p6. The Road to Higher Education
Junior High is notorious for a two-year stint in experimenting, and pushing the limits to see what a kid can get away with. As a teacher, these were two of the toughest grades for me too teach.
After 6 grade and the kids separated into different schools with in the district, we thought we would spend thousands and send Da to an inner city school, which happened to be for the Visual and Performing Arts.
She is blessed with an awesome voice, literally perfect pitch and a comfort on stage that is rare. Over the years she had the opportunity to sing in many programs including the “Pops” at our huge Music Hall, the Performing Arts Center and our Contemporary Arts Center. If you just close your eyes - and listen to the “Little Mermaid” or “On my Own” from Les Mis - then you can hear the clarity of her voice. Her therapist went to see her perform at the Arts Center and told me later she sat there with tears rolling down her face. She then summed it up perfectly… “You always told me she could sing really well, but I had no idea she could sing that good. You know she could really make it, she could be a recording star, but I think she would be on the National Enquirer’s cover weekly.” such wisdom from one of the people who know her best.
The school turned out to be about 40%, at the time, students that belonged there, (you had to audition) the rest were questionable. I ended up working each week in their bookstore where the kids got their junk lunch just to keep an eye on things. This was the first time we had her put on a 504 program, which basically said the school was liable for her success since they didn’t have a “specials” program. What a joke. This had to be the worst school I have ever seen, and to this day, I have no idea why we didn’t sue the school system for our out of district tuition. She skipped classes, had incredibly socially unacceptable behavior and horrible grades with no accountability. I went to pick her up for a doctor’s appt. and the teacher told me, “she is supposed to be in this class, but I don’t even know what she looks like”. Hello, this is 7th grade. We ended up going to a study center and spent 200.00 a week, just to get her through her work. She got her papers done (she didn’t turn them in – I had to fax them) but she mainly disrupted the other kids at the center. She has a great sense of humor.
Da had two hospital stays in her 7th grade year, the second was brought on by a horrible experience at this school and she ended up hospitalized for 6 weeks.
She missed the end of school and had a record of 9 “F’s”, but I did not have them hold her back. Mainly because I had no idea where she would go next.
God sent us an angel in July, the director of the Special Ed. Dept. for our district, put the IEP process into high gear and condensed a three-month process into 2. By October, Da took the “scrunch” bus to what I call “the little axe murders school” which was a SBH (severally behaviorally handicapped) program. She was really out of place when her meds had her stable, but they said they couldn’t handle her when she wasn’t. She was in this program for 2 1/2 years. There were 6 kids in a class with two adults. Academically it is questionable what she learned, but it was a safe place for her until she decided to leave for adventures.
Her scariest runaway adventure - after being away from home for days - was when she saw a 4 family apartment building. You know the kind with a big glass window for the staircases? She passed this and saw a heater in the hall, went inside a curled up to sleep. It was December; she only had a pair of shorts. When she awoke, she was in a stranger’s apartment. She doesn’t remember who they were, or how she got there. The next day the police found her and she went back into the hospital. At this point her mania had elevated to the point where she was actually psychotic (left reality). This stay was 8 weeks and then we were asked to find an extended care program. This is so hard on parents since Mental Health Insurance is not as comprehensive as other illnesses. The extended care would be 380.00 a day, and we had wiped out our coverage. Luckily we found a great doctor who got her meds together (17 pills a day), and we didn't have to use the extended program, she was a walking zombie, but she was safe. She also gained 45 pounds in two months.
Sometimes you like the manic personality over the medicated, so I am sure the bipolar person really feels this way.
To quickly sum up her high school years, she was mainstreamed into a “normal” high school were she blended into the walls most of the time. She was hospitalized 3 more times before graduation. But she did graduate.
This proud family was sitting in our seats waiting for the processional of gowned achievers, and out of the blue, I started to just sob, I couldn’t quit crying. My husband looked at me rather amused and said, “what the heck are you crying for?” I just told him that all the people sitting in this building had absolutely no idea what it took for her to get this far, and it was so overwhelming.
Well sure enough the first pair of kids to walk down the aisle were a female and male. And the male had “Down’s Syndrome”; I just looked at Tom and said, “Well maybe not everybody.”
