much as possible, in the short amount of time she is actually in their classroom. I need to know who is patient, caring, who will help the other students find the good and positive about her. These are way harder questions than I ever wanted to ask myself. But, we are here. We are in this position. And I'd rather have the answers to these questions than not. Hopefully we will make the correct choices for our daughter, and that all will turn out well in her educational life. We know that we can't stay silent anymore, and ask the hard questions....even though it may not be easy.
