On the warpath...

may 14 2008

This morning we were on the warpath for our girls.

The schoolprincipal has made some serious mistakes in the past and never ever took the effort to apologise.
He should have. It was painful and stupid enough.

But life goes on...untill today.

No, we weren't going to get that wellmeant apology.
It will never come.

We wanted to have a thourough look through the files of our daughters before they are send to the next school.

School had just begun, and he wasn't in his office.
We found him talking with someone.

When I addressed him he looked up like he'd seen a ghost.

I know he tried for three years not to meet me in person. LOL!

We told him what we came for, but he managed to escape by telling us he was too tied up at the moment. So maybe after school....

After school the message was that we could get in contact with one of the coordinators.
She said we could only have a look, no copy and she was very disturbed by the request.

Interesting!!!

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a choice for a full time or part time study

May 8 2008

We had a good meeting yesterday morning.

I was almost too late for the appointment, because the busses were not going to town.
Just when I decided to take the train and phone that I would be too late, the buss came.

I had to run from the busstop, which was no fun, as this nice weather is bad for my asthma.

The building is very new, and extremely modern.
I felt like being in a science fiction environment. Very nice, untill we were near the classrooms.
Someone who doesn't know how distracting open windows are, decided that see through photos on the windows to the corridors and hallways were wonderful.

My son immediately said that this school is the worst environment for an ADHD'er.
There's nowhere a room which has four walls and gives the feel of focussing on your work.

The woman we met was very nice and kind. She complimented him with his decision, to apply for a job and go to school one day.
I was a bit more hesitant, because I knew he made this decision while walking to the meeting.

Interesting for me was that she told the school has had many problems with my son's present school, which is also the school of my autistic son. That says it all, doesn't it?

Well, I know now that I'll have a hard job lying in front of me: getting a positive evaluation of my son from his present school.

Well, the woman said that he'd better make a save choice. He'd better not confront himself with too many difficulties, considering the fact that he has ADHD and is dyslectic.

I can't quite agree.
It's easy to take it easy. And he sure will succeed.
But on the other hand: he has always taken matters very serious. Wasn't afraid of a struggle to get things done.

Working 4 days and going to school one day, means his education is limited to that one shop.
When he goes to the fulltime school course, he will have weeks in between where he works at all sorts of shops, and he'll be able to find out what he likes and doesn't like. He opens up his future far more.

After we spend more than an hour talking, we went to the informationcentre for some booklets.
The woman there had a talk with us too, and she said exactly what I thought.

So instead of applying for a place there, he has to make a choice.

In the evening we had a long talk.

When he goes for the easy route: 4 days work and one day school, he'll work 4 years for minimal wages. The shop can even force him to sign a contract that he stays for 5 years after he's graduated. But a pro is that his studies will be paid for.

When he goes for the other route, he's going to school all week, he has to apply for a grant to pay for his studies, but when he is successfull there's no need to pay it back.
He can work a day in the week at the shop, and when they want to up his wages, there's no problem.
Every so many weeks there are two weeks or more of practical work at all sorts of different shops, so his education is very broad.

When the choice was mine I'd choose for the last.

And you?

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A new day... a new future for my son

may 7 2008

Everything feels and looks like it's summer.
I even had the window open all night without feeling cold for a minute.

I'm waiting for one of my sons to leave the shower and hop in myself.

He takes so much time I think I have to walk straight from the shower to the busses to be in time for an appopintment.
Don't worry, I'll dress first.

Just a thin cotton long dress with a matching thin blouse/jacket on it.

He's decided to take his future into retailing.

Last year he started working in a job, just to get some money, and it turned out one of the best decisions of his life.
He loves working there, and he seeks responsibility.

So I phoned a college in town and we're going to have a talk there about which subjects he needs to take and which support he can get.
He's severely dyslectic.

He can do without support.
The lack of, has made him find out all sorts of compensation mechanisms.
But after all the bad expereinces he's had at the school he is now, he deserves a good start at the next educational level.

Do I hear the shower has stopped without me calling over and over and over again?

Yep!!!
Wow!!!

