So How’s My Kid Doing?

Thank you to all who have sent their concerns and well wishes for my son.  I just wanted to give an update.  He is currently on homebound instruction for the foreseeable future due to the concussion he received from another child at his school the last day before Christmas break.

His MRI came back clean, but we are awaiting the results of a second impact test which shows if there is any problems arising from the concussion.  He is under a lot of physical limitations.  He wanted to ride his bike today, but he can’t.  He can’t be in a travelling car for more than half an hour.  Screen time is vastly reduced.  He’s not as tired as he was a couple weeks ago, but he has not gotten back to his normal sleep pattern.  His doctor recommended some physical therapy for the concussion, so we have that coming up as well.  He misses some of the kids at his school, and some of his teachers.

One punch.

That’s all it took to wreck his life.  One punch.

There is a lot about this situation I am unable to write about at this time.  But I did commit to making bullying a top priority for this year.  For those who have been following this blog from the beginning, you know when I start on a big topic, I tend to write a big article about it.  It’s coming.

In the meantime, I pray he gets better soon.  Many parents have said “Why doesn’t he fight back?”  Cause we’ve told him not to.  This is a child with disabilities.  Sure, there’s a part of me that wants to say go to town if he is assaulted, but the reasonable part of me knows what could happen.  Kids with disabilities that fight back don’t always have the best future.  Some of them wind up in residential treatment centers.  Possibly out of state.  And it’s not like our schools are always fair when a kid defends himself.  I wish he didn’t have to defend himself.  I wish kids would see him the way I do.  But you can’t always get what you want and all that.

I will defend him though.  Against the forces that are bigger than him, bigger than most of us.  I will fight the future.  I will fight those who say they want the best for our children while they fill their wallets with our  money.  I will fight those who sit behind the protection of the state but take advantage.  I won’t be a bully for my son, I will be a warrior for him.

The Last Post of 2014 Will Be A Huge Part of 2015

New Years Eve.  The transition from one year to the next.  Like I said a week ago, this blog will be changing gears soon, and it will be going against the grain.  Some things need to be talked about, and there needs to be an honest conversation about it.  It exists, and it is seldom talked about anymore with all the other talk in Delaware about priority schools and corporate education reform.  I understand teachers are pissed off, and I am to.  I can’t stand what has happened to education in the past ten years.  But one thing gets me angrier than anything, and that’s this:

This is an MRI scan from a boy with special needs.  He got hit in the head two days before Christmas on the last day of school.  This was his 8th physical assault this year.  That is 8 too many.  He got a concussion from the blow, and it’s considered moderate to severe.  He has had headaches and nightmares ever since.  He will be spending the month of January at home when the rest of his peers will be in school.  He will have homebound instruction with a tutor.

This child has an IEP, and he was approved for a one-on-one aide, but a permanent one has not been hired yet.  His IEP team was told on day one that he can say inappropriate things at times based on his disability, but it was his parents hope the social skills training in his IEP accommodations would help.  It would have helped this boy if that social skills training was given and not used as a punishment when he said something inappropriate to someone in his group.  Because of that, his social skills accommodation was taken away, and his parents weren’t even aware of this until weeks later.  He lost this accommodation for well over a month and much of the bullying and physical assaults against him took place during this time.

His school wants to say much of what is going on with him is behavior and not his neurobiological disability.  This has caused his parents to become very upset with the school on many occasions.  The boys parents feel they are not treated like peers, but as “guests” in this public school district.  The school has no problem in making my son take responsibility for his actions, but when it comes time for the school to do the same, things get very quiet.

There is so much more I can and may say about this boy.  His father understands the plight of teachers.  He understands the impact the Delaware DOE and Governor Markell, and all these bizarre shadow organizations have had on education.  He is against the current teacher effectiveness program.  He hates the priority school initiative.  But this father has to look out for the safety of his son, and when his son has to get an MRI because the doctor is worried about the results of an impact test from the concussion, this boy’s father has to start tackling the biggest problem in Delaware schools.  The problem that has been present for years in ALL Delaware schools.  The problem that all too often gets swept under the rug.  This boy has Tourette Syndrome, and he is my son.