The system failed my son

Kelly was diagnosed with Asperger's at the age of 4. Although I was stunned by this, I was not entirely surprised that he was not the same as other kids. It's sad, though, how we had to find out this information.

The short version of our story will probably end up long. But the gist of it is, Kelly was a slight behavior concern in pre-K. The teacher felt he needed to be on Ritalin, but also felt that there was abuse in the home. There was a witch hunt where I was pretty much convicted and sentenced to an invasion of my home to make sure I was parenting correctly. I was told that there was a possibility that my children could be taken away if the house was dirty, there was not a fully stocked fridge/pantry, etc. These were things that we did anyway, but to have someone invade your home...especially with a newborn that keeps you up most of the night and having to be wide awake for the occasional uninvited guest was stressful. I don't know how we got through that time.

Anyway, tests, tests, and more tests conclude: Asperger's Syndrome.

The school makes accommodations, but only to alleviate any responsibility of the teachers. Rather than force my son to write out his answers, or notes, or essays, they give him a personal secretary, or 'Scribe' ("that means, they write it out for him" some teacher told me as if I were an idiot) to do ALL the writing for him. Some teaching, eh?

After a hellish 8th grade year, we insisted he be moved to a program that would actually FOLLOW his IEP. What a f*cking concept! Teacher's doing their JOBS!!!!!!

So he goes to BOCES and does amazing! He has friends, his teachers like him a lot. He really grew into a wonderful young man. Not that he wasn't wonderful, but...you get the idea.

Here's where the system failed.

He has taken a NYS Regents exam twice, only to fail, and why? Guess....

Because he was never given the task of writing his own essays!

So, we have a third try, or he cannot get his diploma.

Where was I in all this? I tried and tried to get him to write things out on his own. But when he comes home at 3:30 and making him write things out doesn't get done until close to 10pm, it's difficult. I tried, but I had no support from his school.

So I guess, I failed him, too.

Time to start cramming. He's so close, and wants to give up, but I won't let him. I can't let him down again.

But F*ck You to L********* M**** Central School for taking the easy way out. If he had to repeat a grade, so be it. I would have understood.