I'm off!!!!

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The files arrived, grrrr.....

may 6 2008

We asked the council to send us the files they have about my autistic son.

They arrived today.

I haven't read more than the first page.
It's a healthy decision, because my bloodpressure and everything else went over the roof.

In the past, when he was at basic school, we went to the council to talk about the fact that we expected problems at school.
We didn't know what school was able to care for his needs.

Basic school had been a very bad experience.
I was called to school for an emergency at least twice a month. Meaning they called me twice a week.

The schoolyear was a complete horrormovie, with a principal who thought he could calm children with laying his hands on their shoulders and looking them deep in the eyes.
Ha. Do that with autistic children and you'll get a panick attack.

They guy interpreted that as agression...

Well, the representative of the council called him after she had spoken with us, and he told her that we painted a picture that wasn't right.

I can understand he wanted to protect himself and the name of the school, but that he would go as far as that!

So now we understood why we were treated so bad at the meetings of last week and the week before.
They just don't believe us.

Those schools protect themselves and they don't care for the individual pupil.


I have written a reaction to this file, but I'm not sure if I should bother to send it.
On the other hand...it's a legal document and it can be used against us might it come to a courtcase.

Any input will be welcomed!

I feel caught in the middle between the law and my child.

april 23 2008

Tomorrow we're going to have a meeting with a representative of the council.
She wants to "hear" is (like in "interrogation") about the fact that my autistic son is not going to school.

He promised to go last monday, but ofcourse he didn't.
The school offered him an emtpy room, and that was it.
No-one waiting for him, telling him what to do.

I'm not even sure someone realised he wasn't there at all.

Well, I've begged him to go, threatened him, gave him a book to read there, etc etc.
I can't pull him on his hair to school.

After the school with the auti-classes didn't admit him against all promisses and after 4 months of waiting, school is a no-go to him.

He can't deal with the social situations, the lack of routine, the different facial expressions, the noises, etc etc.

Homeschooling isn't allowed here.
All children should go to school.
But there's a lack of auticlasses.

I feel caught in the middle between the law and my child.

Tomorrow someone who doesn't know my child will decide if we get a fine or if we're brought to court.

Ofcourse we've made a plan.
First we want to know if the files she has are complete and if she knows he has autism.
The man she took over from intimidated me in my own home. Not much later I found out he didn't even know he was talking about a child with classic autism!

Second: it should be clear that the school did nothing at all to help him.
So they should fine the school, not us.
We complained and did everything else to get the school in motion, so they would provide him what he needs.

Third: the system falls short. He would have gone to school when the auti-class application was granted.
But there aren't enough auticlasses.

Fourth: other help is involved. I have asked the schooladvisor to help us out, and I've even asked for a meeting with the council...and that's granted!

When she fines us or sends us to court, I'll involve the media.

The last days I've felt sad, depressed, angry and a lot more.

Now I'm just very tired, but I hope tomorrow morning I'm ready to make clear that I've done all I could.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, pleasssseee!

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exhibition at school

april 19 2008

The school of the girls had an exhibition last week.
All groups had changed their classroom into a museum with pieces of a special country.

One of the girls had a classroom with a lot of interesting information about the inuit.
My girl carved a whale from soft stone and it was exhibited in an ocean with an icemountain.

The other girl made huts of the toeareg. They even made some recipes. And ofcourse I had to taste some...
So the rest of the evening I was smelling of fish. LOL!

Funny things was that I didn't cook fish for dinner because of the smell...
Well, we do a lot for our children, don't we?

After a fashionshow of 5 minutes in the main hall I went to another classroom with teak furniture representing the tropics.

It was nice to see how much effort everyone had taken to make this evening a huge succes.

Another memory to add for the girls.

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You can congratulate us!! Yoohaa!

april 16 2008

Last week one of the twins was admitted to the school of their choice, the other was rejected.
It was such a blow!

Monday morning I wrote a letter asking the school to reconsider.

They might have made a mistake, because the letter stated the outcome of some tests, and not the advice the teachers from school gave and the national test indicated.

