Thursday, January 19, 2012
A got something sent home today. It was a form requesting that we fill it out and return it. It was a form for him to participate in the Special Olympics. My first thought was.."Uhh..no, I don't think so". My second thought was.."Ok, maybe". My third thought was.."Uhh..no, I don't think so". See a pattern? It was very weird for me to get that letter. A lot of emotions ran through my head and heart all at once. What I can't get over is why they think he needs to be signed up. Are they trying to tell me something I don't know? A is in no way mentally, emotionally, or physically disabled. He does not have Autism or ADHD/ADD, Bipolar or have any other problems like that. And then I remembered...
Because A has an IEP, he automatically, in the state of Georgia, is declared to be special needs/special education. For the next 3-7 years, shorter depending on how he does with Speech Therapy, he will be declared as a special needs/special education child. It's easy for the state to dump all the children with IEP's in this category for whatever reason. Maybe they don't want to look at children's needs on an individual basis, after all, that's what the IEP's are for so why should special effort be given to categorize them?
Maybe I'm just being over emotional.
For the record, I want to say that I support the Special Olympics. My former stepson had Cerebral Palsy and always participated and you can be sure that I was in the stands to support him and cheer on the other participants. I went to at least 5 Olympics before his dad died and things just changed after that. I also want to say that in no way do I think that my child is too good for Special Olympics, I just don't think he falls in the category of needing to participate. I know they have different groups according to ability, but I just can't see putting him in with another child and A winning over all the other kids because he is not physically or mentally disabled. He runs like crazy, can just from tall buildings with a single bound (ok, not that really), but his motor skills are crazy. I would not want him to have that sort of advantage over another child.
Also, it does not matter to me in any way, shape or form, if my children are or were special needs, I would love them just the same. I didn't want to put all this on my FB page because I do have friends on there with developmentally delayed children and children who are physically and mentally delayed as well. This was a decision J and I had come to, with lots of thought, and with the utmost respect for the Special Olympics.
Yes, he will be able to participate in regular sports, there is nothing keeping him back from doing that. He is in a regular, public Pre-K class, does regular art and regular gym. He can even write his name by himself now, even Samuel couldn't do that at this age! The only thing he does different is one hour a day, he goes to speech therapy in a different class.