Friday, June 20, 2008
Updates and whatnot
Hmmm...since last we encountered out intrepid heroine...
Meh. Let's see. Ian went to see the autism doc. According to the tests, he has 2 spikes in the borderline area of
ADHD, but not enough that she would officially diagnose him with it. Which is fine because I really don't think he has it. He just needs a little help to get engaged in the world around him when it doesn't involve
Pokèmon. His teacher was pretty good at that.
We had a bit of drama a few weeks ago. When I got the email from his Special Ed Case Worker saying that he's doing so well he doesn't need the Ed Tech anymore so she doesn't go down there, I was all happy. Then there was an issue they were having, can't remember what it was off the top of my head, but I emailed back and said, Hey, this might be a good way to utilize the Ed Tech time, to support him in this since he doesn't need her for other stuff. Well, that's when I got an email from the teacher saying Boy we'd love to have the Ed Tech back in the classroom, but she stopped coming. So yeah, I panic. I want to know what's going on that I'm getting two different stories from these two people about something as important as Ian's support in the classroom. So I decide I'm going to go down to the school and spend the day, just to see what's going on. I don't tell anyone I'm coming, I just show up. Well, I'm down waiting for the bus to get there when the principal comes out and kicks me out. Says I can't be there without letting them know I'm coming. Well OF COURSE they would say that. How else could they cover up the fact that they're screwing up if they actually let parents see what's going on in the school! I kicked and screamed and wrote the school board and all kinds of stuff, but before I got myself in too deep I heard from someone I work with that the school had just lost a law suit for doing something similar to another family. The fact that they would do it again after a judge telling them it was wrong led me to believe that any further pursuit of the issue on my part would be both painful and fruitless.
So I plunged myself into getting Ian situated at the new school ASAP. I wanted him to be able to go to Step Up day, meet the new teacher, see the classroom and the other kids so he would be prepared for it when school started the next year. The person I talked to at the new school led me to believe this wouldn't be a problem. I should have known better than to believe her after having found out that they had just forgotten to show up at Ian's PET meeting. The girl who took the message of when it would be was horribly
embarrassed to realize she had put the sticky on her computer and forgot all about it. As far as I know they didn't go observe him in the classroom or talk to his teacher either. I think they had one conversation with his case worker. So when I called to find out about getting him registered, they tell me I have to have special permission from the
superintendent's office to register him without a current address in the city. Well, of course we didn't get the special permission. So we scrambled to find a place to rent in the city, I arranged with out current landlord to move out a month early so we could get things in place in time for Step Up day. I won't go into the g
orey details, but it was
hideous and stressful.
Got it done, though. We're renting a little bitty house with absolutely no yard pretty close to downtown. John doesn't think it actually qualifies as a city, but I sure do. Anyway. I got both kids registered. They won't be going to the same school anymore. K-3 goes to a school way out in the sticks, right behind the high school. 4-5 go to a school just up the road from us, actually. They won't even ride the same bus, I believe. Aidan didn't get to go to her Step Up day because it was on the same day as their field trip to
Ft. Williams and she'd been looking forward to it for a while. She's really going to miss her friends, but luckily at least one of them is moving to Windham as well, so that will be nice. (More about that later.) However, when I found out who her teacher was going to be I emailed him and he told me they were having an Ice Cream Social that night at the school. So we went to that and she had a great time. They have a nice play ground and a big
ol hill out back. And her teacher seems very nice. Ian got to go to his Step Up day and it went well. His new case worker, at least I think she's going to be his new case worker, came along to observe, which I really appreciated. It was a bit chaotic as the teacher handed out a paper to fill out while she was going over the summer homework folder, and showing everyone the class pet. You're not going to believe what the class pet is. Wait for it.... a HERMIT CRAB!
LOL She asks everyone to guess what's in the tank and our boy was the first one to answer right. She asks all kinds of questions about crabs and he's all over the answers. He tells her about the time he got pinched and she asked what you're supposed to do when that happens. After he answered that one she says "Well, I guess we know who's going to be the first one to take care of the pet!"
Hee hee hee. My boy. I had to redirect him a couple times to get him to finish the sheet, but as I looked around, I realized that he wasn't the only one not finishing it. That actually made me feel a bit better. The teacher was trying to take pictures of the kids with her digital camera to put with the info sheets, but her camera wasn't working, so I with my "luggage" as John calls it, whip out mine and offer it to her. I tell her I'll put the pics on disc and send them to her. Getting in good with the teacher already, dude. Proactive I am.
For some unknown reason, Ian's teacher gave the kids two research projects at the end of the year.
