NEA teaches a lesson in exclusion

The Washington Times ^ | 9-12-05 | Kate Tsubata

[Izzy Dunne]

I suggested you felt guilty because you weren't doing what the so-called experts thought you should do.

Well, contrarian that I am, I actually feel a sense of pride when the "experts" tell me something like that. Certainly not guilt. I have no guilt about what we do and how we do it.

It's not that I feel sensitive to criticism, but it is tiresome hearing it again and again, from "expert, trained" people who close their ears after one word: "homeschool". So maybe I tend to close my ears as well.

It's a heck of a lot easier to deal with one (or three, in my family) kids than it is to deal with 17-29 (what I had in the last classes I taught).

Indeed. My son was diagnosed as mildly autistic (PDD-NOS) at age 3.5. Some biomedical intervention and therapy has reduced that diagnosis to borderline, but he still has problems, and would not do well in a crowd, despite being quite bright. I simply don't trust the public school system to give him what we know he needs - learning at his own pace.

Plus, the plain fact is, it's a blast. I do science and math this year, my wife handles readin', writin' , and history. He wants to grow up to be an ancient Egyptian, among other things.

You are also doing one (at least) of the most important jobs in the world. Do it well, and be happy!

Thank you. You are, too. Perhaps you can help make the next generation a bit less cynical than me.

[Old Student]

"Thank you. You are, too. Perhaps you can help make the next generation a bit less cynical than me."

You're welcome. I had to find something useful to do with my time, and I've seen far too many people who hate their jobs. I love mine, and expect to keep at it until they pry my cold dead fingers from my lectern. (not that I expect to have all that much use for a lectern, really.)

My son was diagnosed with "Landau-Kleffner Syndrome" at age 3. That later became PDD-NOS, and now, at 13, he is considered to have high-functioning Asperger Syndrome. We took him out of the public school system here because they lost him on the bus. Not just once, either, but twice. First time, he was effectively non-verbal. They put him on the bus at 2:50. He arrived home, finally, at 5:50. The school district bus barn could not tell us where he was all that time. No apparent injuries, and he didn't appear to be afraid of the bus driver, so no one died. Second time, we had an IEP meeting scheduled at his school, they were to keep him there. The bus driver took him anyway, when he boarded, but no-one at the school knew that. Wife and I arrived separately, one of the teachers said they thought they saw him getting in his mom's car. They would NOT call the police to report him missing, physically prevented my wife from doing so, and threatened to have her arrested for causing a scene at the school. He also banned her from ever entering school grounds again. Eventually the bus barn was able to contact the bus driver on her radio, and she returned our son to the school. We went looking for a new school that day. We also let the principal who threatened the arrest know that he was going to get sued. Heck, the district Special Ed people told him he deserved to be sued. He backed down, we didn't sue, and the Autism Program teacher quit. He's done well in private school, and is doing well at homeschool, too.

[Izzy Dunne]

We took him out of the public school system here because they lost him on the bus. Not just once, either, but twice.

So you have reason more than most to mistrust the entire school system.

If they cannot handle a simple task like transporting him from here to there and back, then how can they handle the infinitely more delicate task of forming a functioning brain?

[Old Student]

"So you have reason more than most to mistrust the entire school system.

If they cannot handle a simple task like transporting him from here to there and back, then how can they handle the infinitely more delicate task of forming a functioning brain?"

No, not exactly. We have reason to mistrust part of the system. The bus drivers are paid $6/hour, no benefits. We don't trust their transportation system. The teachers that we have had (with one possible exception) have done their best for our son. The one exception was a lady who usually worked with 5th grade. Somehow, she wound up as his first grade teacher, in a class with 32 kids, 6 of whom did not speak English, and no two of which spoke the same language. It seemed like every time I approached her classroom, I heard her screaming at the class. Frankly, under those conditions, I would hav been doing the same thing, so I think she was just out of her depth. She was a regular ed classroom teacher. Our son also had an aide, but he was often used for a substitute, bus duty, lunch and playground duty, etc., so the aide didn't spend as much time as my son actually needed with him. They do get extra money for spec ed students, but this district made MAJOR financial errors almost 20 years ago, and they haven't been able to get a bond issue passed since then. Three or four changes in adminsitration in that time, too. It's sad.