Summer School

Well, summer school has not yet been the rip-roaring good time we all hoped it would be. First, he is riding the bus there. Now this past school year I dropped him off & picked him up because he was going to be riding at least 45 minutes each way, & Alan & I both decided that that was just too long of a day for him. Plus, we were worried that since the bus was going to be more crowded & there's of course just 1 bus driver that it would make it more likely for bullying or trouble like that to happen (yes, kids with developmental disabilities sometimes bully each other, mostly because they've been bullied & teased by their typical peers).

We thought we'd try the bus again for summer school, but now the commute has become about an hour each way!! What's happened is the district is trying to save money be using fewer buses & packing them with more kids. What a great idea, you penny-pinching sweethearts! So you've got buses having to pick up kids an hour before school starts & cramming them with 15 kids. I'm not sure we're going to be using the bus after today. It's like the district in kinda blackmailing families into driving their kids themselves, thereby saving them gas money. Thanks guys!

Another not-so-great aspect of summer school is that Teddy is the oldest kid in his class. Now during the school year there are 2 boys a year older than him & 4 kids his age in his class. None of them are doing summer school this year. I don't know what the heck is going on--extended vacations? But I did overhear that maybe 2 of the boys his age are going to "typical" summer school this year.

That's a real downer for all of us. There's no way Teddy could do "typical" with the other boys--he has to have an aide. And I'm sure that's not something the district would be jumping at the chance to try. Teddy is very aware of his differences now too, & I know he's not happy being the oldest kid in his class. He misses his friends.

And of course he hates having to do any school work. He complained bitterly about that the first day, & was in tears. We'd told him he would have to do a little work at school, but he'd have a lot of fun things to do too. But he's focused on the work now, so that makes it difficult to even get him to go in the mornings.

I guess, bottom line, we're all 3 of us going thru some really hard times. Second grade was hard for all of us, from awareness of differences to dealing with not being included in the regular ed classroom. I keep hoping 3rd grade will be better, but I'm scared & confused. Bottom line, none of us knows what the future will look like for Teddy. I know he's going to be OK, but I don't know what OK will be in 2, 5, 10, 15 years. I fear the increasing gap between him & his peers, even the ones with challenges too.