Too Much Homework

I enjoyed teaching Rooster to spell beautiful with the trick "be autistic, it's beautiful," but we had a new list yesterday and it included the word disorder. I called it out, he wrote it down, then he looked up at me and said, "disorder, like when you have Asperger's Syndrome or autism." Then he wrote: not in order. This time, my chest knocked a bit, and I needed a big yoga breath.

"Yes, when you have a disorder, you might learn things in your own order. Just like you learn lots of things differently than the way I do. You learn them! Sometimes you learn them sooner than I do, and sometimes you learn that later, but you certainly learn them in the order that's right for you!"

Today is IEP day. I feel so tempted to tell the school exactly how I'd define their IEP. When we got the notification last week, it looked different, and it said they were required to let us know that they would be requesting a change in eligibility, to emotionally disturbed. Naturally, I felt confused, and upset. With shaking hands I called the school, and I was told, "Really? Ooops, that was just a clerical error. We don't send our own forms any more, some secretary in another office does them and she makes mistakes." Sometimes I have an urge to tell my son he does not have a disorder, that everyone in the world has their own order to things, and sometimes it is all I can do to resist telling him it seems to me his educational system and his school are in disorder, while he is perfectly fine just the way he is. But I realize that saying this would not serve us well.

The class can move along to "disorder" if they must, We are just going to concentrate on beautiful.