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somewhereonearth-- I think that what I'm suggesting isn't that it's always TRUE...

but, as geofizz notes as well--

nothing will be improved if you honestly believe your situation to be inherently and irretrievably "adversarial" with your child's school-- regardless of whether or not it seems true.

Mostly, a lack of cooperation indicates ignorance, not malice. (repeat internally as needed... LOL-- as MoN reports, this kind of thing DOES get results. They are always better than they would have been if you assume that interactions will be hostile... they just may not be what you'd like.)


Also-- know what your personal Rubicon is. Do not share that information with anyone outside of your family (and advocate/legal representative)-- but know what that is, and what plan B looks like. Be willing and able to walk away from plan A if/when it happens.

Master of none, way to go. It's great news that you've gotten your relative the necessary services. I'm also finding that these skills transfer. At the moment, I'm using them daily with contractors as we do a house renovation! Everyone's a professional. Everyone has certain constraints that tie their hands. Everyone wants to do the right thing. It's helping. Or so I tell myself.


Yes, well stated.

I must admit, when I started with the "burn no bridges" matra, I did not honestly believe that the staff had my child's best interest at heart. I have, however, learned to view the staff as having my child's best interest at heart. Maybe I'm deluding myself, but it really does feel as though that my attitude has made it so.

Hard data, as others have mentioned, have certainly greased the wheels.

This is really great. Thank you.

Congrats, MON. That's really wonderful!

Cross your fingers for us. The K classes are being completely reshuffled this week. If DS does not end up where we want him this will be a time to advocate. Ugh.

Everything crossed, Ultra.

DeeDee

@#$!@#!^&*!

Advocacy, here we come.

Maintain positive problem-solving attitude, full speed ahead.

DeeDee

Deep breath and sleeves up, ultramarina.

I've been back over this thread and few others in anticipation of our big meeting tomorrow. DS7 was subject accelerated once a week last year. The school went back and forth and has finally decided to not to continue to accelerate him. They got a fancy new fangled differentiation program for the whole school and no one needs acceleration anymore! So, DS7 will effectively be held back by a few years and stay with his classmates but the differentiation will be so awesome he won't even notice a thing!

Sorry for the sarcasm. Anyway, DH and I have a well researched plan in place to counter the school's backtracking. Part of our problem is that I didn't realize soon enough, last year, that the school was just blowing smoke and nothing was going to happen. So, I didn't get to look around at other schools until a month ago. I did find a good private montessori that claims to provide all the acceleration we need, but I'm not really sure about it. I feel like I need more time.

I guess I'm writing just to thank everyone for contributing to this and other advocacy threads. Wish us luck. Hopefully I won't cry at this meeting tomorrow.