Small Town Mom Still Fighting School for Rights of Autistic Son

I was hoping that this year my autistic son would get to go to his first school Halloween party, however I guess it wasn't meant to be. I am still fighting my local school district for my son's rights. The month of November has rolled around and my son, who will be 6 in February, still isn't going to school.

In part I of my story, I explained that my school did not want my son to go to kindergarten in their district. They "thought" that it would be in his best interest, or perhaps their best interest that he continue yet another year in preschool. I did tour this proposed preschool, which is in a town a little over 20 minutes away. It is a city preschool combined with an MRDD preschool. I was very hesitant at first as my son is much older than the other kids in the room and much more advanced. Also, he would only be around his typical peers for a short amount of the day. I did reconsider when I noticed how well the teacher and the two aides were trained in autism. I figured with the low student to teacher ratio, that perhaps my son would finally get the help he rightfully deserves.

I was assuming that everything was all set into place. Our school is required to transport my son to this other district, but this is where my autism mom vs.the school saga continues. The catch was that my son would be on the bus for nearly 4 hours a day. His bus ride in the morning would be 2 hours and 40 minutes and in the afternoon, he would be taken out of school over an hour early and ride the bus for nearly an hour and a half home. To my astonishment, school administrators actually thought that I would agree to this and that this was acceptable.

Of course I said absolutely not. What kind of educators think that any child, let alone one with autism should be on a bus for 4 hours a day? I do not know if it is in the No Child Left Behind Act, or if it is a policy from the Ohio Department of Education, but children on IEP's are to be in the "least restrictive environment". Being on a bus for that long sounds like the most restrictive environment, a disaster waiting to happen. The superintendent is still insistent that I put my child on this bus for two weeks and then we reconvene for a meeting. As of yesterday they are pushing for me to sign a new IEP very quickly, which I refuse to do. They called me 4 times yesterday and had the audacity to show up at my doorstep unannounced. This is getting out of control.

I was so irate that I began to make phone calls to see exactly what my rights as the parent of a disabled child are. To my disappointment some agencies that I called have not returned my calls. I did however get in contact with the Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with disabilities and now I have a parent advocate. Next week we will once again have yet another meeting, and another week passes by that my son is missing out on education. I hope and pray that this advocate can help me enforce my rights.

It is a shame that I have to go through this, just for my son to have an education. As one of my neighbor's said "you need to be a hero", "you are setting the way for the other families that will become behind you".

A small victory for me, may turn out to be a big victory in the end. I never thought of myself as a hero. I am just a small town mom, fighting for her son to go to school.