{{{{{{{{{{Christine}}}}}}}}}}

I didn't have to go through anything near that bad, but my two had ADHD and
my son had behavior problems (he was also gifted and *why* can't the schools
understand how bored a gifted child can get and how creatively then can get
into trouble!!!).

Continued purrs are coming your way that all will turn out well.

Hugs,

CatNipped

We'll keep purring that your son receives the care he needs to fulfill
his potentials and live a happy life.

That's good news. It sounds like things are happenning at least instead of
stalling out. My coworker's son has been in a public school in a small town
until now. THey hired extra aides and the teachers got extra training, but
honestly, he wasn't getting anywhere even though the school was receptive.
The shift to a school that caters to autistic and other types of challenged
students seems to be a much better situation. There is almost a one on one
ratio. he is still adjusting (*any* kind of change is extremely upsetting to
him) but it has been much smoother than she thought it would be and her
stress level while high but less than all the time she has worried about
what to do and how it would go. Many purrs that you can find a school
situation that works to your sons advantage instead of against it, which
seems often to be the case in these cases.

Sending extra special and understanding purrs.  While I realize no two
people are exactly alike you just described a close friend of my grandson's.
Kind of an honorary grandson if you will.  Watching this big bright
beautiful kid cope has just made us love him all the more.  He's seventeen
now.  Yes he has had problems.  Lots of them.  And doesn't always deal with
them all that well.  But he has so much to offer and he works so hard to be
the person he wants to be.

Jo

{{{{Christine}}}}}

I'm glad things are looking up.

I have a friend with a son with difficulties, and she went through
some similar things, particular with the school being completely
unhelpful.  She eventually (being a teacher) decided to home-school
him, and he's apparently doing well.  But her frustration at dealing
with the school officials was enormous, so I sure can understand what
you're going through.

Continued purrs that things get worked out.

Ginger-lyn

We are here for you, Christine and your family. We are sending best wishes
and purrs that everything turns out fine for your family.
Lots of gentle hugs,

<snip>  The latest one occurred on Wednesday and resulted in

Argh! What a frustrating situation! I don't know why these so called
"Experts" never seem to listen to parents who know thier child better than
anyone. Here's purring that your son finds a place that will suit his needs.

Yowie
(who has a friend with a son in similar circumstances. They found the
Catholic school system far better for him than the public one)

Christina:  I'm glad to read that you've made some headway on this situation
but really *mad* at the people who made the situation worse.  People can be
such dolts sometimes - if someone isn't exactly the middle of the bell
curve, they just cannot deal with it.  I'm sending supportive thoughts to
you as you fight for your son - he's very lucky to have a mom who
understands and supports him as much as you obviously do.  Parenthood can
really kick you around - you love those kids so much and want to do the
absolute best I know.  It's not easy.

Take care,

Susan M
Otis and Chester

{{{{{{{{{{Christine}}}}}}}}}}  Purrs continuing for you to find the
care/school that will best benefit your son.
Sam, closely supervised by Mistletoe

Home > Pets > Cats, Anecdotes > UPDATE: Our fa...?    My UPDATE: Our family
could use purrs

by "Christine Burel" <cfbureREMOVETHISl@comcast.net> Feb 12, 2005 at 09:09
AM

I can't thank you all enough for all your support and purrs; your
messages
were the only bright spot in these past few days and I did get to read
them
before I went to bed.

My son has Aspergers, Tourettes, and OCD and is gifted, and it has been a
struggle all these years to figure out what to do to help him navigate
society, including schooling (when he was in elementary school we managed
to
put him in a private school, which worked all right because the school
was
receptive, but since high school he's been in a public school and it's
been
....)  -- all I can say here is that the public schools here are totally
clueless and to put it euphemistically, there have been a number of
mishandled situations.  The latest one occurred on Wednesday and resulted
in
our being "forced" to admit him to an acute hospitilization.  Because of
the
way this was "handled" I had to shift into extreme advocacy mom-role and
in
the last 2 days have made enough noise in talking to the psychiatrists,
administrators, and advocacy people to a) get our side of the story
listened
to and b) get him evaluated quicker and facilitate moving him into an
appropriate setting.  The advocacy group I talked to yesterday is
investigating what actions we have against the school.

I think knowing that all those purrs and positive thoughts were there for
us
helped immeasurably.  We're not out of the woods yet by any means but the
outcome is a lot more hopeful.
Many thanks,
Christine

__________________________________________________________________________________

Wow! You really needed those purrs. Purrs will continue.
here's a {{{{{{{{{{{{hug}}}}}}}} too.

Suz

Sorry Christine, I must have missed this one while I was
without a monitor again, many Purrs and prayers to you and your
son in your times of trouble. I hope you can get something
sorted out for him very soon, It must be very hard on you all
{{{{{{{hugs to all your family}}}}}}}  Jean.P.

Still sending purrs and well wishes for you all, especially Alex. (I
hope I got his name correct.  He's such a smart and engaging kid) I can
understand your frustration, as we have gone through something similar
with Amanda.  The last episode ended with her having hysterics, as the
young man who was tormenting her was led from the classroom.

I don't know much about the workings of the Albuquerque School system,
but I know that the high school Mandy goes to and I work at, tries to
accommodate and work with the needs of it's students.  However, there
are anywhere up to 30 substitute teachers in a given day, not all of
whom have what they really need to be effective in the classroom.  Not
only that, but there are all sorts of teachers, custodians, clerical
personnel, security staff, support staff, and so on who won't know what
the needs of your child are.  Worse, some of those who do know the needs
of your child, will discount them as being parental hysterics. (This is
what happened with Mandy)

That being said.  I also don't know what happened and what these people
did to really set the whole thing in motion.  Alex is/was high
functioning, enjoyed his debate with Rob (who also enjoyed it and could
have gone on all night, had we let them), and is quite a charmer.  We
all fell for both the kids, but Alex reminded us of a lot of our
adoptive "sons."  Passionate, goofy, smart, able to think around corners
and under chairs, inventive, and willing to stand up for his position.

I hope that Alex is feeling himself soon and that you will give him our
best wishes.  I hope that you are able to fight and win what ever you
need to educate the educators and get Alex exactly the help he needs.

Pam S. on behalf of all the Shirk clan, furry and bare

(snipped)

I'm glad the situation is looking more hopeful; we are steadily purring
for you and your family and hoping for a good resolution for everyone.

------
Krista