My Letter to Kirby

Kirby Co.

1355 Central St.

Leominster, MA  01453

Dear Kirby,

On Monday evening, a representative from your store called to offer me a free rug cleaning. We’ve done this before, so I knew basically what to expect: a rep would clean one rug in my home, as long as I listened to the hard sell about your product.

As an extra incentive, if I was able to take the sudden cancellation for Tuesday evening, they would even clean two rugs for me. I was delighted, as the only rugs left in my home are one bedroom and the staircase. We scheduled for 7:00 pm Tuesday.

My children and I arrived home at 6:30 pm, in the middle of a very hard rain storm, to find the Kirby rep already waiting for us. She was indeed so eager to start that she pulled up our driveway before us, efficiently blocking my access to the garage. I had to ask her to back up so I could unload the kids.

When the rep finally came into the house, lugging a large briefcase and two Kirby boxes, the first thing my children and I noticed was that she reeked of cigarette smoke. For people with allergies (which, by the way, as part of the sales process, she also claimed to have), cigarette smoke is a big problem. My sons remained downstairs for the rest of the time, away from the smell.

We went upstairs, and she began to set up. We bonded lightly over the geeky movies on display in our DVD rack. I told her I’d seen the Kirby demo done before, and was fascinated by the white filters.

As she started to vacuum, we chatted about the cost of the unit. When I said that my husband would not like it because of the price, she said,

     “Why, what is he, Jewish?”

Um.

I paused before I slowly answered, “Yes, he is.”

She started to chuckle, and explained that she was only joking. She knew we were Jewish because my son had “that thing” (a Jewish star) on his t-shirt (and I realized later that I was wearing a fairly large star on my necklace, too).

She dug herself in a little deeper, by explaining how open she was to people of different faiths.

    “In fact, my brother actually married a woman of the Yiddish faith.”

The Yiddish faith?

By the time my daughter made an appearance in the doorway, I was not at all surprised to hear,

    “Is she Downs?”

No. My daughter IS a girl, a human, a child. She HAS Down syndrome.

But I knew my daughter could hold her own. In fact, she spent the next hour watching the rug being cleaned with great attention.

The woman kept having to stop the machine because her hand hurt, apparently from her Lyme disease. And I learned all about her need for an alarm so she could take her medicine, and how even with an alarm she often forgot to take her meds.

I started sharing the story on Facebook. One friend asked, “Why don’t you just kick her out?”

    Because I wanted her to clean my damn rug!

Which she did. And left the dirty filters on the dresser. With the dirt spilling over onto the dresser, and the items on the dresser.

And she did not even approach the staircase rug. Or mention it.

I don’t think anything she did was meant meanly or maliciously. I think she honestly did not know how completely inappropriate she was. Which is why I’m bothering to write to you, Kirby Co. Please provide your sales people with some sensitivity training. Appropriateness training.

Maybe a smoking cessation program would be good, too.

Sincerely,

Francine Ferraro Rothkopf

Really? I missed a WHOLE Month?!

Oops.

In all fairness, life's been a wee bit busy.

Passover was a whirlwind. My friend B, who lives in Florida, spent the first half of the holiday with us - her, her husband, and her three sons. The house was certainly overflowing! David got back from New Zealand the day before the first seder, so he was REALLY CRANKY for seder. He has since calmed down.

THe boys were on vacation during the week of Passove,r but Sofia was in school. I did keep her out one day, when my niece Lilie was with us too. We took all 7 kids to the Armory Museum in Worcester. Really cool, and a good choice for this set of kids. But exhausting.

B and her Family stayed until Thursday, and on Saturday my folks came up for dinner. Late afternoon, David and I decided to head over to the Toyota dealer because we had a coupon which was expiring... and ended up staying for 2.5 hours, buying a new car. Minivan, red, of course. See, I clearly need a minivan (today I think I have 5 kids with me at swimming/gymnastics...I've lost count). And our driveway is VERY steep, so I need All Wheel Drive. Which narrows it down to a Toyota Sienne XLE. Again. (And I only buy RED cars).

That was March 30. I picked up the car...this Monday. April 29. Yup. It took them THAT long. And i had to go back today for the Inspection Sticker and the floormats.

