Parent Story : Special Education Advocacy

Special Education Advocacy
Follow Author at Twitter Mary Johnson@mjadvocate
I started as advocate for my son and daughter. It wasn’t very easy, because I have no knowledge about the process or if my children have disability. I thought that my kids were very struggling with classroom assignment. The first time that I realize that son have a serious problem, was when he was in the 4th grades. He has a teacher that didn’t want to be in an inner city school. She would tell her students in the classroom that they couldn’t have a party at Halloween or Christmas time like the other students peers. The reason was that her students were smarter enough and they didn’t have the times to waste. One day my son came home in tears, but he felt different than others students at school. I told my son not to worry about what the teacher say, that he was just as normal as everyone else was. I explained to my son that if he lived in another part of the world, that read from left to write than, he would be the normal one and we would be on that would have disability. I than explain to my son that if you tie your shoes, think for yourself, dress and feed yourself you aren’t disability. This only means that he in unique and that person must teach him how he learn, not how they want to teach. The next day I when to school and met with principal. In that meeting I requested that my son be remove from his current teacher. I was outrage and angry, no was not an option that I wanted to hear from principals. After, speaking with principal regarding my believe that teacher was killing my son spirit and confidential in myself, the principal agreed to remove my son to another teacher. A week later I requested an IEP for my son. In the mean times, I when to Crown Book store and brought many book on the topic of student’s right regarding special education. I want to prepare myself for meeting. It was amazing how my son spirit of learning return after removing him from his previous classroom. My son that same year earn the most improve student award. The light bulb came on; I knew I must play majority roles in pathway of my son education. I got an IEP in 50 days after I requested the meeting. I was scare and uncomfortable. What help me the most was that I believed that I was my son first teacher. In the IEP, an administrator spoke of special day school for my son, but that wasn’t going to happen on my watch. The self-help book on special education have prepare me well, that I knew my son have the rights to be taught with his peers in mainstream classroom. After, I told the committee that I wouldn’t sign the IEP, they soon moved to another topic. Even those I didn’t know everything about special education, the school staff though I did.