Some readers with whom I’ve been invisible friends for some time know that my son, the Togster, has Asperger’s Syndrome, and thus has special educational needs. Like many Aspies, he is fairly high IQ and quite accomplished with maths/science/tech subjects, but has problems with socialisation and subjects requiring more abstraction and generalising/synthesis skills. There are certain classroom tactics and strategies which can ensure that his learning difficulties are minimised, so that his education can be as rounded and mainstreamed as possible, but they require a fair amount of cooperation between the school admin, the teachers, and the parents.
A few weeks ago I was feeling especially positive because the counsellor rang and said that she had organised for E, the neuropsychologist who’s been working with Togster for years, to come to the school and talk to the teachers, and that she’d like me to be there to help answer teachers’ questions about him. I was most willing, and eagerly awaited the counsellor letting me know about the date once it was finalised.
Categories: education, parenting
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Have you called to find out why the hell you weren’t notified?
Sounds like someone just dropped the ball administratively (or is there more to the story than you’re saying?).In any case, definitely follow up; from what you’ve said it sounds like they really are trying to do a responsible job of it, and maybe there’s a way they can reschedule another meeting, or at least give you and the Togster some other special attention to help make up for the snafu.
Hm – I responded to shysterb last night, but it appears that Blogger has eaten my comment.Anyway, I got a call from the counsellor yesterday arvo after I left a message on her voicemail. According to her memory and the notes she checked, she gave me that date on our last face-to-face meeting on Feb 20th. However, I always carry my diary in my handbag and it’s definitely not written down there, although other notes from that meeting are. My memory is that she said it would have to be a Tuesday, and that Mar 14th would be the earliest possible date, and would that be OK? I said Tuesdays were fine, but I had no impression that the date was finalised and did expect to be notified of a confirmed date.I can see how we might have misunderstood each other, and I can even see how a brief jot in her notes that Mar 14th was OK with me could be construed later by a busy counsellor as notifying me of that date, but my diary has a totally clean page there, so I feel that my memory of events really is more accurate.Still, she was nearly as upset as I, and was annoyed that although she rang E the day before to check that all was still OK for the meeting, she didn’t think to ring me as well. As Togster was absent on sick leave that day, they just assumed that he was too ill for me to come in and never rang me. As he was only ill with a dermatitis flare-up that meant class would have been wasted time due to itching, I could definitely still have gone, just parking him in the school’s sick bay for an hour.She has promised to convey my apologies to all the class-teachers who gave up their time (and at least they had a valuable session with E and the mother of K, the other Aspie), and plans to set up another Q&A session for me with Togster’s teachers next term.I feel better.
Glad it was accidental, and not some patronising child support model.