Be prepared to need a stick to poke them with.
The big meeting regarding Cuddle Bear happened. I was not pleased with the fact that my son's teacher and the chair of the Special Education department for the middle/high school were sitting in on a psychological evaluation. I was not pleased at all but apparently this was how things were going to go. Cuddle Bear answered the questions asked of him politely and respectfully. He did a good job of paying attention. And got a little worried he was going to miss the bus (he didn't). According to theory, the specialist that he sees and our family doctor will be getting copies of the psychologist's findings. According to theory, I will be getting a copy as well.
Initially, when this was brought up, I made a point of stating that this should be included in his IEP documentation just like any of the evaluations done by their staff psychologist. The doctor confirmed the autism diagnosis. The doctor said that Cuddle Bear is a boy with a very active imagination and he tends to hyperfocus on it (as I was saying at the outset of all of this alarm/panic). I am annoyed that the doctor took the opportunity to inquire as to my psychological welfare. Somehow, he was aware that I have a history of mental illness.
I have not hidden my condition. At the same time, I do not believe that my mental illness is an influence upon my son's performance at school. I, however, kept that opinion to myself and answered rather bluntly the questions asked of me with the minimal of answers required of the questions. I would understand if the question was asked to establish familial history of such things. It was not presented as such for they didn't ask about his father. And, regarding Beloved, there was the implication that he is an absentee father that I took offense to as well. I made it plain that he is active in the lives of our family and the biggest thing to be a problem for us has been the impact of Covid-19 on our lives. They were, for some gods rotting reason, surprised by this information and possibly, mildly chagrined.
I'm angry. It's been a day and I'm still angry. Their IEP meetings are scheduled for the same day as a Google meeting. This was a Zoom meeting. I'm not sure which platform is more secure but I know this is happening this way because of Covid-19. If I don't get my copy of this doctor's findings, I'll be talking to the specialist and requesting that a copy of the one that she is getting. We've got our next meeting via phone in about two weeks. If neither of my son's health providers have copies and I don't have a copy, it's going to be a bad day for the school.
They had been working with us so well. And then the teacher got a wild hair up their ass and decided that Cuddle Bear was delusional and excessively aggressive. That's what got this whole ball rolling. I am just letting that line run out and watching to see what the results are. The teacher may be looking for another line of work in a bad economy if this mess causes my son problems. And I will claw my way through the entire school food chain until the problems are resolved, because I know how those food chains work. Right now, I'm just going to simmer and watch. I am not happy. Not at all.
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