I clearly stated why these tests were unacceptable for us. (Mom here has lectured research methods and statistics, so it was no problem to make them clear that tests are not perfect, and why in this case they are not to be used.)

I know she's very dyslectic. But she brings with her the grants for support.

And the present school says she needs some extra attention, but we feel that's because they're not completely used to dyslexia. And the new school is.

Ofcourse today was bussy...
I even had to go to the doc with my autistic son...pfff...

Her teacher told us this morning that today the new school would have a meeting about my girl.
I expected it to be late afternoon.

But just when I came home with my son, the phone rang.

SHE'S ACCEPTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

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autism awareness and a smile

april 15 2008

I haven't been blogging a lot this last week.

I had too much on my mind, with the application for a school rejected for one of the girls. And some other issues.

On top of it: I was far less motivated as it looks that people don't care for the buzzfuse element I use and the cause I blog for this month.

So I turned my energy another way and created two dutch blogs.
(I'm using the name Holly, to give my children the privacy they deserve. So be careful when you comment.)

One to improve the situation for autistic children in my hometown.

And one: "Action for Autism", to enhance awareness, comment on all sorts of situations that aren't right, vent ideas all over the place, motivate other people to take action, etc etc.
There are two other Action for Autism sites, one in England and one in India.
Wouldn't it be great to connect international and national initiatives?

The number of people with an autism spectrum disorder is growing.

I'm not at all sure we're dealing with disorders here. Not in all cases.
Many of these people have strong and weak characteristics, like us all.

Their weakness is defined in the areas of communication and socialisation.
They have a different way of perceiving and processing information, so they have difficulty dealing with the way information is handled at schools.
But a growing number mean we are getting more children with a disorder, or does it mean it's time we change the way our society works and the way schools are aimed at the average student.

Maybe we should even start to reconsider our way of thinking about other human beings.

I've found many people tell me autistic people are not contributing to society.
Hmm...
They sure have made me feel more accepting about people who want to be or are unique(including myself).
Do we give people who are different enough opportunities to be themselves?

Does a higher level of education really mean that the person is better, more contributing, more valuable?

I was at the school of the girls yesterday.
All the pupils crowded the halls and classrooms.
Some were talking about the latest fashion, showing off their shoes.
Others were talking about the traffic exam taking place this week, and some boasted about the school they were admitted at.

Slowly it got more silent.
Doors closed and the corridors were empty.

Then a teacher stepped out of the classroom and shouted a name.
"I'm coming", I heard.

A boy walked my way.
"I hope she didn't shout too hard for you.
I'm autistic and I'm always late.
People say I'm too slow for this world."

He gave me a bright smile.
"You're the mom of the twins, aren't you?
Your boys are autistic too, so you know what people say."

"Yea, I sure do.
But I also know something else.
You're doing the best you can.
Last year you didn't dare to look at me, let alone speak with me.
Boy, you have the brightest smile I've ever seen,
and you've warmed my heart.

No one did that today.
No teacher, no child.

You just cherish that gift of making people happy,
and keep your smile ready for people who want to see it.

Many people forget to smile.
Tell you teacher and your mom you took the time to make someone happy with your smile."

He went to the classroom and I went with him. Told his teacher we had a very important chat and that he wasn't late at all.
He just took the time for something that was very important.

I don't care what that teacher thought.
But on my way home I was singing on my bycicle.

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The oldest and education

April 15 2008

The oldest finally got the letter of admittance to a special school which fits his educational needs.

He's got asperger syndrome and ADD and we feel this is really a new start.

When he was young he was considered shy and clumsy.
He walked in a strange way, but apart from telling us he needed fysio, no one thought a bit more about it.

When he went to school he didn't socialise much and seemed to be in his own phantasy world.
At times teachers made a remark, but immediately told us it was not allarming.

When we went for check-ups we were told not to worry so much.

It's almost the classical story.

At college he was told to work more and more organised.
He was called lazy.
Far too often.

Even when we went to see a childneurologist (now a professor) we were told not to worry.
He scanned him, had a psychologist have a look and told us all was fine.
He wouldn't be very social, but the world florished with scientists, and he sure had all the intelligence to become one.
Maybe one in the computer area, as he had a large interest in laptop computers.

