Wednesday - Whatever Wednesday

Well I was going to write about Kids say the darnedest things, but my kids aren't cooperating with me with funny stories.  Right now I am fighting with one to get them up and ready for school.  For an elementary student getting on a bus at 7:30 is really early.  So every five minutes I pass her room and say "Get up" to which I hear a response of "I'm up", but you know as well as I do, she isn't.

My daughter has abilities, not disabilities.  It has been a really hard road for her this past year.  She has done so much better than I had expected given what we were dealing with this time last year.  This and other things brought up a discussion with a friend of mine who is a teacher.  My daughter receives special education services,  alot of kids do.  There is so much stigma that the kids place on it but I hope one day that they will just understand that they are the same, they just need help in some areas that come easy to "normal" kids.  Who is to say what is normal anyway?  I went to college and ended up getting a degree in Special Education.  You would think that it would have helped me on my journey through the diagnosis process with my daughter, but it probably made it worse.  I knew I could help her, but we could never pin down what was wrong.  We went to two centers for evaluation (both of them got it wrong), four different psychiatrist, neurologists, therapists and finally a hospital.  Ten years into our journey we finally figured out what made my daughter tick.  Now I would love to tell you that it is all roses and wonderful now, but I won't.  She still has her days, but you know what, now it is like a day that any parent would have with a ten year old child about to transition to middle school.  I am very proud of her and everything she has accomplished.  Just as I am proud of all of my children.  They are all special in their own way, and each one of them brings something different to our family.  I am plotting way for my children to better understand that people with disabilities are not crazy or lazy or strange.  I want them to understand tolerance for everyone.  We must change the world one child at a time as teachers, we must also do the same as parents.