“Children are the globe’s most precious commodity.” ™ (Terence H. Biggs, Jr., 2009)
Parents might very well be considered Modern Day Heroes because of all they manage to effectively handle and balance in their own lives, and in the lives of their children.
Despite the occasional feeling of being completely overwhelmed and sometimes even ineffective or inefficient to carry out the parental role, the bottom line is that parents know that “what has to get done, has to get done.”
So, they manage to go ahead and take care of whatever they need to; especially when it pertains to their children.
Regardless of your child’s learning style, ability level, performance level, or overall developmental levels; parents have shared with LifelineExtensions.blog that most, if not all parents seem to want the following from educators working with their children:
Ongoing communication between teacher, student, and parent.
Setting and communication of clear learning and behavioral expectations for all students
before they leave the classroom each day.
The use of different approaches with different students – different teaching and management
styles of teachers being matched appropriately with different learning and behavioral styles of
students.
Children with special needs have parents who are probably some of the forerunners in the world of Modern Day Heroes.
This group of parents have to not only manage their own lives, but matters can become even more complicated and complex because there is a need to own up to the challenges of learning as much as they can about their children’s special needs; and literally becoming an expert advocate for their children’s learning and educational process.
Below are some transparent thoughts from one such parent, who has a child with Asperger Syndrome:
Having a child with disabilities, it would be nice to have contact about what is missing from their school work. Just because my child has a learning disability does not mean that teachers should expect less regarding the quality or amount of work that's done.
Some children with Asperger Syndrome can succeed very easily in a mainstreamed classroom environment; however, others may need Resource Room small-group instruction so they can shine.
We are not content when the small-group time is merely used for homework completion when there is clear evidence that the student with Asperger’s is in dire need of help with organizational skills -- of notebooks, papers, setting up for projects, etc.
At home, we meet with repeated success when we list what is expected in timeline format for our child. Once this learning style is communicated by a parent to a school or district, it would probably be in the student’s best interest to have this strategy immediately implemented at the school level, also.
But, we’ve found that this is not always the case; which leads to frustration on everyone’s part. That’s when the parent of a special needs child begins to feel that parental requests are falling on deaf ears.
And, when we hear from our child that an entire class period was spent silently reading a book, we have no other choice than to question what the objective of that class period was.
Sure, we understand fully that reading blocks require some independent and silent reading time; but an entire class period being used this way for a kid who really needs organizational coaching doesn’t seem to be the best idea.
Schools may argue that many parents don’t become involved enough in their child's education. That may be true in some cases. And, one thought might be that if parents aren’t actively involved in the teaching and learning taking place, there is a real possibility that the standards and expectations from the school may not be high quality.
We are actively engaged, though. But, we still are sometimes made to feel that we are asking for too much for our child. That is hard for us to understand when what we’re trying to do is share insight about things that work for our child at home that can be transferred into what is done in school.
That’s when parents start to feel that a particular educational system leaves a lot to be desired. At least from a parent’s point of view that seems to be the case.
Since 1994 there has been a growing amount of research available explaining what Asperger Syndrome is; and effective strategies that can be used to teach and deal with kids who may be socially inept or awkward; but their intelligence level is in many cases way above-average.
When parents believe that a school shows signs of not being up to speed on how to deal with smart kids with Asperger’s, the parents of those kids become fearful and anxious that their child’s educational needs won’t be met. And, just like any other parent, including the educators who are parents, would do – we stay on it to make sure our children do in fact get what they need and rightly deserve.
For example, our child has tested at an above-average intelligence level, yet still keeps getting placed in classes with kids who can barely read -- all because of a special needs’ classification. As parents, we just can’t see how a student’s true academic needs can really be met with this kind of set-up.
So, basically our child recaps a school day by filling us in on the silent reading periods of time, or about work that is simply way below the current academic needs.
Thankfully, school years have turned out fine in the end, with Honor Roll achievement being celebrated in our home. But, hearing from other parents in similar situations; this may not be the usual outcome.
We’d like to see and hear about more college prep talk and work going on in school; especially for the Asperger’s student whose intelligence level is off the chart.
In our home, daily conversations about college attendance and college success occur. We’d like to see the same thing being done at the school level.
Some districts may argue that they have college prep classes and work at the high school level. But, as a parent I honestly wish it occurred district-wide for the high-intelligence Asperger’s student – maybe not a formalized G&T Program, but some kind of high-level work or program for these students.
Academically enriched, accelerated, and rigorous learning environments might be ideal settings for an Asperger’s student.
I think it would also be helpful for educators working with Asperger’s students to have regular workshops to gain a broader understanding of what Asperger Syndrome is....a social issue more than an intelligence issue.
Insisting that kids with this diagnosis do group activities is just not a good plan....THEY DO NOT DO GROUPS WELL and sticking them in with peers who dominate and denigrate their abilities does nothing less than perpetrate a negative opinion about students with Asperger Syndrome.
Parents understand that teachers are expected to achieve an awful lot in one school year, but we just don’t want to see the Asperger’s student with high academic potential fall through the cracks.
True partnerships between special needs’ parents and special needs’ educators has to continue being formed so that together we can come up with solutions to help improve the quality of academic life for our children.
There are wonderful ideas and excellent strategies to be shared by both special needs parents and special needs educators, and the bottom line is that our high-performing, high-achieving Asperger’s children; as well as students with other types of special needs, will be the beneficiaries.
LifelineExtensions.blog sincerely thanks this particular parent for these transparent thoughts; and we thank all of the other parents who have provided input for the writing of Parts 1 & 2 of this Back to School Series about Asperger Syndrome.
All of our readers are encouraged to e-mail (lifelineextensionsblogspot@gmail.com) or post your comments and/or reactions below this article.
Sharon M. Biggs, M.A.
Co-Founder & President
Lifeline Foundation, Inc.
sharonbiggs@mylifelinefoundation.org
Contact Information & Mailing Address:
Lifeline Foundation, Inc.
301 North Harrison Street
Suite 35
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
http://www.mylifelinefoundation.org/
E-mail: info@MyLifelineFoundation.org
Weblog: http://lifelineextensions.blogspot.com/
Please direct all inquiries or charitable donations to Lifeline Foundation Inc.'s President:
Sharon M. Biggs, M.A.
SharonBiggs@MyLifelineFoundation.org
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