school issues

Because my son qualifies for special education he was integrated into the Head Start in our town. I was thrilled, I had high hopes. And the teacher? Wonderful! Years of experience with children, her first round with special needs children, but she was handling it and adapting well. It was a separate program and all of the special needs children in the head start program. We were all set up for year two, no big changes, hoping to get the kidlet ready for preschool. The week before school starts we get a call, they are changing things around, there will no longer be a separate special needs class, they will now be integrated. With a child with special needs like Soren, there are issues. We had been prepping him to return to school, that he was going to get to see teacher Cathy and teacher Megan… Then POOF pull the rug out from under us. They reassured us, they would work with him too. His teacher seemed ok, but lets face it, she got the short end of the sick with us because of the changes that the school implemented without warning.

So we tried to deal with her. But things went to school, and never returned. Consistently, notes sent to school (we only have one car, so pickup and drop off discussions were not an option) were ignored. At visits things were promised and never delivered. I figured we would ride it out for the year, then demand someone else if they decided he needed a third year at this level. Last week we get a note that the lead teacher is leaving. Of course… Now I get to write social story’s about her not being there next week. How do you explain to a child with very little communication that his teacher is gone? At least they finally decided who will take over. The school district teacher in charge of dealing with the special needs children will be taking over, apparently they have concentrated three of the most sever special needs children in this class and therefore it makes the most sense to have her do so. also, they don’t have to scramble to hire a teacher in the lead teachers place till summer. I am very irritated but what can I do? I realize this is the best choice for my son, he needs peer interaction for the moment to help his speech.

Now I understand why so many parents of children on the autism spectrum choose to home school. Now I understand. These changes which might be slightly upsetting to the other kids are devastating to our kids. Its a catch 22, he has problems if he attends school, but he has problems if he is home schooled too. What does a parent do in this situation?