You know, having a special needs child means you get some interesting looks from people when you're out.
Interesting is probably too nice a word - Janis, over at Sneak Peek, writes about the rudeness she encounters towards her son.
I'd like to point out another problem this brings, though.
Our school IEP team strongly believes that Acorn needs "friends" - that interacting with children his own age is important. I'm not completely sold on this idea, since children at this age are more likely to play "near" each other than "with" each other, but they're adamant that it will improve his language skills.
At any rate, they keep asking, "well, don't you have other kids in the family he can play with?" Our response continues to be, "no, he's an only child, and an only grandchild."
"Well, what about neighbor kids?"
Ok, seriously. We can't go play at the park without people saying really awful things and parents pulling their kids away from us. How, exactly, will we convince anyone to get close enough, long enough, to actually play with him if everyone treats him like a sideshow?
I don't know. At the moment, it feels like another case where the school just doesn't get Acorn's condition and needs.
See, for me I don't worry about friends or whatever...I worry more about what germs are going to attack his poor fragile lungs and make him miss weeks of this precious schooling that they try to shove down my throat.
ReplyDeleteahem...but I'm not bitter! ;)