The grass is greener...

Through our journey through the special education maze I have met a lot of amazing people. I find the comradery among the autism families to be some of my most rewarding relationships. So many of us families are overwhelmed dealing with our difficulties and it is so hard to not have access to services or supports to help us. Sometimes I think the only thing keeping me sane is knowing that there are atleast 1 out of 150 other families out there that are feeling the same stress and sense of abandonment that I feel.

I seem to have a good relationship with the support staff in our district. In fact, I find myself being a point of contact for the "new" families in our district. That is fine. I actually enjoy this role. So many of these families are in the initial shock phase and I am able to show them that it can get better. They typically ask about our Verbal Behavior home program and what other services we have found. I feel that I am making a difference in the world by trying to help. This makes me accept that maybe there was a reason I was inducted into the autism world.

During my last conversation with a new family I decided that it was silly to have this conversation with each family individually. So we started a Autism Family Support Group specific to our school district. So far we are meeting at my house. So far we have 10 families. What is really staggering is that this group is by word of mouth. We have stumbled on each other. These 10 families have 3-5 year old children. HOW MANY MORE ARE THERE OUT THERE!!!!

I am excited by this group. I think we can help each other accomplish a lot. My biggest goal is to help them all get up and running with a home program. One family has expressed their biggest goal as being able to advocate as a collective group. You see, our school district does not have a good reputation for special ed services. In fact, this weekend at the Autism Summit I found some "older" families in my district. Correction...I found some families who were in my district but moved out because they got fed up.

Uh oh! That little bell in the back of my head is starting to tinkle. I had this feeling with our first preschool teacher. I didn't act on it and we lost a lot of time. I don't want to make that same mistake. But I also am fully aware that different families have different perceptions. I've heard some parents tell that a school district has been great to them and then I find another family who says that same district has been horrible. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

As I mentioned before, I have a good relationship with our current support staff. But this is the birth to five program. What about when we get into grade school? I get a new staff to work with. Fortunately, we retain our school psychologist so I will retain that relationship. I guess my fear is that the problems with our district seem to be coming top down. It might not matter if I have great teachers if their hands are tied.

I had two families this weekend tell me to run as fast away from our district as I could. They told me about another district. They are very happy with their new school. Ugh...what to do...what to think!