Timothy has a TSS worker this year. I put up a bit of a fight against Timothy having what I think of as a personal assistant, but the school won. They fight dirty, all finger pointing and hair rending, threats of “special schools” and teacher break downs. Alright, so the hair rending and finger pointing was mostly me, but still if this had been a street fight the school would have kicked me in the groin, poked me in the eye and made me cry Uncle until their mama came and dragged them home. Needless to say, I felt a little more than coerced into this whole Therapeutic Support thing. What kid wants an adult following them around all day!? I feel that Timothy needs to learn how to get along in the social world with some coaching and not hand holding… and if I am completely honest I feel that most schools today mainly are there to groom a child for office politics (and how to take tests, but let’s not go down that path today).
The week before school started, Timothy and I went to the school to meet the lady who was supposed to be his Help. At the end of the meeting (with every single teacher in the school system, a few counselors, the principal and I think the janitor), the Help looked up from her notes and said “Um, school starts at what time? I can’t be here until 10!” I was pretty pleased, thinking that perhaps Timothy could start the school year without Help.
The day before school was to start, the counselor called the house. There was to be a new young man at the school to help Timothy. Greg, whom I have never met, was to meet Timothy after breakfast (our school has “universal free breakfast”) and stay with him until lunch.
Two weeks into school, Aldo asked Timothy how things were going. Timothy said things were fine. I asked him how Greg was. Timothy said “Oh, he’s alright. He just follows me around all day with a clip board taking notes.” Aldo snickered. It’s like Gorillas in the Mist he whispered. If I am quiet enough, perhaps the children will come to see me as one of their own..
After a bit of probing, we found out that Greg also helped Timothy learn his locker combination and how to decipher the middle school map. Greg ties Timothy’s shoes, writes all his assignments in his planner, reminds him to take his hoodie off and puts his books in his back pack. All of these last things Timothy can do. By himself. Seriously. There are children out there in the mist that are falling through the cracks, children that seriously need Help and are not getting it, and we are getting a heapin’ Helpin’ without really needing or wanting it.
I am thankful the school is so vested in my child, but they act like helicopter parents and it gets under my skin.
3 Comments
September 30, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Sending you a FB message, chickadeedle…
October 2, 2009 at 5:21 am
That would get to me too. I guess their intentions are good.
I totally take your point about schools just grooming kids on ways to take tests and deal with office politics. It’s the corporatization of the planet. Definitely a subject for another day!
October 16, 2009 at 4:38 pm
So, there is a woman whose profession is to be therapeutic help for school children, and she is unaware that most elementary schools begin the day some time between 8:00-9:00 am?
Seriously, I might try to meet with Greg and discuss with him Timothy’s real needs and what you’d like him to do. If he’s doing things that Timothy can do perfectly well by himself, he’s being harmful, rather than otherwise.