After 6 grade and the kids separated into different schools with in the district, we thought we would spend thousands and send Da to an inner city school, which happened to be for the Visual and Performing Arts.
She is blessed with an awesome voice, literally perfect pitch and a comfort on stage that is rare. Over the years she had the opportunity to sing in many programs including the “Pops” at our huge Music Hall, the Performing Arts Center and our Contemporary Arts Center. If you just close your eyes - and listen to the “Little Mermaid” or “On my Own” from Les Mis - then you can hear the clarity of her voice. Her therapist went to see her perform at the Arts Center and told me later she sat there with tears rolling down her face. She then summed it up perfectly… “You always told me she could sing really well, but I had no idea she could sing that good. You know she could really make it, she could be a recording star, but I think she would be on the National Enquirer’s cover weekly.” such wisdom from one of the people who know her best.
The school turned out to be about 40%, at the time, students that belonged there, (you had to audition) the rest were questionable. I ended up working each week in their bookstore where the kids got their junk lunch just to keep an eye on things. This was the first time we had her put on a 504 program, which basically said the school was liable for her success since they didn’t have a “specials” program. What a joke. This had to be the worst school I have ever seen, and to this day, I have no idea why we didn’t sue the school system for our out of district tuition. She skipped classes, had incredibly socially unacceptable behavior and horrible grades with no accountability. I went to pick her up for a doctor’s appt. and the teacher told me, “she is supposed to be in this class, but I don’t even know what she looks like”. Hello, this is 7th grade. We ended up going to a study center and spent 200.00 a week, just to get her through her work. She got her papers done (she didn’t turn them in – I had to fax them) but she mainly disrupted the other kids at the center. She has a great sense of humor.
Da had two hospital stays in her 7th grade year, the second was brought on by a horrible experience at this school and she ended up hospitalized for 6 weeks.
She missed the end of school and had a record of 9 “F’s”, but I did not have them hold her back. Mainly because I had no idea where she would go next.
God sent us an angel in July, the director of the Special Ed. Dept. for our district, put the IEP process into high gear and condensed a three-month process into 2. By October, Da took the “scrunch” bus to what I call “the little axe murders school” which was a SBH (severally behaviorally handicapped) program. She was really out of place when her meds had her stable, but they said they couldn’t handle her when she wasn’t. She was in this program for 2 1/2 years. There were 6 kids in a class with two adults. Academically it is questionable what she learned, but it was a safe place for her until she decided to leave for adventures.
Her scariest runaway adventure - after being away from home for days - was when she saw a 4 family apartment building. You know the kind with a big glass window for the staircases? She passed this and saw a heater in the hall, went inside a curled up to sleep. It was December; she only had a pair of shorts. When she awoke, she was in a stranger’s apartment. She doesn’t remember who they were, or how she got there. The next day the police found her and she went back into the hospital. At this point her mania had elevated to the point where she was actually psychotic (left reality). This stay was 8 weeks and then we were asked to find an extended care program. This is so hard on parents since Mental Health Insurance is not as comprehensive as other illnesses. The extended care would be 380.00 a day, and we had wiped out our coverage. Luckily we found a great doctor who got her meds together (17 pills a day), and we didn't have to use the extended program, she was a walking zombie, but she was safe. She also gained 45 pounds in two months.
Sometimes you like the manic personality over the medicated, so I am sure the bipolar person really feels this way.
To quickly sum up her high school years, she was mainstreamed into a “normal” high school were she blended into the walls most of the time. She was hospitalized 3 more times before graduation. But she did graduate.
This proud family was sitting in our seats waiting for the processional of gowned achievers, and out of the blue, I started to just sob, I couldn’t quit crying. My husband looked at me rather amused and said, “what the heck are you crying for?” I just told him that all the people sitting in this building had absolutely no idea what it took for her to get this far, and it was so overwhelming.
Well sure enough the first pair of kids to walk down the aisle were a female and male. And the male had “Down’s Syndrome”; I just looked at Tom and said, “Well maybe not everybody.”
posted by ewschott at Sunday, September 19, 2004
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