I wish I could say, "I'm winning!"

Four schools in three years. No school right now. Will is going to have a triennial evaluation in 2 weeks. School sytem wants to jam a school at us quickly and get him back in school ASAP, they say. I want to wait until results of triennial, as that might give us insight into best kind of school for him. I think this is the smart thing to do because it will likely minimize the chances of him being expelled again......But I'm getting a fight from the special education director.....The evidence for this hurdle is strong enough that I think I can get over it/fight it on my own.....Getting him into an appropriate school may be another story.....At least another blog post!

I have Charlie Sheen's tiger blood, but I need his money to fight for my son!

I'm fresh off Charlie Sheen's live Torpedo of Truth tour and he has inspired me as the mother of a 14-year-old son with autism to roar about the problems with special education programs for kids with autism. I'd like to drop the F-bomb every other word like Charlie - because that's how frustrated I am - but I'll keep it clean for appearances sake.....My son, Will, and other children with special needs are entitled to an Individualized Education Plan, but in my opinion, school systems see that as meaning "whichever available box we can best fit him into." In his case, those boxes, in the form of special education schools in the Southern Connecticut area haven't worked. He was just expelled, kicked out, dismissed - or whatever you want to call it - from his fourth school in three years. Each time, it's the same issue - purposely driven by Will in order to be kicked out - and each time they start over again, only to get to the same place and kick him out again.  Will has outsmarted four teams of teachers, behaviorists, psychologists, administrators. I want to ask, "Who really has the IQ problem?" ......... Across the years he's been manhandled by guards, aides, behaviorists  and thrown into closet-sized rooms with the door closed. If I did that to him it would be called abuse. This boy is sweet, civil outside the school setting, so that tells me this model of school (and they're more alike than different) doesn't  work! If I was Charlie Sheen, it wouldn't be the tiger blood I'd need as much as his money to pay for lawyers to defend my son's right to an appropriate education! ....Have you had any experiences with special education schools in southern Connecticut?