spectrumom

I took Nathan to the pediatric dentist to sign the pre-op papers for his dental surgery today. It's over an hour there, then the shuttle to the clinic, then the requisite wait. All to sign a SINGLE paper that, I swear, my husband could have signed when he was there last month. Perhaps it has to be signed within so many days of the surgery, but really! In this day of electronics, couldn't this be handled in a video conference? Or on the day of surgery? There were 3 other families in the waiting area. One was a girl probably in her teens, in a wheelchair who had her mom, her dad (who texted the entire time) and her nurse with her. For a little girl with so many adults in attendance, she slept through the whole thing. Maybe she realized she had no chance against so many adults, or maybe she was tired from them wearing her out. Who knows? There were 2 other children there with their moms, but they don't figure much. We sat as far away from anybody as possible to mini...

Irritating thing neurotypical parents say #58 "My kid used to do that!" This is supposed to make me feel better? My kid wets himself, "My kid used to do that!" My kid disappears from our yard, "My kid used to do that!" My kid screams The Who songs at the top of his voice in a restaurant, "My kid used to do that!" My kid wanders into a neighbors house, gets naked and starts to climb in their tub...yeah, you know that answer. The thing is. The thing IS. Their kid was 3 when they did it and my kid is 11. And that phrase is supposed to make me feel better? My kid has been doing those things for 11 years. When did your kid stop that? Was he doing it at 7, 8 or 10? Yeah, I thought not. So I really think it is time to shut the hell up about your kid. Unless, your kid is autistic or DD. If that is true, then honey, come sit next to me and we'll compare stories. Because nothing is better than hearing from someone who's been there. And...

I have known for a while that some of Sam's teachers did not believe that he is fully capable. And it's been confirmed by more than one source that at least one thought he should be in a 'special school.' WELL. Ignoring the fact that the LAW is on our side regarding the least restrictive environment. It makes me wonder. How can you teach a kid who you don't believe in? I know it's not just my kid that is affected. There was a really interesting experiment done where teachers were told that a class had done poorly on testing when they really hadn't. The teacher taught down to (think talked down to) their class and their scores dropped A LOT by the next year. And for an underperforming class, the teacher was told they had scored well. The next year all the kids were scoring much higher. Your kids become the people you believe them to be. As a parent and as a teacher. If you label them, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The bad one, the smart one...