The following is a compilation of inspirational events and success
stories. If you have any you would like to share contact
Peggy at the FADD House.
Wet Pants
Come with me to a third grade classroom...... There is a
nine year old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is
a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet.
He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly
imagine how this happened. It's never happened before and he
knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it.
When the girls find out they will never speak to him again as long
as he lives.
The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head
down and prays, "Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help
now. He lifts his head up and sees the teacher coming with a
look in her eyes that says he has been discovered. As the
teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a
goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front
of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy's
lap. The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying
to himself, "Thank you Lord, Thank you!" Now instead of being
the object of ridicule he is the object of sympathy. The
teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on
while his pants dry out. All of the other children are on
their hands and knees cleaning up the water around his desk.
The sympathy is wonderful, but as life would have it, the ridicule
that should have been the boys is now place on Susie. She
tries to help but the other kids tell her to get out." You've done
enough, you klutz!"
Finally at the end of the school day as they are waiting for the
bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, "You did that on
purpose didn't you"? Susie whispers back, "I wet my pants
once too."
Advocating for your child. One parents Success
Story
A inspirational testimonial from a ADHD parent who had to confront
the school district to get the placement of their child in a special
ed program.
After struggling for the past three years with behavior issues
due to an acquired brain injury and ADHD, the district started
putting my son in an isolation room starting in December 1996.
After sitting in there for more than two months my son finally had
had enough and refused to go there. On March 27th, 1997 I pulled my
son out of our district after being told by the Vice Principal (he
also held the title of Special Education Director for our District)
that he would be physically restrained if he left his chair.
In April, 1997, the district started homebound tutoring to go
through the summer in order that he could complete the 7th grade
curriculum which he was severely behind on. At the beginning of the
current school year we went to mediation to try to get the school to
agree to an out-of-district placement. Mediation was exhausting -
and all that was accomplished was that I missed a days work because
after reaching a tentative agreement, the district backed out and
mediation isn't binding so that was that. My son continued with
tutoring for the current school year.
I filed a complaint with the State Department of Children
Families and Learning in December, 1997 on two issues: 1) the
district failed to develop an educational program based on the
students needs and 2) the district failed to provide special
education services since March 1997. We won on both issues and here
are the decisions: 1) the district must immediately contact a
specialist in the area of traumatic brain injury and behavior
management for consultative purposes. 2) the district must
immediately conduct an assessment of the student's educational and
behavioral needs to determine the extent of harm caused by a
prolonged and egregious failure to provide special education
services from April 1997 to the current date. 3) the IEP
(Individual Education Plan) team must reconvene and develop an
interim IEP reflecting the needs of the student. The IEP team must
consider the inclusion of this student into regular education
classes with appropriate behavior support systems. 4) to date, the
student has been denied approximately 465 hours of special education
services, the complaint investigator will determine the amount and
extent of compensatory services for this student. The decision
regarding the award of compensatory services will be made by May 15,
1998.
The most important point of winning, is that it gave me the sense
that my instincts were right in believing that how they were
treating my son was not okay. I finally feel that what I did was
the right thing. Most people told me that I was strong and doing
the right thing, but in the meantime, my son was still not in school
and I was still questioning my decision to remove him. Winning this
has made me finally understand that I was right, I was not being an
overprotective mom, and that he did not deserve what they were doing
to him.
Source: ADHDnews.com
Meanest Mother in the World
I had the meanest mother in the world. While other kids had
candy for breakfast, I had to eat cereal, eggs and toast.
While other kids had cakes and candy for lunch, I had a sandwich.
As you can guess, my dinner was different from other kids' dinners
too.
My mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times.
You'd think we were on a chain gang or something. She had to
know who our friends were and what we were doing.
I am ashamed to admit it, but she actually had the nerve to break
child labor laws. She made us work. We had to wash
dishes, make the beds, and learn how to cook. That woman must
have stayed awake nights thinking up things for us kids to do.
And she insisted that we tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth.
By the time we were teenagers, she was much wiser, and our lives
became more unbearable. None of this tooting the car horn for
us to come running; she embarrassed us to no end by insisting that
friends come to the door to get us.
I forgot to mention that most of our friends were allowed to date
at the mature age of 12 or 13, but out old-fashioned mother refused
to let us date until we were 15. She really raised a bunch of
squares. None of us were ever arrested for shoplifting or
busted for dope. And who do we have to thank for this??
You're right, our mean mother.
I am trying to raise my children to stand a little straighter and
taller, and I am secretly tickled to pieces when my children call me
mean. I thank God for giving me the meanest mother in the
world. Our country doesn't a good five-cent cigar; it needs
more mean mothers like mine. Blessing on that wonderful woman.
~author unknown
