Me: "I have the Kiddo's Tri Annual coming up next month."
"K": "Oh my god! He's in the Tri Wizard Tournament?!?!?"
Me: "Of course. He's no Muggle! They start it by telling me what an adorable, sweet and handsome boy he is and then it goes downhill from there where they tell us just how far behind he is in everything."
"K": "Well that's got to suck."
This is why I love my friend "K". She gets my need to crack a joke to help cushion the blow on most things autism related. She also doesn't go all Willy Wonka by candy coating it. The Tri Annual testing blows!
We finally got to go over the behavior assessment last week. This process started in early November. It took till Jan. 30th to actually review it. Yes, it takes that flipping long. Frankly, the behaviors that I was first concerned about have changed vastly since the start of all of this but they didn't technically observe him for these new ones cropping up.
I turn to the lovely young lady behavior therapist who I am pretty convinced is still in high school and ask "What now? What about this cursing issue? It's really getting bad. Mother of God don't you dare say token reward system. I will cut you if you so much as utter the words "sticker chart"." (OK, maybe I didn't say all of that but in my head I was screaming it.)
She seemed a little alarmed that I wasn't sold on the token nonsense. In fact I'm pretty sure she was thinking "Wtf?? The professors in school all said this is what to do. Nothing makes any sense anymore!!!" To her credit she did have some other ideas we are going to try. Not going to lie, all of this just exhaust me. This behavior plan won't start till mid February. So more time walks on by.
Plus, this is a tri annual assessment year for our boy next month. If you are unfamiliar with the term, it's pretty much this. Every three years, your special needs kiddo will undergo a smattering of testing by the school to see where they are at essentially. Translation: Just how freaking developmentally delayed my kiddo is with little to no hope of ever catching up to his typical aged peers. Oh and also help write new IEP goals but mostly it's just the soul crushing realness of our situation. Good times.
Yeah, they'll point out improvements but by and large it just is a reminder of what we don't have here and where we might never get to be. It's hard. So freaking hard to hear. Thank god these things are only every three years. I need that time to recover between them. I hear all these typical parents bitching about Common Core and standardize testing and I think "You don't know the circle of Hell we're stuck in over here." Typical teaching doesn't reach my kiddo but a all these behavior and academic testing are suppose to give a clear idea where he is at? Huh??
It was also at this meeting when I looked at my son's teacher and realized I see the start of a pregnancy belly. She's due in May. Another new teacher to prep and transition. Happy for her, tired for me.
If I start a gofundme.com, will you be willing to donate to my spa getaway forget it all weekend? Don't be cheap. Mama is gonna have a large bar tab.