school - another year, another battle.......

[Guest guest]

school indeed is going to still be a long battle/ on one hand we succeeded to

get from the ministry of Ed everything we asked for : he will go to the sped

class only as much as he really needs (not 23 hours weekly). this is not to the

letter of the law, by the way, but they agreed anyway..

he WILL get a personal aid for 10 hours a week like last year. this is also not

according to the law exactly as the law has a catch: you can either be in sped

OR get a personal aid, and yet they agreed to this too!

the problem is: this year his personal aid is a) a new one and has no

background or training in education, let alone AS... and the 10 hours are not

going to be given the way he really needs: 2 hours a day, but for two whole

consecutive days.

it just may not work. and we are very concerned.

Ds met his new teacher today, she took him to his new classroom, and thank God

he liked her!! he said she seems tough but nice! he is right!

anyway, the very important remark I was really worried about was made: I manage

to squeeze into our very short conversation the fact that he has trouble with

double meaning, language coins, and sarcasm and irony , and she immediately said

: " Oh, I use a lot of this! " so I said : " I know! " and we both laughed ; you

know, she is the type of teacher that instead of simply saying : " stop talking

now " will say sarcastically : " oh, how nice! go on, go on, go on talking, I

don't mind.... " - you get the picture!~ I am glad it is out in the open and

she is willing to learn together with him how to manage those things between the

two of them. she talked to him a little about how they will find together ways

to defuse his stress when he feels he needs to, and at one point I left the

classroom so they can have a private talk (although they told me about it), and

both of us were quite surprised when he told her that he is most concerned

about not having friends in the class. She said she is amazed at how he is so

sure he won't have friends when she knows for a fact that the kids like him in

class despite all the troubles.

she told him he should feel free to always ask her if he does not understand her

words or if what she says does not make sense to him. she told him how when she

was an immigrant and did not understand well the language she was too shy to ask

and she suffered more than she would have if she had asked ......... she invited

him to come back in two days and join her as she decorates the classroom. school

starts officially on the 31st if there is no strike.......

All together now, in tune and unison :

We shall over-co...o-o-me, we shall o-ver-co...o-o-me......

Good luck to all of us as school starts!

F

[Guest guest]

That sounds like mostly good news. I wouldn't worry (yet) about the lack of

background/training of the aide. I think that what the person is like is more

important than their experience. And sometimes the wrong training/experience is

MUCH worse than none. Will you get to meet with the aide before school starts?

The 2 full days instead of 2 hours/day does sound like a problem. I hope that

if it actually is a problem, that the school will deal with it *right away*.

We are going to meet Eli's teachers tomorrow, Isaac's teachers on Tuesday, and

school starts on Wednesday. It begins all over again...this year will be

better...definitely better...

in Massachusetts

[Guest guest]

> she told him he should feel free to always ask her if he does not

understand her words or if what she says does not make sense to him.

she told him how when she was an immigrant and did not understand

well the language she was too shy to ask and she suffered more than

she would have if she had asked ......... she invited him to come

back in two days and join her as she decorates the classroom. school

starts officially on the 31st if there is no strike.......

> All together now, in tune and unison :

> We shall over-co...o-o-me, we shall o-ver-co...o-o-me......

>

> Good luck to all of us as school starts!

> F

Fania,

It sounds like you've made a really good start with the new teacher

and she is willing to work with M. I'm singing right along with you

here. We're starting on September 3rd and Braden has started whining

already about how much he hates school and doesn't want to go. Oh

well, in ten months it will be summer vacation again. LOL!

Kathy

[Guest guest]

Fania,

She sounds like a great teacher. So that's one less worry! Hope

everything else just falls into place and goes well.

> school indeed is going to still be a long battle/ on one hand we

succeeded to get from the ministry of Ed everything we asked for : he

will go to the sped class only as much as he really needs (not 23

hours weekly). this is not to the letter of the law, by the way, but

they agreed anyway..

> he WILL get a personal aid for 10 hours a week like last year. this

is also not according to the law exactly as the law has a catch: you

[Guest guest]

TEARS OF JOY! I'm happy that you found a great teacher. I realise

you still have concerns, but I think a good teacher is half the

battle. I wish ya well. Now I hope we get just as lucky. One last

week of freedom to go! a

> school indeed is going to still be a long battle/ on one hand we

succeeded to get from the ministry of Ed everything we asked for : he

will go to the sped class only as much as he really needs (not 23

hours weekly). this is not to the letter of the law, by the way, but

they agreed anyway..

