Surviving the System: So proud

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

So proud

So, for post #2 in autism awareness month - I just want to post a picture with a brief description. Here's msk in full joy mode. Joyfully engaging in perseverative behavior - climbing on a plant stand and jumping over and over. I love the total and complete happiness that simple activities can bring him. This behavior is not in any way "recovered" from autism. As I sit and watch the over and over and over process that defines what msk does to relax and unwind, I've stopped worrying about what people think or wonder about him. I'm just watching out for him and soaking up the joy in existence.

So the instruction from @shannonrosa was to "Tweet it loud, blog it proud: I love my child with autism" and that's exactly what I'm doing.

1 comment:

Shannon Des Roches RosaApril 6, 2010 at 11:52 PM
Rah! Pure unfiltered joy is a beautiful thing to behold. Thank you for writing this post!
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About this blog

This will be anonymous because schools can be pretty political, but hopefully constructive. My eldest child entered Kindergarten 16 years ago and I figure I've got another 4.5 years until my youngest finishes. By this fall between the three children we've been enrolled in eight different schools. There have been CST meetings, IEP meetings, PTO meetings, PTA meetings, fund raisers and vast quantities of homework. We are in public schools because we believe that justice starts with a decent free education for all and if I want decent public education being personally involved is the first step.

Glossary and Acronym List

Autism Spectrum - the spread of behaviors that define autistics. The primary areas are difficulties with communication, social interactions and change/lack of order. You can see the official diagnosis criteria here.
CST - Child Support Team, a group (including parents) that meets when a student is having difficulties
ESY - Extended School Year. In our experience, related to special needs kids who go to school over breaks because there will be significant regression in skills over the break if they weren't in a school setting.
FAPE - Free Appropriate Public Education. This is the right of every American child, but is usually a term about creating or finding a learning environment that works for a special needs student.
IEP - Individualized Education Plan. A written plan of goals and ways to achieve them. Typically for special needs students
PTO & PTA - Parent Teacher Organization & Association
SST - Student Support Team, I guess this is the new term that replaces CST