Ok so mom says I am ashamed of her usually and often a whole lot of other nonsense...the women suffers from low self esteem or something. She's quite lovely actually. Look here she is with the Wee Gnome at my Nephews birthday party. If you click on the picture you can see what else he's been up to. So mad props to Geegaw for going to the circus with Perry at the last minute so Ron and I could go to the Springer School Open House.
A little about the circus. Layni (my best friend) and I used to go to the circus before I had a kid every year. We'd always get the snowcone cups because they were always so cool. So I couldn't wait, to go and get my cup, cause really it's really the only reason to go right. Because really walking on the tight rope makes me a bit squeamish. The motorcycles in the giant steel cage is completely frightful. And after what happened to Roy...well the tigers are just unpredictable. And clowns, well after the movie IT, they are kind of creepy. Ecspecially the the Bello dude they got traveling with them now, he doesn't even look like your traditional clown, do clowns evolve??
So Geegaw and Perry went to the circus with some friends from cub scouts.
Ok so Ron and I headed over to Springers Open house. Gosh what a breath of fresh air. The school takes a total of 200-250 students a year. The class sizes are 12 students at the most. The teachers all have educational assistants, so theres 2 people for 12 kids.....WHAT? The teacher I spoke to said that more often than not she is working with kids one on one. She'll have a group of kids no more than 4 at the most. Can you imagine the concetrated educating that goes on with that small of a class? All of the children in this school have learning disabilities, so the kids are not looked upon from their peers like theres something wrong with them. It's more like "what kind of learning disability do you have, oh really well I have that too." I'm not saying the seclusion is the answer, but building ones self esteem, and being accepted by your peers is such a huge part of growing up. If you constantly looked upon as being "different", you begin to build a wall, it's hard to get over or through that wall. Perry already will say "well mommy I'm not really that smart." How can he feel that way already at age 8?? I haven't told him that, I've only told him how smart he is from the time he could understand what I was saying. So somehow the message of "you aren't smart is being communicated to him from somewhere, yeah see I don't like that! And if you have this kind of an oppurtunity early on, by the time you get to high school when the more difficult peer issues begin to happen he'll have all sorts of strategies and confidence theres no question he'll be able to handle it. I so want him to have this kind of oppurtunity. There are 2 big obsticles that would keep him from it. 1. MONEY, we don't have one of those trees in the back yard, right now they are doing possibly 50% financial aid, but that doesn't mean we'll get that much. 2. Location, it's about a 40 minute drive from our house. We've not explored the transportation options of which there could be many. These 2 external options makes my husband shut the whole thing down as even an option. He's so much a glass half empty kind of person and I am the complete opposite. I am a "wow this place is perfect for him who cares how much it costs or how we are going to get him there, lets just get him in." Not sure if that's good or bad. So heres the thing I've not yet given where he is now even the oppurtunity to come through on educating him, it just seems like such a burden that I have to fight and work for every step of the way. I am not confident that him being educated properly and well where he is now is just going to happen without a constant fight. Not to mention what happens to him when he's not being protected by a teacher or friend when no one's looking. How is he being treated? Why can't I just be by his side where ever he goes or standing off watching so nobody picks on him? All kids should have a mini mommy who shrinks down like Mike TV in the original Willy Wonka, and you could just slide mini mommy in your pocket or backpack, and when punk kids pick on you you can snap your fingers, and she becomes life size, and puts the punk kids in their place, or give them an annoying lecture on how to treat kids who might be a little bit unique. Oh and when we were taking a tour (some of the mom's who read my blog will love this) all the kids have lockers, even the primary age kids, and many of the lockers were decorated with their name and stuff, well one of the lockers had a bumper sticker on it that was retro looking and it said Autism Awareness....how cool. You wouldn't see that in your average public school. Ok so big decisions to make, and we have an IEP meeting on the 16th. So be praying oh faithful prayer warriors.
3 comments:
You know that God has great things planned for you and Perry --
Praying for you. As always. And Springer sounds amazing. And perfect for Perry. I say use your resources. Talk to people at Vineyard, they're a very giving church in so many ways. They may have some financial resources for their "shareholders". Also, some of the federal loans for colleges also do loans for private school for younger kids also. I'm not saying you want to go into debt, but it is low interest and if you had to go that route it would be one of the most reasonable.
Hang in there. God was with you at the Springer open house. He knows Perry. He'll hook him up however's best :-)
Love you!
I would encourage you to keep looking into this too. You may be surprised who or what might present itself to help you achieve this goal if you make it known & continue to work toward it.
I will continue to pray for you that this works out for the best.
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