Well, he became a computerfreak, but school didn't went well, and he was never able to finish a year, because he simply wasn't able to live up to the expectations.

Then he dropped out of school, and became even more of a computerfreak.

But where to skip all the normal schoolrequirements and get a specialised education?

It took more than a year to get him diagnosed and years to find someone who knew the ins and outs of the whole world of disability income and education.

He's now moved to a trainingshouse, and can start at a special school within two weeks.


Some people don't understand why it took so long.
Well, when you told professionals 23 years ago that you thought your child had asperger syndrome, you were told you were nuts yourself.
Not in so many words, but they all said I was wrong.
The consequence was that he got all the support he needed from home. But a mom can interfere with school and others areas of life only so much.
So he didn't get all the support he needed untill the knowledge and awareness about asperger syndrome and ADD was more widespread.

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Unbelievable!

april 23 2008

I took a few days away from this blog, because I needed some time for other things.

The twingirls got the decision about their application for the new school.

One of them is admitted, the other rejected!

That was an unexpected situation after their teacher told them they both were admitted.

One of the mothers of the children of their group even said she was phoned by the new school. They wanted to know whether her son wanted to be in the same group as the twins.
"Oh yes!", he had answered.

The letter of rejection stated a different schooladvice than we had got.
Are we dealing with a mistake at the side of the new school?
Or did the present school adjust the advice without letting us know?

We were all so very disappointed that we nearly forgot one of the girls should be happy to be admitted.

Luckily we got unexpected visitors, so we all got a little distance.

I have no words for the whole situation.

More than a month ago we had contact with the school about the application.
The woman involved told us she would call when there were any problems.

I guess she forgot....

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Arrival of the papers for funds for special support at school

april 10 2008

After months of gathering the necessary statements, signatures, and forms, after waiting for weeks, we've received the official papers that state that my autistic son isn't able to participate at normal schools without special help.

These papers are needed.
Not only for the auti-classes that have no space for him, but also when he wants to attend a normal school.
These papers are worth regular assistance and they grant me the supervision of treatment plans and also of all the agreements with people who have to support my son.

To me it's gold!

Now we have to find a school.

Interesting is that the educationadvisor now told me it would be wise to ask special support for a teacher at home.
He's forgetting that it takes another load of paperwork and almost the same procedure to get funds for a special teacher.
By the time we'll receive those papers the year is over.

Well... one of the hurdles is taken.... lots of others have to follow.

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she's got her swimming diploma

april 7 2008

She did it!!

She's got her swimming diploma.

It was fun to see her bussy with the little kids in the swimmingpool, but she was more impressive swimming like she's never done something else in her life.

Years ago she was a bit afraid. And she wasn't motivated to learn to swim.

Some parents took their children to swimming lessons for over a year, following the few lessons from school.
I couldn't, and I didn't.

I guess I'm too much of a Maria Montessori mom to force a child into an area of development it isn't ready for.
Even though many people in this watery country consider swimming of utmost importance, I always remember the words of my teacher and collegue (yep, I've been a swimmigntutot for a couple of years).
She said that when children think they can swim and fall in the cold water, they will realise they're in cold water and before they realise they can swim their muscles spasm.

So I told my children to stay away from the lake, and told them to come to me when they were ready to have swimminglessons.

This little lady though managed to convince her teacher that she was just the person (with her twinsis) to fill the empty spaces in the schoolbus and swimmingpool.

Within two months she's got her diploma.

She was proud, soooo proud!!!

And so was mom!!!!

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No casting done for the musical

april 5 2008


We all expected to hear from school which children would have been choosen to play the main parts in the musical.

Friday, the teachers told the children.

But friday passed and all they know is that another audition will follow next week.
Another one, following the extra one of today.

It only means unnecessary stress, and less time to practice for their goodbye to the school.

These last weeks are far to full.

A part is due to the fact that the school celebrated last year an anniversary and skipped for instance the traffic exams. They're added now to the final year.

