This is what I have affectionately nick-named Amanda's new school. They are tough! Not that they didn't warn me on the intake interview, but I sure didn't expect this. When Christie and Cheryl came to my house that day, after many years of failed treatments, a school system that didn't care, and me about pulling my hair out, they gave me something that I hadn't felt in a really long time. Hope. They came in and interviewed us. Both Amanda and Me. It was neat. I showed them her room, explained our routines, Amanda's habits and routines, and her educational history. If you could even call it a history. They asked me what I wanted for Amanda. I told them "a normal child". They understood, and we put together a game plan.
They were with me step by step as we tried to get Lorain to release Amanda. Even though she is no longer going to their schools, we still have to go through them. Can you believe they still get paid $5000.00 by the state even though they're not educating her? That's how messed up the school system is. They'll still get a check for her even though they never did anything. Idiots. But I digress.
Amanda started with Spectrum school the beginning of her fourth grade year. She hated it. She fought me, she wanted to stay home from school, when she was at school she cried. She didn't listen to the teachers, when she came home she was very combative with me. I was warned this could happen. They told me right out that their school was a no holds barred type of school. The didn't pull punches, and their goal was to teach these kids, whether they liked it or not. Their approach was not for everyone. I knew that going in, and I was starting to second guess myself. I knew everything was new, and it was going to be hard. It's hard enough for a "typical" child to go to a new school, I know this from my upbringing. Let alone a child with Autism to be taken out of their comfortable elements, and pushed way beyond their boundaries.
I was in very close contact with her teachers and with Cheryl and Christie for those first several weeks. The reassured her, they reassured me, they told me step by step what Amanda's day was and how they handled her meltdowns while she was there. I started to feel more comfortable. I knew in my heart this was what we needed to do. Amanda, on the other hand many not have agreed, but we kept on keeping on. You see, their take on Autism was pretty much the same as mine. "Suck it up kids, the world isn't going to change for you, you have to adapt". I never let Amanda's autism stop us from trying to lead a somewhat normal life. I have always pushed her into uncomfortable situations, and we dealt with it. If she was going to be a functioning adult, she's got to learn to deal with it. They agreed. They helped her deal. She started to come around.
By Christmas she really was into her routine. She started to enjoy school. Thank God! They had her on reading programs to try and catch her up, as well as math programs. Now think about that for a minute. They had her on programs to catch her up to grade level in two subjects she was mainstreamed in during kindergarten until the budget cuts. Is there something wrong with that picture? I would say so. She was no longer crying for me, and opening up to the staff and other students. She actually started showing a silly side. Please keep in mind that although she was academically in fourth grade, she had been held back for two years in school. Once in preschool and once in kindergarten, so she should be in sixth grade. By the end of the school year, we had found a new educational home for Amanda, and we were very happy. She was now reading at a third grade level, starting a fourth grade level. In just one school year, they had increased her reading skills by a year and a half.
Shortly after starting her fifth grade year, she developed her first crush. On her teacher. Now granted, he is a young, athletic looking, attractive man, and despite all the fighting he and Amanda did their first year together, she was in love with her teacher. It was cute. And quite annoying. So annoying that we had to make his name a bad word in our house because that's all she talked about. It was funny. Socially she really started to grow. They noticed that at school, she was very much the mother hen. She would take care of the younger kids. She was also developing quite an outgoing personality and becoming the class clown. Yep. My at one time non-verbal autistic daughter who Lorain City Schools said had plateaued at third grade had grown into a nurturing young lady, and class clown. I was ecstatic and infuriated all at the same time. Ecstatic for all that Amanda had learned in such a relatively short time and infuriated by the realization that she could have been learning this all along and the school system wouldn't teach her. By sixth grade, she was reading at grade level. When she took the standardized test, it showed her reading at an accelerated level! Accelerated! I wanted to take that report and shove it in the faces of the board members of Lorain City schools. I didn't. I sooooo wanted to, but I didn't. I still may one day. :)
Conferences and IEP meetings are now something I look forward to. They are no longer concentrated on what she can't do, but on what she's accomplished and how can we push her further. Her teachers now say that for an Autistic child, she is one outgoing gal. She is very personable, loves everyone, and yes, she is still class clown. All of her teachers have told me that there are times she's being so funny that they have to leave the room, compose theirselves so they don't laugh in front of her, then come back in an try to teach again aftert telling her she is not acting appropriately. What a difference! I'd rather have a class clown on my hands than the non-verbal ball of nerves she used to be! She is very outspoken and shoots right from the hip. It's not in her to lie, so she tells you exactly what's on her mind. Just the other day I got a report home from school that a student was bothering the class, and Amanda took it upon herself to tell him to shut the hell up. I did speak to her about that, and how she should not speak to people like that, but inside, I'm laughing my butt off! She's in eighth grade now, and I soon will be going in to her IEP meeting for goals for high school. We are going to start concentrating more on independent living skills, and jobs. Yep. She'll get a job! We've come a long way baby, and there is still so much further to go!
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