Typically I dread the call or the announcement, "Kristen I have a parent in the office for you." This means that some parent wants to refer their child for testing. The year has only just begun and already I'm in double-digits for parents and physicians referring kids for special education eligibility testing. A lot of the parents are coming in for kids that are more rascal than disabled...which is kind of annoying, but it keeps me very busy.
Yesterday my clerk came in and said she had parents in the office. I got down to the office and asked the parents how I could help them. The following is the actual exchange I had with them:
Woman: We want to know how to make his son sped. He's got behavior problems.
Me: What's your son's name?
Father: Noah Fence (name's changed for obvious confidentiality reasons)
Me: Um, Noah Fence IS in special education already. Let me get the file to show you.
I arrive back with the file and announce, "Yup, Noah was made eligible just last year. Perhaps you weren't at the meeting."
(I flip through the file thinking perhaps the bio mother had attended instead)
Me: Uh, sir, you WERE at the meeting. (As I show the father his signature on the meeting sign-in sheet)
Father: Oh, I guess I forgot all that.
Woman: So he's in sped?
Me: Yes.
I then walked them through their child's individualized education program (the IEP meeting that the father had also attended and evidently forgot). Of course the child's special education teacher is one of those that actually avoids contacting parents...I don't understand that and in this case there's clearly a miscommunication issue.
How on earth do you forget that your child is already in special education....especially when they were just found eligible within the last 6 months is beyond me. But needless to say, it was the easiest referral I've had yet - no meetings, no testing...not bad! :)
It almost beats the parent I had who came in and told me she wanted her kid tested for special ed because she took him to get a hearing test and the lady told her that "half his brain don't work." (This kid turned out to be one of the best students in his class and was student of the week the week his mother came to me.)
I had a meeting for another kid the other day and his foster mother was telling me (this is a true story) about how his brother's eyeball popped out the other day during bedtime. Ugh, can you IMAGINE? This lady is like super foster mom and just calmly popped it back in and then took him to the emergency room where they sewed the corners of his eyes closed to keep his eyeballs in. Yikes! This kid only has speech delays thank goodness!
I had another child walk into my office that was very visibly delayed (i.e. likely some genetic disorder). The parents just moved here from the Philippines and the step-father was treating this child like she was a circus sideshow in our meeting. Normally we ask the parents what their concerns are and they just tell us. This meeting was very bizarre because he kept having the child make weird faces at us, roll her eyes back in her head, show us atypical body parts (e.g. she has some physical deformities on her fingers) etc. He seemed to have no shame in the fact that he was showcasing her like some freakish specimen. To make it worse, I didn't understand most of what he was saying. That was definitely a strange one.
But so far the year is starting out better than last year since I now know what the heck I'm doing. I haven't had any parents call me up to cuss at me for 20 minutes like I did last year :)
With all these parents, I'm not sure I could ever work with a population of parents that actually know what's up - I don't think I'd enjoy my job half as much!
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