[blindkid] Hard Day New Beginning

Susan Harper sueharper at firstchurchgriswold.org
Fri Oct 23 00:10:59 UTC 2009


It has been a hard day, but I think a positive new beginning.  I finally
slept a peaceful night, the first in a few weeks.  We took our son out
Public School and feel we can't do any worse.  I went to school so excited
that our son had gone from inside the house, out to the porch, down the
steps, then the sidewalk, to the driveway and to the car by himself, with
only a few verbal prompts.  He gets in and out of the car by himself.  He
can take off his coat/s and hang it/them up.  He is just 3 and amazing with
a cane, his echo and mental mapping skills.  He has learned to trail with
his cane, etc.
     At school, what I observed was my son sitting in a wet sand box, with
his 1:1 aid in front of him and 5 other children in an 8 x 8 sand box in the
school playground.  He couldn't move, let alone play.  When all the other
children were lining up, my son's aid was helping my son stand up.  He has
excellent motor skills and has never needed help standing up.  As I looked
around for my son's cane, I saw it lying on the ground, outside the
playground fence in the grass.  I picked it up and handed it to my son.  Was
he allowed to use it?  No, it was put in his left hand (after repeated
requests to allow him to use him dominant hand, which he learned to cane
with) and then made to find the side of the building and trail in with his
right hand, instead of using his cane.  By now all the rest of the children
are long gone.  When he got back to the classroom, his cane was taken from
him and hung up by his aid outside the classroom (even after repeated
requests to keep it in his classroom so he could just grab it on his way
out, like he does at home).  The the O & M person said that in case of an
emergency, he wouldn't need his cane, his aid would make sure he got out.
That was kind of where I lost it.  No I didn't scream and shout, I calmly
collected my twins from their separate classes and left.  I cried and we
(husband and wife) talked and decided to end this madness and home school
our blind child the same as we have the rest of our children.  We couldn't
do any worse.  I wrote a letter and my husband delivered it to the
superintendent.  Best decision I have made in a long time.  Don't know why I
ever doubted myself.  But one of ours gave me the courage yesterday to do
what I needed done.  She will know who she is.  Thank you!

     School is a few hours a week.  Family is for a lifetime.

Blessing and Thanks!
Sue



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