But at least now I'm driving around in my sports car minivan Clown Car. Nice and clean and the brakes work really well (which is taking some getting use to!).

Let's see, what else happened in April. It was nice to have David home for the month. We actually had time to go out together, and lots of good family time (once he got over the jet lag).

The world, especially Boston area, has certainly been busy. Patriots Day was really nice (at least to start). We went down to David's office to watch the marathon. The kids love watching from the office window (which is right over Route 135), but I get nauseous watching all the bodies bobbing up and down. IT's easier, and more social, to be outside in the crowd.

We were home by the time the news hit about the bombing in Boston. It was interesting having the boys be connected online - Sam has Facebook, and both he and Micah were watching the news with me. Eventually we turned it off and tried to concentrate.

Sofia was on school vacation that week, but the boys had school, so we were there a lot. Tuesday was Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. There was Israeli dancing (which the kids and I all love), and Shakshouka, a Middle Eastern dish of poached eggs in tomato, chili pepper, onion and cumin. YUM.

Wednesday I had to teach my Torah Trope student, so Sofia went to the MWJDS first grade class for a while (thank you to the Learning Specialist who could get that time). Thursday was her regular day there anyway.

And Friday, we were in lock-down.

Well, technically WE were not in lock-down, being several towns west of the locked down area. But many of our teachers at MWJDS live in that area, so we closed school. Which also meant I spent an hour in the morning doing phone-"tree" (I don't think its' really a tree when only a small handful of people are doing all the calling). I'm now exploring automated phone calling for the school...

Ok, then back to a normal schedule. OH! Oh that's right. When last I blogged, Sofia had not yet started in the sub-separate classroom.

Well, what a difference! Even after only a week, she was talking more and WAY more engaged in things. It was SUCH a good move for her.

Tuesday night last week, there was a teacher's meeting at teh day school, where a whole lot of interesting changes were announced. And I'm not at liberty to say anymore about it yet, except that we continue to have meetings, and people are full of side discussions and whipsers. And it has not yet been fully announced to the kids yet. So "I can neither confirm nor deny" any rumors you may have heard at this time.

Thursday, I got to leave home - yes, I did! - and go to the SuLaM Shabbaton. I had gone in the fall, along with the Head of School and the Director of Teaching & Learning. This time the Director could not join us. It was a really interesting conference. Our subject matter for the weekend was "Teaching Israel and Zionism in the day school classroom", covering preschool through high school. We explored texts from the Bible, Talmud, and all the way through modern documents. REALLY interesting.

It was a very long and busy weekend, though. We had to be downstairs at 6:50 on Friday, for a study session, and then we took a bus ride into NYC. First we went to the United Nations and met with a member of the Israeli Delegation, and then we went to Columbia University to hear fro a Hillel professor who has developed a curriculum about teaching Israel.

Shabbat was fun and busy. Prayers or study sessions or meals with interesting conversations. A little bit of rest time - I took a walk and then a nap. Israeli food celebration at night.

Sunday, during breakfast, they gave us all the notes about various programs, and I found out that all the budget proposals and receipts and everything for my Birkat Hamazon curriculum have to be submitted into their office BY MAY 10 if we want to get any funding! YIKES!

I got to drive the sports car down to the conference (in NJ) and back. Fun, but I was really tired! David was with the kids all weekend (which was fun for me to "observe" from a distance), but he had to leave Sunday for Costa Rica before I got home.

So this week I've been doing a lot of work on that, as well as trying to push along with the Yearbook. And I had to take Sofia to Children's in Waltham for her eye re-check (it was supposed to be the day of the lock-down), and then take Sam to the pediatrician (strep is running through the school and he wasn't feeling well. Quick test was negative, so he went back to school today).

I ordered Sofia another pair of glasses. A more durable frame, very twist-able, and scratch coating and transitional tint lenses. Will post a photo when they arrive.

I've got my synagogue choir "concert" tomorrow night after services. Ugh. I have very high standards for choir singing... and this is a totally community-based choir. I'm pleased to say that Sunday, after a 5 hour drive, I managed to NOT rip anyone's head off...

