Reading Between the Lines

Soooo....

School OT called me first thing this morning (:enter sheepish me: I'd forgotten that she services several schools in the district and that today would be her first day at our school - good news? She called me FIRST THING on her FIRST DAY at the school!) wanting to know how LMNOB was doing thus far.

I told her that so far everything seemed to be going great in LMNOB's eyes; but that in my eyes, the communication was a little lacking from the teacher

"Uhm, yeah," School OT began hesitantly, "all teachers have their own understandings, experience and personalities. We definitely have a different personality this year than we did in Ms. M last year."

School OT then mentioned that Ms. R wanted LMNOB to complete the daily checklist of sensory activities done at school rather than Ms. R having to do it, and that she wanted me to be aware of that prior to the 504 review hearing on the 18th so it didn't surprise me. What did I think about that, she wondered?

My turn to create some lines between which the real message lay.

I said, "Well, I understand that teachers have a lot pulling at them, and that some of these extra accommodations might be strange or burdensome from time to time, and I want to be fair about that. I also think that because LMNOB is so high functioning that this could work, if done appropriately. For instance, if the checklist was on her desk daily and she could check things off as they were done, that would be fine. However, if she's expecting LMNOB to summarize at the end of the day - that will never work."

Between that scphiel was the gist of where I come from:

I am willing to compromise....TO AN EXTENT - this is my kid, not a frickin' floral arrangement at a party, and I don't care how much of an inconvenience this teacher may feel a sensory diet is - a 504 is a legal document and if she doesn't want to cooperate, well, we have recourses that we are able to take.

School OT was quick on the uptake and parroted back my unspoken words, almost exactly as I just wrote them above.

This made me feel great, because it is not me and BT the OT against the school - it's us trying to educate a teacher, and there is power in numbers.

We talked some more about LMNOB's increase in self-regulating with sensory stuff and a decreased need for outsiders to help initiate sensory diet activities for her (great!), as well as her continued struggle with confrontational speech/social issues (not so great), and when all was said and done, it appears that we have a lot to cover in very little time on the 18th.

I just pray that Ms. R is not so obtuse in my presence.

It might just drive me to the brink of tears in my hormonal state right now; I have been successful thus far in avoiding the hysterical parent role and I would REALLY like to keep it that way. (NO offense to any of my special needs mommy readers who have broken down with school folks - I completely understand, but totally hate that it has to be this way with some teachers/administrators!)

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