Education on the Other Side

Many of my EduFriends have seen my two little kiddos on my Instagram feed, Facebook, or occasionally on Twitter. Aurelia is 5, and is named after a character of one of my favorite movies, Love Actually.  My little guy, Sawyer, will be turning 4 in July.  I would love to say that his name is due to my love of literature, but no, it came on my radar while watching the TV show, Lost.  Thankfully, my husband was willing enough to go along with my "suggestions." He learned quickly that you don't say, "No" to a pregnant lady!

I honestly can say that having my own children has positively affected my teaching philosophy in a variety of ways. I recognize that family time is important to both students AND their teachers.  I dramatically reduced the homework load to pretty much a "complete whatever classwork you didn't finish in class."

Recently, I have uncovered an even deeper empathy for special education students and their families.  Harper Lee in To Kill a Mockingbird wrote, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." And that is exactly what happened.

My Year of SSTs, IEPs, OT, & Speech

May, 2014. 

Sawyer's preschool teacher contacted me. "Sawyer needs to be assessed for speech."

Sawyer's 3rd birthday was in July, so we had to wait until schools reopened in August.  As a teacher, knowing what I know when I refer students for an SST, I knew the process would take awhile. In the meantime, I hired a phenomonal speech teacher for the summertime and for when we all returned to school.   Sawyer loved her, and his speech improved.  Her assessment showed that he was somewhere in the 1.5 to 2 years age range in some areas of speech. 

September, 2014.  

School is in session. I mailed the local school requesting a speech assessment. We set an appointment for October 8.

October, 2014. 

I took the day off of work to bring Sawyer to his assessment. On our way, he began to throw up. Eek. I call the assessment team to let them know that we weren't coming in and could we reschedule.  Oddly enough, we are told that this meeting doesn't need to be rescheduled as they have enough information based on the report of our private speech pathologist.  

November 7, 2014.

I asked my principal to cover my class so I can take Sawyer to a meeting so that the district can have their own paperwork as well as our private assessment.  I'm told that they will use both reports.

November 18, 2014.

I leave work early to attend Sawyer's IEP in the town where we live. Yes, he qualifies for speech!  Unfortunately, none of the speech sessions times make it possible for me or my husband to take him. This is where I begin to wonder if children are often underserved because of scheduling issues.  

January, 2015.

Sawyer qualifies for 2 days of small group speech; we decide to wait and see if Sawyer is successful with just one day a week.  

Now the juggling. We are very lucky we have Auntie in our family.  She is a former student's mom who has been with us ever since we became parents.  She bends over backwards to make sure our little family is taken care of. 

Sawyer's typical Friday morning (and Auntie's too):
7am : Sawyer in car to the city where I teach.
7:30am: Sawyer at Auntie's.
10:00: Auntie drives Sawyer back to the town where we live for speech.
10:30-11:30 Speech.
11:30-12:15 Possibly eat lunch in the car, because my daughter, Lia, gets out of school at 12:45 and Auntie picks her up.

End of January, 2015.

Email from school speech teacher.  "Sawyer needs to be assessed for OT."
I have no words. It's at this point where I start to panic and question if I did something wrong as a parent. 

End of March, 2015.

After many emails back and forth, meetings being canceled, a school vacation, rescheduling of meetings-we have a date for OT assessment. I take the day off to drive Sawyer to the facility where our district outsources their OT.   

First week of April, 2015.

Sawyer qualifies under several different areas of concern.  I read the report and try not to cry.  

Next up, meetings about services offered-TBD.

I don't hold the district personnel responsible for the lengthy time it took to manage Sawyer's case-instead, I think the system in place is broken. However,  it does make me wonder:

• Are we as educators serving students' needs the best way we can with such a lengthy process?
• How can this process be streamlined?
• How can we encourage districts to hire more personnel so that students get the services they need in a timely fashion?
• How do single parents manage this process? What if they can't take off work to go to the meetings OR get their child to the services being offered? 

A Never Ending Process

This experience reminds me of an exhibit I saw at the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco.  "Easing the Way Home" examined the problem of veterans and homelessness. Before, it took 47 steps and 237 days for a veteran to receive housing.  With several agencies working together to problem solve and brainstorm, they managed to reduce the number of steps to 23 and then it only took 30 days for housing to be procured. 

What if all of Sawyer's meetings and assessments took place in a week because there was enough staff to do so?  What if there was a preschool program that would address the needs of kids like him so that the juggling of scheduling doesn't have to occur? Or better yet, what if someone went to Sawyer's preschool and provided services there?

This year would have looked a lot different for all of us.