My folks are coming up tomorrow, because... Saturday morning I have a 6am flight to Costa Rica! YEAH! A few days with just my honey. No kids! I get back after midnight on Tuesday night. I can't wait. My parents get to take Sofia to her ballet dress rehearsal. Whew. And I've warned Micah's and Sofia's teachers that the kids might be a bit "off" while my folks are there (Sam will be totally fine).

THen it's Yearbook, Curriculum, and supporting all the changes at the school that were announced (that I can't yet talk about). And the usual round robin of child activities and extra kids and things...

Whew. I'm beat.

Reflections on Down syndrome (again)

I took Sofia to her ballet/jazz class this morning, and spent most of the time watching the class (usually I read a book and hide). Today Sofia's belly hurts from too much Passover food, and she's been up really late most nights this week, so she was a bit "off". But it was sweet. For ballet warmups, she decided she was cold and needed to snuggle in the teacher's lap. She fit just perfectly, and Miss Paula was able to help her through every step.

The ballet class is technically for 5-6 year olds, but my darling 8 year old is only of medium height and just about the same attention span, so it's the perfect class fit for her. The other girls are adorable. When they line up to do practice steps across the room, usually there are 4 girls in each of two lines, and one in the middle. Today Sofia got the middle spot, which meant she got to practice 4 times as often as the other girls (which she certainly needs!).

The dance studio of course has mirrors on two walls, so that's a wee bit of a distraction. I had her hair up with a cute little pony tail on top, but she kept noticing it and pulling at it. Oh well. And the glasses came flying off only a minute or two into class.

Since she was not feeling great, she asked me to come in (usually parents watch through the window or from the TV), and then announced "Guys! This is Mom!" - full sentence, very clear. So sweet.

It was lovely to see my daughter be part of the class so well. They are practicing for the recital in May, and she's got about 3/4 of the dance down already. Sometimes she gets carried away by the arabesques, but eventually she catches up with the other girls. She's on the end, and the teaching assistant (who is WONDERFUL) stands just off to the side in front of her, so she's got extra support right near by.

Meanwhile, in between watching ballet, I was checking in on Facebook, and getting totally depressed. You may have heard about the tragic case of Robert Ethan Saylor. On January 12 he went to see a movie with his aide. After the movie the aide went off to get the car. Robert wanted to stay and see the movie again, and would not get out of his seat when the movie theater guard asked. So three off-duty police officers, moonlighting as mall security, were called, handcuffed Robert and threw him to the ground. He died of asphyxiation, calling for his Mom.

Here are a few articles and opinion pieces about his story:

The New York Times
Down Syndrome Uprising
Huffington Post
Kimchi Latkes blog

The Petition on Change.Org

And a really thorough list of "What YOU Can Do" on the Life As I Know It blog

The whole case is sad and sickening and terrifying. More so, because, well, I could EASILY see Sofia getting stubborn and belligerent when faced with authoritarian instructions. How easily? Too easily. Her father has a tendency to attempt to be authoritarian. It does not work well. And he's someone who knows and loves her. What happens when it's some stranger, someone who not only does not know and love her, but who looks at her and sees "different and therefore unworthy of consideration"?

Terrifying.

We've come SO far. Twenty years ago, would she be in this ballet class? Would she be in "regular" swimming and gymnastics classes? Would she be included at the public school? Would she be learning at the day school?

Nope. Twenty years ago, I would have had to fight for absolutely every consideration she received. She would have been relegated to some token participation, at best, and more likely been left lonely and alone most of the time.

So I'm thrilled that we live when - and where - we do.

But what happens as she gets older? When she's not a cute little girl, who seems like a 5 year old, will she still be tolerated and considered "cute"? Or will she be marginalized, rejected, and treated meanly?

I hope the world continues to improve. Continues to recognize that ALL people are of value. We had several boys with Aspergers and Autism at our seders this week, and each of them brought something unique and important to our house. Themselves. Whether they were able to participate with help, or spent most of their time sitting on the couch reading a book, they were important to the make-up of our guest list. They were important to how my children learn to treat others. They ARE important.

