…and by gloves I mean, boxing gloves. I’ve tried hard to keep them off but enough is enough.
Let me start by saying that we finally have Nathan’s dynavox with eyemax ready to go. It took us months and months but it’s now up and running.
A couple of weeks ago we had a meeting at Nathan’s school to go over his communications goals. Ronna, who has been working with Nathan on communication, came with me. When we got there, she started boasting about how well Nathan is doing, how consistently he is communicating using various access methods, how smart he is, how much intent he has to communicate. The entire group sat there and stared at her as if she was talking about a different child.
Ronna was super enthusiastic and told the school that she thought Nathan would do great with a Tobii, as the new eye gaze system on the Tobii is amazing. They stared at her, once again, as if she was nuts to even suggest it.
They proceeded to tell Ronna that Nathan was displaying very poor communication skills, that he wouldn’t use eye gaze effectively to make choices, that he was not consistent with his yes/no talker. Ronna and I couldn’t understand it as we’ve witnessed something completely different.
They then told us that we need to start by giving him 2 choices on the dynavox and start with baby steps. Ronna was aghast, as she felt that taking him so far back would frustrate him and inhibit his desire to communicate. The school administrator then said that we had to do it this way as the school has goals and that they need measurable results. I lost it and basically expressed my extreme distate that they want to teach him in a way that caters to their needs, not his, and in the meantime, they will “lose him” as he will not have any interest in communicating.
To make a long story short, I ended the meeting by asking for another IEP meeting that I would attend with my advocate. So now we have an advocate on board, who has tons of experience with children with special needs. Her name is Sharon Grandinette and her site is helpingkidsbrains.com .
So now the gloves are on and I am ready to come back with all of the help we need.
I will clarify and say, I LOVE Nathan’s teachers and my issue is not with them. His main teacher, Mrs. Belinda, is absolutely amazing. She is truly devoted to helping Nathan and is doing everything in her power to help him. I don’t know Mrs. Tania as much as I know Mrs. Belinda, but she also seems genuinely interested in helping Nathan and she adores him. The teachers are wonderful, it’s the administrators that I have a problem with.
Anyways, I will keep you guys posted! In the meantime, I am once again submerged in the world of augmentative communication, of which I know very little, and now have to figure out how to give Nathan a voice using this new techonology!