By Melissa Lake
So I am looking back over the last few months. Logan has come so far! He is socially engaging in friendships, and enjoying a few guys from his class coming over for sleepovers. Yes, that is right. He is having sleepovers and slumber parties, hot tub parties etc. He is turning into a social butterfly right before our very eyes.
His brother Ted enjoys his role of being the older brother, and Logan sure looks up to him and allows him to keep him in check for the most part. However, Logan has had a few recent bolting incidents. He drove his battery-operated car down to the corner and proceeded to turn and travel another quarter mile until the battery died. An older man who lives on that street has been helpful in returning Logan home on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, Logan has a tendency to shed himself of his clothes. He does not understand that he is too old to be running naked or that his lack of modesty might get him into trouble. It has caused many eye rolls and confrontations with him acting like this. My statement to them is “Walk a mile in our shoes”. This is not due to my neglect. In fact, sometimes I really am with him 24/7, and I just try to give him a small radius which he expands until he slips out of sight. You can actually see his feet slightly shuffle to the side, which is rather cute to watch, yet cannot be encouraged. He has managed to disengage our security system and now we have to find the missing link.
Logan’s Individual Education Plan (IEP) was through the roof wonderful. Speech: he is now working on asking and answering questions appropriately 80 percent of the time. Mathematics: he is working on division and addition with triple digits. Occupational therapy: the occupational therapist is working on getting him a communication device so he can write his essays and such. Reading and English: he is mostly using the computer to do his reading and English. Science and Social Studies: this consists of a 15 min. project with his class or listening to instructions, followed by work on the computer. He was in a musical a few weeks ago and enjoyed that. But the additional class time with his peers comes with some challenges. Logan makes a variety of sounds and noises, as this is new and agitating to him. As a result, I am not so sure how much I want him exposed to it.
As I said, this is all so new to him, and if anyone has any weight to throw in to help us understand, feel free to tell me. That also goes for anyone who wants to discuss how Nochildleft.com has affected their own situation. I hope we can all open up to a new way of thinking when reading this act. It remains to be seen what it will do to change Logan’s schooling. I’m not so sure it’s working for me.
When discussing it with a group of my friends, I seem to have concluded that I am not going to give into the whole. Logan needs more time to learn about peace and not the wars of past or present. His brain should not have to wrap his already sensitive heart into that sort of negative time in our history just yet. I am afraid to see what will happen when the wrong child learns how to make something dangerous due to being exposed to the thought of it. Sorry, I am sure this might be offensive to parents who want their children to have exposure to everything. I would just like to allow him time to grow up before he has to understand all of this. He is a 10 year old with a 6 yr old level being his goal in all areas of learning. As such, I am concerned with some of the things that are brought up in these classes. I think that he should always be monitored, and if subjects upset him, they should respond with change, of course.
However, each year Logan excels and reaches a new level. So if he continues on this pace, although he may be in extra summer courses to help him socially develop with his peers, I think he will graduate top of his class and on time Senior Year 2016…