Well, I told the girls that I won't mind to take over the casting of the musical.
It has been my job in the past for ballet and musical, and I have no favorites (except for my girls, LOL!).

We'll see.

But first the swimming exam of one of the girls next monday afternoon.

We all are going to the swimmingpool!

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autism - school - and an invitation of the law

april 2 2008

Waking up was a kind of surprise.
It has been ages ago that I slept more than 4 hours. Wow!

Ofcourse the whole family needed to shower at the same time.
Leaving me 5 minutes.
Well, I was downstairs on time, at the meeting on time... without feeling any stress.
What a bit of flu can do. LOL!

This time the schooldirector himself took the lead, which made the meeting far more quiet and to the point.
I had one item on my agenda: making clear that I want no talking behind my back, because it leads to people wanting to save their face and reputation at the cost of the children and the parents.

Right after his opening sentences and a sip of coffee I had the chance to jump in and say my bit, with the example I wanted to give. (I can't give it here for privacy reasons).
It set things straight within seconds, so we could start talking about the future of my autistic son.

Ofcourse they wanted him to come back to school.
And ofcourse they wanted to make adjustments.

But they made them a year ago already, and it didn't work.
It's not about the amount of hours spend at school, it's about the amount of requested social interaction.

Right at that moment a group of girls has a lot of fun, just in front of the window.
They giggled a lot, talked with high voices, even we had to smile.

Perfect to explain how some children with autism experience walking to the schooldoor.
So many noises, movements, lights... and they make no real sense...
It takes effort to complete an understandable picture, but there is no time, because new sensory stimuli draw the attention, kids that talk, sounds of the schoolhall...

The schooldirector gave the impression he understood a bit.

When a normal classroom wasn't an option, maybe he could study at an empty room.
He can do that at home...

So the focus of attention shifted to choosing another school.
They had no new options... the schooladvisor has given them all last month.

So we agreed that he won't finish his final exam, but will stay subscribed at school, just to do what the law wants.
The schooldirector said he couldn't unscribe my son, but he can. And I told him so. But subscribing would mean an investigation from the schoolinspection, and that's what they don't want.

Almost at the end of the meeting it turned out that it was not the initiative from school to invite us, but the council's wish.

Thought so!!

It's the law that all children have to attend school, and there are only a few exceptions.
Homeschooling isn't allowed here.
Nor is staying at home.

But there aren't enough places for children with autism.
That's why my son had to struggle so hard the past years.
He had to go to a normal school, with almost no support.

He was promised a place at an auti-class, but wasn't accepted the last minute.
Going back to the normal school isn't an option anymore.

So if they want to bring me to court.... so be it.

At home I found an envelope... with the invitation to be heard by a representative of the council.
A year ago I would have been stressed out.

Now I could only smile.

I don't care she mentioned the numbers of the passages of law.

I don't even care to be questioned.

My child is autistic and can't cope with the schoolsystem.
There are special faciolities for autistic children and he was referred to them.
But there aren't enough auti-classes available.

I haven't created the problem, nor has my son.
Society falls short.

According to the human rights I should be able to choose the education which is best for my child.
I've choosen.
They can't deliver.

I'm not the only one confronted with this problem. Not at all.
This year about 50 children with autism won't be able to find a place at an auti-class.

Which means I would be able to start an auti-school, when I had the money and the support.

I have promised myself that when I will be brought to court I will use all media, all magazines, to make people understand why children like my son can't survive at a normal school.
I will use all means to make clear in court that it's the duty of the government to create the school he and other autistic children need.

Ofcourse I'm trying to convince people now.
I'm not waiting untill then.
But when there's the excitement of a mother of an autisic boy being brought to court, the media will jump on it.

So for now I'm waiting for new developments.

How does the lady of the council react to the report of the meeting of this morning?

I'll let you know.


And now I'm off to nurse those who are still ill here. (You see, moms can't be ill themselves.)
Everything else has to wait untill tomorrow.

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sites for practicing maths requested.

april 1 2008

Can someone help me with the url of a few sites with maths, like 27x56 and such.

