“. . .there is one bright spot in this COVID world that should have all of us with special needs family members rejoicing.”
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Dysgraphia
Dear Health Professionals
“As a parent with a special needs child, we are expected to have a medical degree, multiple therapy degrees, education degrees, degrees in nutrition, psychology and more. (I’ll be able to claim the psychology degree in a few months.) At least it seems that way when we take our child with Autism to the doctor or consult one.”
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Dear Medical Professionals
“Yes, it’s almost like we are asking you to be God. But you don’t have all the answers, and can’t preform all the miracles.”
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Homework and kids with Special Needs
School is back in session and the dreaded “Homework” has begun. There is not much in my house that brings tears faster (both from me and my children). So I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Your kids don’t have to do it. . . At least in Elementary School. Or rather that is my opinion and the opinion of a lot of teachers I have spoken to. Let me explain.
In our home, we have learners with disabilities. Dyslexia, Autism, ADHD, Dyscalculia to name just a few.
When my kids were younger, we spent almost every day immediately after school going to therapy. We would get home just in time for dinner and bed. There was no time for them to do homework, let alone time to play and be children.
If we had a rare afternoon off I wasn’t about to make them do homework instead of taking the time to play and have fun. I did have them read for 20-30 mins a day either in the car to and from therapy or in bed at night before they fell asleep.
We have added into my son’s IEP at various times that no homework or extremely limited homework will be issued. It is a legitimate modification for students in their IEP’s.
Do kids sometimes need extra practice? Absolutely. But, to quote a Special Education teacher I know, “If they didn’t get it at school, they likely aren’t going to get it with 30 minutes of homework either.” They are going to need direct instruction. And I don’t know about you, but when it comes to Common Core Math? I can’t help them anyway.
Is it going to be a positive thing for your children or a negative one? Are they behind in a subject or on target? Is the amount of homework reasonable for your child’s age and personality? These are all things you should take into consideration.
So do yourself and your kids a favor and weigh the benefits of homework at your house.
If We Didn’t Have To Move Mountains…
I’ve been thinking a bit lately about all the time and energy that Parents of Special Needs children expend. We can truly move mountains for our kids. Mountains of paperwork, mountains of professionals who don’t want to listen to us, mountains of physical and medical issues. But what if we didn’t have to and all our children’s needs were met and we could expend that energy and time elsewhere?
The parents I know would change the world. So much of our time is spent fighting to just exist. The schools, insurance companies, and doctors don’t see even a fraction of what we are capable of if it didn’t take everything that they had to make sure our child is fed, happy, and alive. (Believe me, they wouldn’t want to see us if we weren’t completely drained because they would lose every time.)
Personally, I have to parcel out my energy for fighting battles. I have to be in the right mood and my anxiety levels down so that I can wage war. Because it truly is like waging a war so much of the time.
Parents, Grandparents, and Caregivers give your self a pat on the back. You are SO capable the world wouldn’t know what to do if we weren’t so busy with everything else.
How To Let the New Teacher Know About Your Child
New school year, new teacher. Your child has an IEP but do all your child’s teachers know that? What about Music, Art, and Gym teachers? We are starting our Middle School adventures this year. How does that even work with him changing teachers all day?
You have this beautiful, wonderful child who can sometimes be misunderstood. How can you be proactive without becoming one of “those” Moms?
Something that I was introduced to last year was a child’s resume to introduce your child to the teacher. It has your child’s name and picture at the top. After that, you outline your child’s strengths and weaknesses. If your child gets upset easily or has certain triggers that will set him off- How do you de-escalate them? Special interests that will help them redirect them when they get upset or distracted.
This way it should cut down on misunderstandings, talks with the Teacher, or (gasp) Principal. Awareness of the issues as we know can make a world of a difference.
I’m here… To Blog
I’ve always loved to write but I haven’t done much of that in recent years and I think perhaps this will be good therapy for me. Perhaps along the way, I can encourage another Mom, Dad, Grandparent or Sibling out there to just try to live through today (or maybe the next 5 minutes) and not worry about tomorrow right now.
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