Education-schmedumacation...our calling.

Miguel has been screwed by the education system since he was three years old. I will not exaggerate on this, either. We have always lived in nice areas that have been noted to provide good educations. In fact, we went out of our way to live in those areas SO that Miguel could have an opportunity to receive a good education.

In Spring 2002, I was taking Research Methods in Psychology when I realized that Miguel's symptoms were Autism and not "blindisms", as the doctor would explain away the concerns we had regarding spinning, hand-flapping, narrowed appetite, lack of verbalization and socialization.

In June 2002 at a Parent/Infant workshop, I met a woman at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired, Dr. Terese Pawletko, who specializes in teaching methods and research with blind/Autistic children. Dr. Pawletko has posts on TSBVI's website and has done 1 and 2 day trainings in the Dallas/Ft. Worth and Richmond areas. She lives in Eliot, Maine and works for districts in New England, but also consults around the world...and still does workshops on an 'as contracted' basis.

I told her I had a suspicion that Miguel was Autistic but medical professionals and education professionals felt he was just "retarded" (God, I love the jaded shitheads that worked with Miguel...at least, 2 of them were but that is more than enough! The rest were "sheep" to the 2 shitheads.). Anyway, I asked that she meet with him for her professional opinion. Within less than 5 minutes of this meeting, she asks me, "how could they NOT think he was Autistic?!?!" Oh, be still my beating heart..... That validation put most of my worries to rest.

I hear about a lot of parents who are shaken by the diagnosis of Autism. I was ELATED!!! THANK GOD there is an answer to all that is holding Miguel back in life. Now comes the next hurdle...how the HELL do you teach a blind/Autistic kid????

I know Wisconsin has GREAT programs for children with Autism but that is still not the same as blind/Autistic. Just because you know how to work with one disability, does not mean that you know how to work with BOTH. The dual diagnosis implicates so much since Autistic kids are FANTASTIC visual learners.

Let me tell you that NO ONE in the state of IL has a CLUE how to teach this slim population of special children!!! My advice: RUN!!! Save yourselves!!!!

So we did.

Last December I flew into Austin, Texas to tour Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and I was impressed with what I saw. Moreover, I was just happy to know they had training in working with blind/Autistic children. After that, my plan was to make our way down to Texas for a more appropriate education for Miguel. I graduated in the middle of May and I had a job offer by the end of the month in Houston.



Miguel and I moved in with my awesome brother, Jason, by the end of the week that I accepted the job.


Side note: Oh, that poor guy! He's been living alone as a bachelor for approx. 10 years and now his sister and nephew invade his existence and two bedroom townhome. (Yes, I share a bedroom with my son.) He has been more than hospitable and considerate with us in this enormous life change.


Our Summer kind of sucked because HISD screwed Miguel out of his extended school year, as detailed in his IEP. I was a letter writing fool and hired an advocate. Educationally speaking, it was a crappy summer. I also struggled finding daycare because no daycare felt competent enough to care for a special child. If this wasn't enough, Miguel had his first, and only, seizure the second week we were here. This was followed by a 3 day admission to Texas Children's Hospital. Talk about "getting acquainted with the area," eh?


These obstacles/struggles left me doubting myself and this move, or COMPLETE UPHEAVAL from all I was familiar with. It was so hard because my complete support system was in IL, all of Miguel's medical professionals were there, the seizure probably wouldn't have happened if we were in IL (I'll explain in another blog), he would have continued with an Extended School Year, he would've attended a Special Needs Summer Camp I had him enrolled in.....It all would've been so easy.


BUT NOOOOOO, my stubborn ass wants to blaze trails for my monkey and is it worth the cost we are paying? I thought Texas loved their special people? I thought there were more resources? I did not plan on this. It was suppose to be smooth. I made all the arrangements in advance...movers, boxing my apartment, storage in Texas, delayed start date at work to get Miguel enrolled in school and daycare....

HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING?!?!?! (GASP!!!)

Well, easily......shit happens. Suck it up. Deal with it and move on. So we did.

Miguel started school at the end of August at (what we call in IL, a "co-op") T.H. Rogers in Houston. I've made visits to the class and I am not sure what it is that they do BUT IT WORKS!! Miguel's affect and ability have improved drastically. I noticed changes by October and I started him on a GFCF diet (gluten free, casein free) and more improvements are greatly apparent day-to-day. The sweet guy repeats what I say to him! This has NEVER HAPPENED. I call his father and say, "ok, what do you want Miguel to say?" and we come up with words and the sweet guy repeats them back. Miguel is counting again and is more appropriately responsive to questions and requests. It's just amazing.

I believe the progress is due to his lead teacher and assistants, also his Vision Itinerant, who uses the same methods as TSBVI to teach Miguel. It takes a really special person to work with Miguel and teach him. Miguel's lead teacher is definitely blessed with that ability and I hope the next teacher can bring the same attributes to Miguel's education.

Our education heroes:

Julie Rohrbach- Teacher

Sheila "Miss Sheeya" Hoekstra- Vision Itinerant

Alice Moma- Teacher

Annie Okorie- Vision Itinerant

Barbara Kielaszek- just Awesome

Dr. Terese Pawletko

Dana Prezembel- best friend, teacher, advocate

I liken my wayward existence to that of a gypsy but Confucius has a better way of reframing my thoughts....

"They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom." --Confucius

....and we are happy.