And with the Robert Saylor case, I question the need for three sets of handcuffs on ANYONE - visible disability or not. That's I think the most shocking part of the judge's ruling. That the security guards acted reasonably. Three sets of handcuffs, and having the person on their stomach while handcuffed, is excessive and wrong. For anyone. The visibility of Robert's "different" SHOULD have made it clear sooner, but they shouldn't treat ANYONE like that.

I'll send the advocacy letters. I'll post this blog, and keep sharing things on Facebook. But this is often a matter of "preaching to the choir". If you read my blog, or are my friend on Facebook, you already are emotionally attuned to the wonder of my daughter and people like her. How do reach The Others? The Mean People?

For that matter, how do we reach the not-mean people, the well-meaning people who still don't "get it"? There's a girl in Sofia's Inclusion homeroom. Sofia loves J, and J loves Sofia. But J treats Sofia like a Cabbage Patch Doll. "Sofia", she says, as if she's talking to a sweet little two year old. And then she picks Sofia up and carries her. And the teachers do not go out of their way to notice or correct J. Even though Sofia is more than a year OLDER than J.

I'm looking forward to Sofia moving to the sub-separate classroom. Should happen very soon - finally got the paperwork signed this week. She'll still be in homeroom for art, music and PE, but more learning will be done in the small classroom.

My daughter is different. She learns at a different pace than her "peers". She focuses on certain things - her movies, her toys - more than her peers. She needs a different mode of instruction for many things, and lots of repetition. But she is ABLE to do so many things. She continues to WOW anyone who watches her (swimming is the most gratifying time, as there are frequently different adults bringing all the kids, and so many comment on how great Sofia does in swim class).

At our seders this week, Sofia followed along in the Haggadah and sang many of the prayers. She and Lilie (along with me and Laura) chanted the first of the Four Questions both nights. She loves to set and clear the table, and help light candles, and direct people to their seats. She can recite the lines for many of her favorite movies.

She has been keeping her glasses on much longer, although last night we spent about an hour searching for them (that's what got David upset at her - he'd ask "Are they...." and to every suggestion, she said "Yes".)

She's tired, from staying up late every night, so we're relaxing now. David took the boys rock climbing, and my parents are coming up this afternoon.

Trickling off...

Just so many things to report

It's been a VERY long week. Made much longer by the return of my sinus and double-ear infection. UGH. This one really knocked me out. I felt like someone had poured cement into my skull. It's only just starting to fade, with the help of antibiotics (and herbs from the acupuncturist). My voice is still raspy - Monday I couldn't talk at all, so at least raspy is progress.

The boys have been really good while I'm sick and David is away (he's in New Zealand again). They've stepped up and helped out a lot around the house. Yesterday afternoon, while I was at swimming with Sofia, I called to tell the boys to take out the trash. Sam argued about doing it later, but I said "Do it now while it's nice out." After I hung up the phone, another mom sidled over to me and asked "Are they really going to take out the trash? You sounded so calm!"

I'm prepping for Passover...a little. The sinus-and-ear infection isn't helping my motivation, but the knowledge that I'll have a family of 5 (my friend B from Florida) sleeping over most of the holiday week is certainly motivating enough. Friday (when we got 17 inches of snow! and had another snow day), Micah and I spent some time cleaning out the basement. The entire bathroom down there is now filled with toys to be donated. BigBrotherBigSister is arriving on Tuesday, but they won't take ride-on toys. Anyone know where I can donate those?

Oh! And last week we also had a night with no heat! The furnace just stopped. My neighbor came over, and then later another friend from shul spent time looking at it, but no one could figure it out. Fortunately, it was an easy fix - the door switch was not engaged - but the whole thing is going. Both the furnace and water heater are nearly 20 years old, new with the house, so we've been VERY lucky so far.

The first quote I got was astronomical - $15,000 - but the guy who came yesterday seemed more reasonable. I'm still waiting for the official quote from him, and looking for one more suggestion.

Last Tuesday after school we all rode into Waltham to pick up Miss Sofia's first pair of GLASSES:

Since then, we've had to go to the local eyeglass place twice to get them adjusted, and I bought a strap (which she HATES) to keep them on. We keep finding them in all sorts of interesting toy boxes... she usually does know exactly where they are when we ask. The frames had better be sturdy, although I suspect we'll have to replace them sooner than usual no matter what.

