Re: School support for children with MDS?

[Guest guest]

hello I live in baltimore maryland, and I think the school is working great for kaitee. She as been attending a ECI program now for three years and will be attending for another year because we do not feel she is ready to meet the challenges of kindergarten yet.

I know the real challenge with the school will begin once Kaitee is mainstreamed , and I know there will be head butting over differences of opinion, and teachers I wont like, teachers I really like, teachers who wont care for me. But this is part of general education anywhere for anyone.....

to be point blank honest when it was time to transition kaitee into school I dug my heels in and balked the whole way, I was sure she would do better at home with me.... and I moaned and groaned over every little thing the first six months kaitee attended .... I was a parent from hell...... and I had no reason to be.

Then we got her dx and I became the teachers worse nightmare.... simply because she knew little about mds and she was going to destroy my child with her lack of knowledge... ha ha ..... Then we got the dx of hearing impairment and she needed hearing aides.... well forget it there was no way that school could teach my child.... I just knew this ha ha ah...... bet they were totally relieved when summer came....and they were not going to send her to school for the summer .. well my child has ds and my child is hearing impaired and she has every right to go to school for the summer....... and she went.... to a school for children with down syndrome.... and I was sure this was the place for kaitee.... that she belonged here she looked like these kids she acted like these kids... I would never have to worry about the other kids picking on her ..... but what should meet my eyes when we walked into the class room the first day ..... the same teachers and same therapist that we had just left ha haha.......I was so focused on kaitee's dx and the things wrong with kaitee I was totally forgetting who she really was. I do not know what snapped me out of this or what happened to make me realize what I was doing........but something did that day and every since then I have been a much more cooperative parent working with the teachers and not against them. Their patience and love for kaitee has helped her become so much more independant .. I am grateful they tolerated my little rampage in life... and today we learn together what MDS is all about and how far all of the children can go. debbi