I think "the bunny or the gun" (LOL) depends on the individual teacher's personality and methods.
For sure. Also remember that you can do everything right, and still not get your child what he needs. Advocacy isn't called 'negotiation' for a reason - because in the end, the school holds all the cards - until you walk, which unfortunately you have to do sometimes. But not because you didn't handle things well - because you basically have little power in this situation. Some - but sometimes not enough.
FWIW, I think "Jimmy has a 504 plan and here's the rough guide" isn't guns blazing, I think it's solid information. DeeDee
I agree that this doesn't sound 'out of line' at all, unless the rough guide is 4 pages in size 8 font.
This is a great discussion, and I particularly love bringing in the DH as 100% full partner. I think that there are three different situations that could be called 'going to the Mat'
1) Doing stuff that really is unusual - like pulling the journalist card ((Applause, BTW, excellent in this extreame situation!))
2) Doing normal stuff that is really unusual for you - like emailing the teacher and asking for a meeting. This is where we can be tremendously useful to each other. Remember most of us can't vent to our local friends and clear our heads of second guessing with family members. So we come here to pick out our 'big girl panties.'
3) Approaching everyone and everything as if they are withholding something important from you child because that's just the kind of xxx they are. Obviously this isn't recommended. But given our own experiences as children, we do have 'baggage' that needs to be cleaned up so we can be good advocates. Hearing each other's stories here can help that process too.
Yes?
Grinity