Because my dyslectic girls get some special lessons, she misses out of the computerpractice.

Thanks!!

swimming exam

april 1 2008

One of the girls came home with great news.

She's allowed to do her swimming exam next monday.

How proud she is!!

It's fun to see her with red cheeks, deciding what to wear.

All children have to wear some clothes for a special part of the test.
Ofcourse I want her to wear old clothes, which would have been thrown away anyway.
But she wants to look good.

Well, I'm sure she won't wear her princess dress and crown, so I'll just wait a few days and hope her brains kick in.

We're all so happy for her.

recycling plastics

march 31 2008

A few months ago our neighbourhood became one of the very few test areas of recycling plastics.

We were very enthousiastic, because we want to do all we can to prevent pollution and useless waste.

That the container was too far away was a bit of a trouble, because it turned out that plastic tends to need quite some volume.
We found some ways to prevent shops to put more plastic on our groceries than absolutely needed and we created some ways to deal with the volume.

Now we're saving quite some money, because we're not needing to dispose of so much household waste anymore.

Two weeks ago the children went with school to the waste incineration facility to see what happens with our waste.

No word was spent on how plastics are recycled.
Luckily one of the boys wrote a paper about the subject a while ago, so they could present the subject at school.

We have strict rules for what needs to be in the plastic container and what not.
That's because the High Density Polyethylene is the plastic they want. That means: bags, bottles, films around food and some other products, and plastics like we know as Tupperware.

The first step in plastic recycling is sorting the usable and unusable plastics, followed by cleaning, drying, and a thourough control to remove the contaminations that are left.
Then the plastic is cut into small stripes and flakes.

These are transported into a large kind of barrel where pressure and heat ensure uniform melting.
Again a filtering process cleans the mixture.
Then it's pressed out of the barrel and immediately cut into granules.

These HDPE Granules are cooled and packaged.

The quality of the granules depends on three important features of the production process:
- the filtering. The cleaner the material is the better.
- the venting of the barrel, so unwanted gasses and moisture can disappear, leaving less bubbles.
- temperature in the barrel. Too low means that the mixture isn't melted evenly, too hot means the plastic can loose all structural integrity and becomes useless.

The HDPE Granules are used to make new plastic products, like garden furniture, plastic containers and packaging material.

It's fun that we found the best way of storing our waste plastic while talking about the recycling of it.
We now use a container with a lid that can be pushed open from the outside, but not from the inside.
Ofcourse the container is made from... HDPE Granules!

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schoolmusical (s)

march 28 2008

The girls had to audition today for the schoolmusical.
They were quite nervous, because they didn't know what to expect.

They're both singing in a choir, have 6 years of experience on stage with ballet,
so they knew they wanted to go for the main parts.

Ofcourse they had a peek at the first auditions, to get an idea what to expect.
Then they quickly practiced a song and created a dance with pillows, large flowers and veils.

Already it buzzed through the groups that only the names of the best would be written down.

They both felt they did well, and saw their names written down during singing.

The names of those who will get the main parts will be announced next week, but they already know that they're in for a least the songs.


The schoolmusical is always a bussy time here.
The oldest played the main male part in his year. He did marvellous!
He had some great coaches to mold his stage presentation and he showed talent to remember all those suggestions and use them.
I completely forgot it was my son on stage.

We tried to motivate him to become a member of a theatregroup, but he never wanted that. What a loss of talent!

In the year my second son left school there wasn't a proper musical.
Instead we saw him take part in a professional dance performance, which was wonderful!

My third son got one of the 4 main parts in the musical.
He too showed he'd inherited the familytalents.
The doll he made and had to carry with him only disappeared from the table to the attick last month.

When my autistic son was in his final year, we all thought it wise he would hand out the leaflets at the door or stand behind the cookies and fill the plate whenever necessary.
They completely forgot him!!
He still feels hurt, because no one bothered to say sorry.

And it still gets to me whenever I think about it.

And now it's time for my girls.

One of them has the same teacher as my autistic son had.

I hope I can keep my mouth shut.
I'm sure it's better not to ask her not to forget my girl. LOL!

