OK! The "setback" I experienced with teaching Jason turned out to be nothing but his way of telling me that this is not the kind of summer holiday he wants!!
That one evening, I lay in bed with him after his afternoon nap and started some heart-to-heart talk with him like we are equal. He seemed to understand totally what I said. When I asked him if he wants to learn reading words. He said No. I asked if he felt bored, he said yes. I asked if he wants to go out and have fun every day, he said yes!!
My heart felt a little tender with guilt and I told him I will not force him to read every day anymore. Instead I will take him out bowling and swimming, or to the library, etc.. he was so happy just hearing that. I know it may be obvious for many parents....that kids should be allowed to enjoy their summer. I even received sacarstic comment about how I put Jason to "non-stop learning" and therapy. But to a child with multiple disabilities, time is our biggest enemy. We can easily enjoy the fun-seeking moments, but who is to suffer the frustration of seeing your 11 year-old not telling A from B? Who is to lament on the lost ABR hours, who is supposed to help fight against his deteriorating structure from long period of wrong movement, and the pure force from nature? While we may be accused by the heartless bystanders for pushing too hard, but who is to battle that feeling of guilt, and suffer the consequences for not doing enough? During the days after our mother-and-son talk, I put a lot of thought into it and I must admit it takes a lot of "letting go" on my part. But I feel enlivened by the thought that if I were to "teach" him anything, I'd better make sure he "learns" in a way that is fun and appealing to him. Otherwise, I'd make the same mistake made by many notorious teachers, who have considered teaching an independent event of learning. This is so not true cuz teaching/learning should be an interactive, dynamic process - with constant review and adjustments according to the student's response/progress.
In the article "The Least Dangerous Assumption" written by Anne Donnellan, (as referenced in the blogpost http://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/2010/06/living-least-dangerous-assumption.html), she said "we should assume that poor performance is a result of inadequacy of instruction" but not inadequacy of the child. What she described as "the least dangerous assumption" is, the premise that (in the absence of evidence),instead of believing a child with disability "can't" do something, we should believe we have NOT yet found a way to teach him/her so a child with a disability "can". This is such a fundamental principle that should underlie the basics of special education. Unfortunately, that's not what I have been observing in Jason's 5 years of education. Oftentimes, I received comments about how "he" is not motivated to do things...."he" will not pay attention to the task..."he" is fixated on the computer switches, etc... Rarely did these commentators reflect on what "they" have or have not done. So when I met Jonathan Lee (the special ed service trainer from the school board, who gave us the Classroom Suite training in June), it was like a breath of fresh air. His passion in teaching managed to revive my hope in our education system once again. When he plainly and matter-of-factly questioned Jason's teacher (who was complaining how Jason would get more interested in the switch than the computer activity), "if the activity is interesting, why would he choose to play with then switch and not pay attention to the computer screen?", I almost wanted to stand up and applaud for his insight! Yes! The answer lies in the miserable fact that the teacher was still using the computer books I made for Jason 2 years ago and expected Jason to pay attention and learn!
Well, as a result of that meeting with Jonathan, it dawned on me that I should not settle with whatever we have. Jason is growing and learning and we can no longer afford to waste any more time in his education. Jonathan reminded me what a special ed teacher should be, and how a good teacher can change the life of a child. I told myself I will not compromise anymore but will advocate for Jason until he gets what he deserves.
Oh...sorry for the heavy post...that was not my intention.
Anyway, I'll wrap up by summarizing what we have done this past week. We visited a petting zoo just 5 minutes from our house. Jason saw (and said) peacock for the first time. He liked seeing the animals except for the extreme heat. Jason also had his first 1:1 swimming lesson with Aleena this Thursday whom we met at the Lebovic Pool in Stouffville. She supervised the aquatic program there for the special needs and she was amazing. We also went bowling with my friends' children and Jason had a lot of fun rolling the ball down the ramp. (He didn't really care if it hit a pin or not...just enjoying the process, not the results.) We didn't forget our learning at all...though I tried to keep it short and sweet. He still gets his reading session but in the evening. Tonight, he learned the word "bowling", he pointed to the word "yogurt". Yesterday, he learned the sound "D" from the Sesame Phonics Podcast (this alone makes me looove the iPad). He copied the sound and said "da" nice and clear!! He also enjoyed learning to trace the alphabets with the ABC Tracer app.($1.99 for full version). He is quite good with the letter A now cuz straight lines are more manageable. But when it comes to C and D, he is all over the place (LOL).
That's it for now, sorry for the long post.
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