And since her nose is not too flat, we were able to get off-the-rack frames, rather than Specs4Us, which are made especially for kids with Down syndrome.

Miss Sofia is starting to transition from her homeroom into the smaller sub-separate classroom. Right now, as we wait for the IEP paperwork, her SpEd teacher is taking her into that room to do their work together, but as soon as the paperwork is signed, she'll be there more often. I'm really excited about it. There are only 5 other kids in the class, just like at her MWJDS class, and it's a better language pace for her.

But the thing that's made a huge difference in her language this week is The Lorax. She discovered the movie (on Netflix), and watches is about three times a day. She's all full of words about it, telling stories and "singing" songs. She's been very chatty and bouncy this week (yes, when I'm sick). Kind of like Puppy Uppers.

Sunday afternoon we had her birthday party, which was also a lot of fun. Laura and Lilie came up on Saturday afternoon.

She was very bouncy, and excited about her gifts. Laura got her Bullseye to go with Woody and Jessie. Someone got her a mermaid Barbie. Someone else got her an Art kit (decorate your computer set), which she insisted on working on Tuesday afternoon. First time she's really insisted on doing an art project, ever, even if I was the one who did a lot of the work.

Sam took his Math Placement test, and I have to finish getting all his paperwork in for High School course selection. Scary.

Micah is Micah. Getting taller (and thinner, if possible), and bubbly and cuddly. He and I fell asleep cuddling while watching a Harry Potter movie last night. Sweet boy.

I've been asked to be the parent-speaker at the Chai Society event next week for the day school. Chai Society is the big donors. I spoke at it a few years ago, too. Cool.

My third grade students finally debuted their Torah reading skills on Tuesday, and did GREAT. I'm so proud of them.

Oh, and the other day, I was at shul, telling the lady in the office about the challenges I'll be facing for Passover. Guests include a kid with autism and his parents (who I think both have aspbergers), another kid with aspbergers, a lady with altzheimers, kids with ADHD, etc. It wasn't until I got back to my car that I remembered: Oh yeah, and my daughter has Down syndrome! Ha. My version of normal.

A Video I Made

I'm proud of how it came out!

Trying to wake up enough to function well

I have been just SOOO tired for the past week. Not sure if it's the weather, an early cycle, or a low-level bug, but I am wiped out. Must nap daily. Deep naps, too, nothing lite. Sunday, I'd fallen asleep in the comfy chair, and when one of my kids woke me up, I literally could not remember anyone's names for a few moments. Ugh!

I saw my husband for a few hours this weekend. Just a few. His flight from Germany (actually, the connection from NJ) was delayed, so he ended up taking the 12:15 am Logan express bus Saturday night - I picked him up at 1am. And he left yesterday afternoon for 3 weeks - first San Jose and then off to Auckland. He'll be back in time for the Passover seders. Just.

Thursday was a LONG day. Sam had his Ashland reading group and support session in the morning. Micah gets a ride to school, so after I dropped Sam at the middle school, I worked out and then went home for a quick shower. Usually when I pick him up at 9:30, he comes right out of the school and we race off to MWJDS.

Nope. This time the Counselor comes out and tells me I have to go to the Principal's office! It turns out that one of the kids in the Reading class made an anti-Semitic comment, which the teacher felt was directed at Sam.

I was impressed by how seriously the school took things, and how they handled it. By the time I came in, the kid's parents were already in meeting with the assistant principal. Sam, his counselor and I met with the principal, who told us what their procedures are for this type of behavior. Sam was given a Good Citizen t-shirt (which he wryly told me he wasn't going to wear). He was assured that HE was not in trouble, and if the kid ever gave him any trouble, he should report it immediately.

In the car on the way to MWJDS, Sam and I had a great talk about the incident. We were both impressed with how the school handled it, and Sam felt that his MWJDS classmates should know about it so they could also be ready for the "real world" next year. He also said that, although he recognized that what the kid had said was not good, "it didn't really make sense." I explained that often, slurs like that really don't make sense when you examine them. 