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the truth came out

march 26 2008

The truth always comes to the surface, one way or another.

The "present school" of my autistic son reported him and us to the council because he wasn't attending the school he was supposed to go to.

(I'm writing "present school", because here a child needs to be subscribed to a school. He is, but he couldn't cope there anymore. So he's not attending any school.)

Well, we didn't have a school for him, as the school with the auti-classes didn't admit him after all. (After a wait of three months).

So we contacted the "present school" and found out they expected my son to go to another school in another town. They were told he would go there.

NO WAY!

Again I was told I understood things wrong.
(Yea...I'm a fully trained psychologist, I've been lecturing observational and other techniques, was known for my memory of written and spoken material.)

I thought there must be something in the reproting of the school with the auti-classes, so I gracefully tried to solve the matter by asking a written report about the procedure.

We got it in the mail this morning.
Turned out the person has been in contact with the out of town school, without our permission, but also without telling us as much.
When she mentioned that school, we immediately told her that that school wasn't an option.

Instead of telling that to the "present school", she only told what she wanted us to do, not our reaction.

I wish people kept matters straight and clear.
Now we've been reported to the council on the grounds of not sending our kid to a school where he should be subscribed, whereas he isn't subscribed there.

I'm getting sick of this all.

Well, talking about it reached the ear of my autistic son...
School is a problem-item at the moment so we've had again a melt-down.

I'm not sure how long anymore I can handle all these people who only play fair for themselves.

Wish I had enough money to start a school for autistic children here in town.
So many parents go through the same and it really eats energy.
And for what?

Update schools: mom is mad!!

March 18 2008

As a psychologist I'm interested to see how people turn and wiggle to cover up their mistakes.

As a mom it makes me very mad, to see that people are going behind my back, and are dishonest at the expense of my credibility and my son's education.

Instead of asking us how things are going the schoolcounsellor went behind our back, and got misinformed.
Instead of saying that she was, she tried to talk herself out of it...putting the blame on someone else... and creating a picture of me as a liar.

We've asked the school with the auti-class if there was a possibility to admit my autistic son there for schooldays in combination with him doing his final exams at the former school.
Well, those who read my blog know they didn't want to.
Case closed.

We got some suggestions to get him into some kind of educational situation, which were all crap.
One of them was a school in another town, needing special admission papers to get it payed for, with a system that grants my son far too much freedom to do nothing and required him to ask all the questions and help himself. On top of it, it has the same final examsystem as the auticlasses, so he wouldn't be able to do his exams this year.
So enough reasons to say no.

I would have known if the woman had suggested that socalled school together with exams at the former school.
It would means stress of travelling, stress of everything, adjustment and exams within a period of 2 months... if ever we would get the paperwork done within days.
So an impossible suggestion.

Now the schoolcounsellor is telling that the other school suggested that.
Forget it!!

A meeting is planned in april with the schoolleader, and I think she very well knows that meeting will blow the roof of the school.
I don't want my son to go to school there anymore.
One of the reasons is that they told us they were dealing with him based an a kind of IEP (individualised educational program) whereas she had quite a lot of meetings about making one and she never came up with one.
She magically produced one when we needed the paperwork done for the auticlass, and everyone knows she faked it.
To be precise...she's seen my son this year only once... one of the reasons he didn't want to go to school. They just didn't care.

I hate it when people start lying and playing unfair.
All I can do is expose them.

On top of it I got an insight in the costs for the dyslexia declaration for my dyslectic daughter.
More than 760 euro.
And when I want to have the intelligence test done, the WISC, it means 1520 euro!!
That's 2,376.95 USD
Can you believe it??????

Want to know some fun? I have a dysectic son too. And he needs the same.

It makes me feel sick.
I could hardly keep my tears in when I was reading it, and I've spend the rest of the afternoon trying to hide I was crying.
What helped were your kind reactions. Thanks so much for your support!!!

I'm so tired of all these rules and regulations.
They're not helping the children..at all!

Well, tomorrow morning I'm going with my son to his psychiatrist.
See what happens there.

My life feels like a soap opera.

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