ask what you can do for your school

I’ll admit it, i’m a demanding, involved, sometimes 3-5 email a day parent.  It’s hard not to be when your child is not working up to her potential emotionally or academically, the staff has limited experience with a verbal (and mine is extremely verbal) child, and I’m getting crisis calls on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. So any attempts I’ve made to back off have backfired and I’m back to coaching, teaching, running to the school to put out fires, and sometimes complaining.

BUT- i would never complain and demand without balancing that with doing whatever I can to make the school staff’s life easier. I don’t like to bribe, any more than I want them to do that with my daughter, I just believe in mutual respect. I’ve never been a teacher, and I can’t even imagine the challenges they face in a center program for students with autism. We have very high standards and expectations,  but we as parents also make ourselves very knowledgable about our daughter and her disability. whatever I expect of the teachers, I learn myself and I make myself available to help the staff learn- I offer inservices,  buy training material, and bring in consultants. I also send in and or donate whatever I can to help make their learning process and job easier.  I also make a point to thank and compliment staff members that show respect, professionalism, care and concern, and who make an effort to use new, effective strategies- getting out of the rut of an old system.

It might seem like I’m complicating things, but the fact is things are changing and the “old ways” are not working and haven’t proven effective in helping these students succeed in school, get on track academically or lead independent lives. I’m doing what i can to facilitate that change and support the staff as they go through their growing pains.