A new Fight - aka School Year -- Begins

First day of the new school year,  Nathaniel would be starting as a Freshman in High School this year but we kept him back in 1st grade.  That was our first attempt at trying to get over the reading hump.  We gave a second go around at 1st grade; unfortunately, that did not work and still he can not read.

So, he is going into 8th grade and as with any school year we pray for the best.  We pray that the obstacles and trials will be less than the year before and we continue to pray that somehow this year will be the year when Nathaniel begins to read.  It is, ultimately, his greatest obstacle.

Having a child with special needs can be a challenge on so many fronts.  When as child has a developmental disability those challenges are on every front.  In your family you are constantly working towards helping others to understand your child (and lets admit you are often trying to understand your child yourself).  When in public you are always aware of the looks and see the chatter; if you let yourself, you become paranoid and stop venturing out in public.  In church you are faced with having a child that has great difficulty conforming to the expected behavior.  But the GREATEST challenge I feel has been trying to deal with the school system.

We  have only dealt with one but as I begin another year we are still struggling.  Nathaniel is beginning the school year with parts of the current IEP (Individualized Education Plan) rejected.  I have been trying for several weeks to connect with the ETC (Educational Team Chairperson) so that we can "discuss" the areas I rejected to hopefully come to an agreement so that the IEP can be signed and fully implemented.  By starting the IEP with rejected parts we are working off last years IEP now and his education is once again stalled.  No return phone calls, no responses to email requests -- nothing!!!

If we do not reach an agreement we then can go to mediation or a hearing.  This requires us to pay for advocates and/or lawyers and to pay for additional testing (possibly).  We also could have to pay for experts to come testify if it goes to hearing.  Nathaniel is 14 and we have already spent over $14,000 to fight the district for what is just and right.  I would rather not waste their time, my time and unnecessary dollars but it is a game.

The school department has limited resources and if they could I feel they would offer every child what they need for a free and appropriate education, but they can not.  So what do they do?  They offer the minimum to all and up the offerings depending on how vocal you are.  Then they force you to rely on your resources (money) to fight them.  The belief is that everybody has a financial breaking point and at some point in the process you will accept less than you should get because you just cannot financially afford to fight anymore.  For those that can continue the fight the amount of time it takes to push it through the hearings and judicial process is so long that months and even years of educational opportunities are lost on the child while the issues are fought out.  Who wins??

Are the school districts malicious?  No, I don't think so, but they are working with unfunded mandates.  What are they to do? 

They need to do the best they can for all the children under their care and spread around a pot of money way to small and I need to expect the best for Nathaniel and do whatever I can to assure that he gets it.  Too often people that should be working hand-in-hand for the best of the child are forced into an adversarial relationship.  I can only hope that the issues, this year, get quickly resolved but at the same time I am already worried about next year and what it is going to take to make high school a positive opportunity for learning.