I should have kept a diary

[Guest guest]

As we move into the IEP/high school transition meeting(s), where the

" experts " will tell us that our daughter should not be included in

regular ed for a variety of reasons (insert laundry list here.)

Apparently, her education isn't " meaningful " like it would be in a

self-contained classroom, and " just look at her scores on the state

tests " (which I can give a hoot about the state tests for any of my

kids... I think it's a waste of vaulable educational time to teach to

these tests, rather than teaching... but off my soapbox on that!)

Like many of our kids, I know that doesn't always demonstrate

what she knows on written tests. In fact, we've discussed this ad

nauseum, to no avail. I've tried to get someone to just talk to her

after a test to see if by asking the question differently, or letting

her express herself, if they just might find she really does get a lot

of the information she's taught, but their method of assessment doesn't

demonstrate that. Sigh, that's just too much work. I don't even care

about the grade, don't you think as a teacher, you'd WANT to know what

your students were getting? I am getting weaker over the years, guess I

am starting not to care what they think... talks to us all the

time about what she did in school, and it's clear that there is a lot of

material she is getting (and a lot she isn't, don't get me wrong, but

they just focus on what she isn't getting.)

So, two times this week while driving home from school, she blew my

mind. I made a statement about who knows what, and she looks at me and

says " Mom, do you know that what you said is a supurlative? " I'm like

" um, I don't remember what that is, can you tell me? " and she goes on to

define it, and then compare it to some other thing that I didn't know...

yada yada yada... can't tell you if she was correct in her definition or

if what I said was really a supurlative, but I'm thinking... YES, you

are getting a LOT out of your English class, and not just the easy stuff!

The next one was yesterday, driving home, and a storm was rolling in.

Clouds were really neat, and I said " Hey, isn't that a cool cloud

formation over there? " and she replies with " Yes, and did you know that

those are stratocumulus clouds? There are other clouds like ____ and

_____ and ____... I think there are at least 5 different kinds of

clouds.... " Again, been a long time since I studied clouds, but again,

it's been awhile for her.... I'll bet elementary school or 6th grade at

the latest. Wild, where does this come from?

But, I could use these and a million other examples of what she IS

getting,and yet, we'll meet next month and they will have reams to

papers of what she can't do. I've come to believe that they really

don't care what is is learning, but I will continue to enjoy these " ah

ha " moments and fight the fight for her current placement. But had I

kept a diary of all these cool moments over the years, I'd have had that

with me to at least remind ME of why this fight is worth it.

, mom to (16) (14 DS), Sammy (12), and auntie to

(18)