Crisis Situation

What I couldn't believe when my children were young was that the educators weren't interested in educaitng my children. Well, not all of them, and those who were allies wouldn't speak up during IEP meetings out of fear of losing their jobs.

My daughter was enrolled in a presechool co-op for special needs children and because she had not met the goals for the three years, we were wanting her to remain in the preschool rather than continue to kindergarten. After all, her birthday was Aug. 29th!

After a lengthy and costly due process hearing, we were no closer to coming to agreeable terms with the school district who basically received a slap on the wrist for the obstinant and antagonistic manner they chose to deal with us. In other words, the opinion of the ruling officer was that they were not breaking the law.

The school officials thought, perhaps, our daughter was not smart enough to talk. We saved her from that... we enrolled her at St. Joseph's Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis. A week before her fifth birthday, we left her in a dorm several hundred miles away from home.

Parents sacrifice in all kinds of ways, every day, for their children.