> he WILL get a personal aid for 10 hours a week like last year. this

is also not according to the law exactly as the law has a catch: you

can either be in sped OR get a personal aid, and yet they agreed to

this too!

> the problem is: this year his personal aid is a) a new one and

has no background or training in education, let alone AS... and the

10 hours are not going to be given the way he really needs: 2 hours

a day, but for two whole consecutive days.

> it just may not work. and we are very concerned.

>

> Ds met his new teacher today, she took him to his new classroom,

and thank God he liked her!! he said she seems tough but nice! he is

right!

> anyway, the very important remark I was really worried about was

made: I manage to squeeze into our very short conversation the fact

that he has trouble with double meaning, language coins, and sarcasm

and irony , and she immediately said : " Oh, I use a lot of this! " so

I said : " I know! " and we both laughed ; you know, she is the type of

teacher that instead of simply saying : " stop talking now " will say

sarcastically : " oh, how nice! go on, go on, go on talking, I don't

mind.... " - you get the picture!~ I am glad it is out in the open

and she is willing to learn together with him how to manage those

things between the two of them. she talked to him a little about how

they will find together ways to defuse his stress when he feels he

needs to, and at one point I left the classroom so they can have a

private talk (although they told me about it), and both of us were

quite surprised when he told her that he is most concerned about

not having friends in the class. She said she is amazed at how he is

so sure he won't have friends when she knows for a fact that the

kids like him in class despite all the troubles.

> she told him he should feel free to always ask her if he does not

understand her words or if what she says does not make sense to him.

she told him how when she was an immigrant and did not understand

well the language she was too shy to ask and she suffered more than

she would have if she had asked ......... she invited him to come

back in two days and join her as she decorates the classroom. school

starts officially on the 31st if there is no strike.......

> All together now, in tune and unison :

> We shall over-co...o-o-me, we shall o-ver-co...o-o-me......

>

> Good luck to all of us as school starts!

> F

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hope all goes well for Eli and Isaac. went to school to pick up his

schedule. As usual, they screwed it up. They gave him drama instead of Japanese,

and gave him special ed history instead of mainstream history. School doesn't

start until September 2, so I have some time to sort it all out.

Liz

wrote:

> That sounds like mostly good news. I wouldn't worry (yet) about the lack of

background/training of the aide. I think that what the person is like is more

important than their experience. And sometimes the wrong training/experience is

MUCH worse than none. Will you get to meet with the aide before school starts?

>

> The 2 full days instead of 2 hours/day does sound like a problem. I hope that

if it actually is a problem, that the school will deal with it *right away*.

>

> We are going to meet Eli's teachers tomorrow, Isaac's teachers on Tuesday, and

school starts on Wednesday. It begins all over again...this year will be

better...definitely better...

>

> in Massachusetts

>

[Guest guest]

Hey, it's nice to know we're not the only family that the schedules

get messed up on. I had to change both my twins' schedules this

year. Apparently whoever keyed in the courses thought that those

courses blacked out with pencil were the ones we chose and ignored

the ones we wrote in!

I wasn't surprised since they'd always messed up my older son's

schedule (he graduated last May). They once put him in French III

and he'd only had Japanese I.

>

> > That sounds like mostly good news. I wouldn't worry (yet) about

the lack of background/training of the aide. I think that what the

person is like is more important than their experience. And

sometimes the wrong training/experience is MUCH worse than none.

Will you get to meet with the aide before school starts?

> >

> > The 2 full days instead of 2 hours/day does sound like a

problem. I hope that if it actually is a problem, that the school

will deal with it *right away*.

> >

> > We are going to meet Eli's teachers tomorrow, Isaac's teachers on

Tuesday, and school starts on Wednesday. It begins all over

again...this year will be better...definitely better...

> >

> > in Massachusetts

> >

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

We had messed up schedules through the first *month* of school last year. They

didn't want to let take honors

physics. After I made an enormous stink, they sent the chair of the science

department to observe him in his science

class, and he agreed with us that he belonged in honors physics. Arrgh. They

always make things so hard. I hope we

get the right schedule a bit sooner this time.

Liz

wrote:

> Hey, it's nice to know we're not the only family that the schedules

> get messed up on. I had to change both my twins' schedules this

> year. Apparently whoever keyed in the courses thought that those

> courses blacked out with pencil were the ones we chose and ignored

> the ones we wrote in!

>

> I wasn't surprised since they'd always messed up my older son's

> schedule (he graduated last May). They once put him in French III

> and he'd only had Japanese I.

>

>