Just when I thought!

Just when I thought things were going well at Joe's school, I get an e-mail from his teacher asking us to come in for another meeting. Now, you need to know that I've had two meetings with these people in the last 4 weeks and I couldn't imagine what they would want to talk about again. I've been getting good reports and Joe's behavior has been great. Joe is in a general ed 2nd grade class and goes to a special ed class for his academic. We moved him to this school after kindergarten so that he would have both a general ed class and a special ed class. Well, at our first meeting back in October, they wanted me to go and visit a school in Livonia that houses both the gifted and special ed kids. Apparently, they are trying to move as many kids out of the northville program and group them in Livonia. I did agree and I thought it wouldn't hurt to let Joe visit also. I in no way agreed to anything. I made it clear that I was willing to look at all options and then make a decision on what was best for Joe. Well, after much thought and discussion, we felt that right now for Joe to even go and visit this school wasn't a good idea. It's no coincidence that I e-mailed the staff yesterday to let them know that Joe wouldn't be visiting Webster at this time. Today I get the e-mail wanting to meet again. He's happy where he is, he has a routine down, he's receiving special ed services and I'm not getting any complaints about his behavior at all. The biggest issue he has is he tells them the work is too hard and he wants easy work. One thing for sure, Bob and I are very aware of Joe's disabilities, we know him better than anyone. The school he's in now gives him the opportunity to have independence and make decisions on his own. He's able to come and go between classes on his own, go to lunch on his own meet me in the office on his own and many other independent skills. This independents is as important to us as his educational needs. Joe gets speech two times a week, o.t. two times a week and sees a tutor. His educational needs are met not only at school but after school too.

I did call the social worker at school and had a discussion with her and made it very clear that we would not be coming in for another meeting unless they had something new to share with us and she said that they didn't they just wanted to way out the pros and cons. Basically, they thought they would try and change our minds. Well, that's not going to happen. I'm not saying that I would never consider a different school if it was in Joe's best interest but right now it isn't. You know, you just think you can relax and enjoy your kid and his accomplishments as small as they may seems to others and then someone knocks you down again.

Tonight, Joe is singing Christmas songs in bed instead of going to sleep and I've been so tempted to tell him to be quiet and go to bed but if he wants to sing all night long, that's fine with me, now Billy might not be too happy about it but maybe Joe will sing himself to sleep.

Tomorrow is a new day and I'm sure I'll feel much better in the morning but tonight, I have to admit I feel pretty beat up. I'm thankful for my friends that face the same issues everyday with their special kido's and for the encouragement they've given me tonight. Thanks Julie, for the encouraging e-mails today, I know you understand and I'm thankful for you.