Chapter 6 Schools
Dress him at bedtime, so I did not have to try to dress him while he is asleep in the morning.
Stand at the bus stop so he does not sit down and fall asleep on the grass, or miss the bus.
After school wait at the bus stop to make sure he gets off, and does not sleep back to school so I have to drive back to pick him up at school.
Bring him in and feed him a snack.
Take him to therapy or do homework.
Weekends go fishing!
What Dale loved to do, was sit quietly in the backyard and catch chipmunks or squirrels in a trap of his own making. He put some seeds or nuts under a box or cage, a stick with a string he held in his hand tipped it open on one side, and he sat motionless waiting for the animal to go into his little trap. He would wait and then suddenly pull the stick out. He sat for hours and waited. Sometimes a bird got into his trap. I never saw him hurt his animals, he let them go. He would also sit inside the Boston Whaler with the cover over him, waiting for a bird to enter the trap. When he got a little older he started running away, or shall I say going on long hikes to Winton Woods. I would find him at the lake, the same place lots of times, where he would be fishing or looking for fish. He could be at the showers in the campgrounds where he got drinks of water in between the animal hunts. He had about a sixteenth Cherokee Indian (or less) in him, and I think more of that showed up in his soul than in his blood. He just loved the out of doors, and understood nature in a way that few of us did.
When we went to Eagle Bay he spent time with the fishes, and brought home batches for us to eat. He swam like a fish but didn't really like the cold water that much. He was rather in a boat, and one summer earned his boater license. He prided himself in making others laugh, his sense of humor being so good. Not only could he imitate others to make us laugh, but told jokes that set the mood for rip roaring times. With him around you knew you would have fun and conversation. He seemed to wear clothes that were too small and caused conversation. He wore old baseball caps with the bills bent and dirty, with words or sayings that made you laugh. His shirts reminded me of the cable guy. Somewhere along the way, he must have become a red neck. He hummed western tunes, and talked slow like he comes from the hills. The problem was always school and other kids.
First we sent Dale to regular classes of study, but his language and hearing deficits put him behind right away. I found a Montessori School graded one through three, where he could move at his own pace, and we could catch him up in language and vocabulary, while he got tutoring and therapy. After three years we moved him to a special school where he was given the real help he needed, Springer. This is a school where you enter only with documentation of learning disabilities, and the teachers gear the studies to the student. For the years he was there, he made steady progress and loved the classes. His artistic abilities were advanced, as were all his verbal and reading skills. It was a wonderful experience. However, it went only until 9th grade. He had to go to High School, and we searched for a special program for him in several schools in the area. We found one that had special classes following the lead of Springer. From the start he hated it. He had to walk halls of masses of students, who bullied and taunted him. He disliked the crowded noise of the place, and became depressed. Within a short time we decided to take him out of school for his own health.
We felt that since his brother had been successful at the small Christian boarding school just outside of Cincinnati, he would be also. He was not happy about this, but agreed to try. After a rocky start, he did end up successfully earning his large equipment driving license, and leaving there to move in with his birth-mom at age 18. He never uses the phone, does not write, or contact me in any way. He did have a job last time I talked with him.
The search for a school for him was so difficult that it took him out of our home. I believe he never wanted to leave, and that he would have stayed right through adulthood. Learning problems become issues and teachers cannot deal with them in a classroom full of children. The current mood is such that teachers must be more concerned with test grades showing they comply with standards mandated by the board or the state. It is not the same as figuring out how a child learns, and teaching what that child needs to know to make the next step forward. Dale needed to know how to survive in a hallway full of loud bustling energetic students. He would have struggled with the rest. No one could help him with that part of the formula. It was not part of a competency test, so he just fell by the wayside. It was sad for us all, and he did not really understand it either.
Stand at the bus stop so he does not sit down and fall asleep on the grass, or miss the bus.
After school wait at the bus stop to make sure he gets off, and does not sleep back to school so I have to drive back to pick him up at school.
Bring him in and feed him a snack.
Take him to therapy or do homework.
Weekends go fishing!
What Dale loved to do, was sit quietly in the backyard and catch chipmunks or squirrels in a trap of his own making. He put some seeds or nuts under a box or cage, a stick with a string he held in his hand tipped it open on one side, and he sat motionless waiting for the animal to go into his little trap. He would wait and then suddenly pull the stick out. He sat for hours and waited. Sometimes a bird got into his trap. I never saw him hurt his animals, he let them go. He would also sit inside the Boston Whaler with the cover over him, waiting for a bird to enter the trap. When he got a little older he started running away, or shall I say going on long hikes to Winton Woods. I would find him at the lake, the same place lots of times, where he would be fishing or looking for fish. He could be at the showers in the campgrounds where he got drinks of water in between the animal hunts. He had about a sixteenth Cherokee Indian (or less) in him, and I think more of that showed up in his soul than in his blood. He just loved the out of doors, and understood nature in a way that few of us did.
When we went to Eagle Bay he spent time with the fishes, and brought home batches for us to eat. He swam like a fish but didn't really like the cold water that much. He was rather in a boat, and one summer earned his boater license. He prided himself in making others laugh, his sense of humor being so good. Not only could he imitate others to make us laugh, but told jokes that set the mood for rip roaring times. With him around you knew you would have fun and conversation. He seemed to wear clothes that were too small and caused conversation. He wore old baseball caps with the bills bent and dirty, with words or sayings that made you laugh. His shirts reminded me of the cable guy. Somewhere along the way, he must have become a red neck. He hummed western tunes, and talked slow like he comes from the hills. The problem was always school and other kids.
First we sent Dale to regular classes of study, but his language and hearing deficits put him behind right away. I found a Montessori School graded one through three, where he could move at his own pace, and we could catch him up in language and vocabulary, while he got tutoring and therapy. After three years we moved him to a special school where he was given the real help he needed, Springer. This is a school where you enter only with documentation of learning disabilities, and the teachers gear the studies to the student. For the years he was there, he made steady progress and loved the classes. His artistic abilities were advanced, as were all his verbal and reading skills. It was a wonderful experience. However, it went only until 9th grade. He had to go to High School, and we searched for a special program for him in several schools in the area. We found one that had special classes following the lead of Springer. From the start he hated it. He had to walk halls of masses of students, who bullied and taunted him. He disliked the crowded noise of the place, and became depressed. Within a short time we decided to take him out of school for his own health.
We felt that since his brother had been successful at the small Christian boarding school just outside of Cincinnati, he would be also. He was not happy about this, but agreed to try. After a rocky start, he did end up successfully earning his large equipment driving license, and leaving there to move in with his birth-mom at age 18. He never uses the phone, does not write, or contact me in any way. He did have a job last time I talked with him.
The search for a school for him was so difficult that it took him out of our home. I believe he never wanted to leave, and that he would have stayed right through adulthood. Learning problems become issues and teachers cannot deal with them in a classroom full of children. The current mood is such that teachers must be more concerned with test grades showing they comply with standards mandated by the board or the state. It is not the same as figuring out how a child learns, and teaching what that child needs to know to make the next step forward. Dale needed to know how to survive in a hallway full of loud bustling energetic students. He would have struggled with the rest. No one could help him with that part of the formula. It was not part of a competency test, so he just fell by the wayside. It was sad for us all, and he did not really understand it either.
Comments
Post a Comment