DOH! The first one was a simple biography of someone famous. Ian picked Steve Irwin, which is cool. We do all the research and he types up the paper, makes the poster, then we get a note saying they have to bring "something special" to the presentation to represent their person and dress up like their person. Oh brother! Well, he picks his huge stuffed crocodile as his special thing and since we don't have a lot of
khaki hanging around the house we did the best we could with some cargo shorts and an animal
TShirt. She had them do a demonstration of their person and Ian actually wrestled this stuffed crocodile in class. She sent home a picture on Tuesday. I'll get it up on
MySpace as soon as I can. It's a riot. He got an Exceeds Expectations on that one. The other project was to pick a Maine animal and do a report and poster. This one was more detailed. The research questions were three pages. Now, we helped him a bit more with this one because some of the stuff was just to hard for him to read by himself, but since that's one of his
accommodations at school I didn't feel to badly about it. I will cop to typing up the paper, but he actually answered the questions and composed the answers for me to type. He picked lobsters. I don't know what he got on it because she didn't send the grading sheet home, at least that I could find. However, she did give him a big
ol rubber lobster toy because he was the only one to pick lobsters and he did his report at home, so I guess that's a good thing.
Overall he did well at school this year. Now I don't know if she was letting him skate on some stuff, but I don't think so. He does seem to know the material pretty well. Some of the stuff he forgets, like government stuff, but heck so do I sometimes. And he got all Exceeds in science. :D My little junior geek.
Aidan is another story all together. She got all 3s in subject matter, which as good as you can get. Well, I think she got one 2, but anyway. The girl is smarter by half than most regardless. However, her behavior went in the tank by the end of the year. UGH! Mostly 1s. ::cry:: Now I think at least some of it had to do with the fact that her teacher was rather lazy. She just kept telling me she thought Aidan had
ADHD and never wanted to hear anything about perhaps she needed a different approach in the classroom. I'm hoping this new guy is better. Our PCP took one look at Aidan and said
unequivocally that she doesn't have
ADHD so we're all going to have to do some work and figure out how to get this girl turned around. I have already given up my dream of her going to Cornell. I refuse to drive around the Old Port at 3 in the morning looking for her when she's 16. If it
kills me, she's not going to turn out like me,
dangit.
On the last couple days of school, I gave Aidan some "business cards" with our contact info on it to give to her friends so they could stay in touch if they wanted to. Sure enough, yesterday I was sitting at my desk working and I get a call. It's for Aidan. I tell this little girl that Aidan's at daycare, can I take a message. I get her phone number and tell her Aidan will call her later. And on the drive home from daycare yesterday Aidan was chatting away with this kid on the phone. It was
hilarious. "I'm going to be in this daycare until such and such, then I start my new daycare on such and such, but I won't be in any daycare on this day and I'd love to have a
playdate." I'm still laughing! SHE'S SEVEN! She's seven and she needs an address book and a planner. Cripes.
Anyhoo. We're moving on the 28
th. I couldn't get seamless transition with the
internet, so I may be unreachable for a couple days there unless you have my phone number. And trust me, that's going to be painful for me. The
internet is kind of like my security blanket. Even when I'm not on it, I just like knowing it's there and I can get on it if I want to.
LOL It will also mean we won't have cable which will also suck, but I do have a backlog of movies I've been meaning to watch, so I suppose that will be a good excuse.
Hee. We're going to be taking over a couple loads of stuff this weekend since we've paid for the last two weeks in June. Much easier in the long run to not have EVERYTHING piled up in that dinky little joint. Wouldn't be able to move. Literally. I mean this place is SMALL. I'm hoping it's only for a year and we can find something larger further out from the city. I'm going to be wicked uncomfortable in this joint. It's right next to an all night gas station and an oil change joint. ::shudder:: The very first investment is going to be blinds for all the windows.
Work is going well. I'm building up my cred as IT guru with the higher ups. I just wish that meant I'd get paid more. Sadly that's not likely to happen any time soon. My boss has been trying to get me a raise forever. It's gotten to the point that
she actually suggested that the next time they try to add something to my job description I just say no. How sad is that?
So that's my rant and ramble for today. More later. Peace out.
posted by Kimber
at 1:51 PM ::
~#~
(3) comments
3 Comments:
When I have to read your blog to figure out what's going on with you, it's been too long!! I'm glad you found a place, even if it's dinky, and I'm glad Ian's doing well. I get such a kick out of hearing about Aidan's "seven going on 27" bit. She reminds me of the girl in The Devil Wears Prada. The mistreated assistant, not the ogre editor, of course.
Not much here except I'm so frustrated with my job that I could scream and cry. So far I've managed not to do either, but I'm honest enough that eventually someone's going to ask me the wrong question on the wrong day and get an earful.
CALL ME!!!!!!!
wubs ya
Shel
I'm always glad when I read about what's going on in your life that you keep plugging along, surviving it all. Sometimes I think that if half the stuff you have to deal with happened to me, I'd be in a padded room! It's good to see the kids doing well despite the changes. Hang in their baby, and if you need anything, I'm here for ya!!
Well, by rights I probably ought to be in the padded room, but it's a luxury I just can't afford right now. Jessie Ventura ain't got time to bleed, I ain't got time to slip a gear. LOLOL
, at
2:14 AM
StSquirrel, at
12:06 AM
