How this all began
December 30, 2008
Starting up a non-profit organization is no small task! I ask myself every day if this is something I can really do, given my other responsibilities as a mother and a CEO. But then I meet a mom who’s child is being shuffled from one school to another, or being restrained in their classroom, or getting kicked out of one school after another, or the family is in a legal battle with the school district over services. The situation is grim for these families.
Instead of waiting for the schools to get it right or sitting around complaining about the situation, I decided to take the bull by the horns and try to raise some funds for schools to provide the needed services for these kids. These kids do not have time to waste. It is shameful that a school district would have evaluation after evaluation, strategic plan after strategic plan, town hall meeting after town hall meeting, call after call after call from parents complaining, and still not taking immediate action. They just continue to provide the least amount of services possible for these kids. They want to pigeon hole them into one of their “programs” even if the program doesn’t fit the child or isn’t beneficial to the child. They do not care! And the high functioning kids get left out in the cold, even though they need just as many services.
Well, can you hear my frustration? I know there are many of you out there. And, I’m committed to trying to make a change - and I’ll do it one school at a time. And, this is the start - Schools for Spectrum Foundation.
Trying to work with interested schools is a great idea.
I have a 5 year old with a provisional Asperger’s diagnosis.
I opted out of our kindergarten public school program as I felt that the support they offered would be insufficient, given our preschool experience. My is in a private school that is working with us to make it a success and so far this year it has been going reasonably well. Unfortunately, they don’t go beyond kindergarten and am trying to figure out what to do going forward.
I feel that what would be most helpful to me and maybe to other parents of kids on the spectrum is to have better access to information on what actually goes on in specific public and private schools around Seattle.
The information I have been able to get is very spotty.
I have posted repeatedly on autismking and other sites asking for input on speciifc schools in the LWSD, Bellevue, Issaquah, and MI school districts.
I talk to other parents whenever I get the chance.
I comb the web regularly for info on specific schools.
I ask various professionals for references.
I have visited various schools.
Still, I haven’t found anything that makes sense for my son and time is running out at least as far as many private schools are concerned.
While autismking is a great resource and I have received helpful responses I feel that something more structured that targets school issues specifically would be a great resource.
Let me know if your foundation might want to serve as a clearinghouse for information on specific schools and if you have any ideas on how to do it and if I can be of any help.
Thank you for your comments. I know exactly where you are right now. I’ve been there. Yes, I think it would be useful to have a clearinghouse of information on each of the schools, and, yes, I would be happy to host that information on this site. I’ll need to look into how to do this. It would be great if we could have a listing of schools with some information about the school/program and ten allow parents to post comments about their experience with the school. If you have any ideas for how to do this, feel free to let me know. Also, feel free to email me separately if you’d like to chat about school options.
Thank you for your response. Alas, I don’t have any brilliant ideas on this.
When you are evaluating the options for your child you really need to know a lot of specifics. Your child will not be attending a school district but a specific class in a specific school with a specific teacher and a specific set of kids. Moreover, if your child is expected to be in a mainstream classroom then the services the school offers in the special education class are only marginally relevant to you.
While visiting schools and talking to school officials is essential, it is not sufficient. Some of the public schools tell you whatever they feel they have to tell you to cover their behinds and the private ones tell you whatever they have to tell you to get you to apply.
I think that input from parents who have kids at these schools is more valuable than any other information source.
But I have the feeling that many parents hesitate to post negative comments on public sites because they still have to deal with the school and they don’t know who may be reading their posts.
I think that a site that would allow people to post information which they know would not identify them but would still help others get specific information on specific schools and classrooms and maybe even teachers would be invaluable to parents. I don’t know how to accomplish this, yet