Whew. I was proud of my kid, and impressed by the school. Got to MWJDS, had a couple of quick check-ins with the staff about the incident (and about the new math test they gave us...). Some quick errands, and off to pick up Sofia.

Instead of going to MWJDS, Thursday was Children's Hospital Waltham check-up day. First up, Ophthalmology. Guess who is getting glasses?! Hopefully we can pick them up this afternoon. I'm waiting to hear.

We were there a long time, between the checkup, waiting for her eyes to dilate, and then picking out the frames. Pink and purple and lots of bling, of course.

After a quick snack outside, we then went to the Sleep doctor. As expected, her sleep study in early January was absolutely perfect. Only minor issue was slightly elevated levels of CO2, which is typical with Down syndrome. I really really like the doctor, and enjoyed the conversation, but it did all come down to behavior - hers and mine. Sigh.

After we picked up the boys at gymnastics, I took my kids for sushi. Yum.

Friday evening we had a great time at my friend D's house. Stayed up way too late!

Saturday morning, Sofia fairly melted in ballet, she was so tired. We picked up the boys and raced to shul, but only stayed about an hour. The boys were having fun in the lobby with their friends, but
the only thing Sofia would do was roll on the floor in the preK service, and it was too hot in that room for me. I've been going to the preK service for a VERY LONG TIME now. I'm tired of it, much as I love the people. I wish she would sit in the K-1-2 class already. We tried, but no such luck.

Sam wanted to go snowboarding in the afternoon, but we could not find anyone to go with him. I was willing to sit in the lobby with Sofia for as many hours as he wanted, but he did not want to go alone. So we all stayed at my friend S's house when we took Micah over there for his playdate. It was nice to just hang out. At one point, S went to watch a show, and her teenage daughter asked, "Wait, don't you have company?" and S and I both said "No!" at the same time!

Took Sofia to the Special Needs Camp Fair on Sunday and had a nice chat with the director of Camp Arrowhead, where I think she'll be going this summer.

OH! and we got a notice last week - the Pool Club we've been going to since Micah was a baby is CLOSING! NOOOOOOO! I have no idea what I'm going to do now.

Just a busy week

Whew. We made it back home in 24.5 hours. Because my husband is a complete FREAKZOID who does not need to eat, drink, sleep or pee.

Left Grandma's around 3:00. I drove up to St. Augustine, where we stopped, a little longer than we'd planned, for a yummy dinner. Then I drove again for another few hours. Switched with David mid-Georgia, a little before midnight.

He stopped once around 4am for gas, and I made the kids take a bathroom break. Then he drove again until 9:30, just into NJ. We stopped for breakfast and wake-up time, but after a half hour of breakfast, I thought David's head was going to explode. "We have to get going!"

Ok, so by 10:30, I was behind the driver's seat again, cruising along the NJ Turnpike. Didn't stop until right before CT, for a quick bathroom break, and then again in Farmington to hand the keys to Grandma's condo over to my father. Then straight home. We made it by 3:40 pm!

I took Sofia to ballet on Saturday morning, but turns out it was closed for vacation week. Bummer. David had to go into the office to get some stuff, but I called him to come home when my friend came to pick up the boys for a play date.

David left for the airport (to go to Germany) around 12:30, and it was just me and Sofia for the afternoon. Ahhhh.

Met up with the boys back at shul in the evening for the Purim Carnival. Sofia had a blast, and we stayed until the very end. I won a whole bunch of prizes in the raffle: gift cards for iTunes and the Arcade, half off membership to USY next year, and reserved parking on Kol Nidre!

Sunday morning I had to go back to shul for the Megillah reading (Book of Esther), but I left the kids (plus one extra sleep-over kid) home to play. We really did not much all day. Very lazy. In the evening I had chorus rehearsal, but I had to leave early because Sofia had gotten makeup all over herself and the boys could not get her into the bathtub. When I got home, they finally had gotten her into the bath, but the water was ice cold, and there was still tons of makeup all over her, and she was turning purple. Ugh!

Thank Heavens they all went back to school on Monday! I ran some errands and eventually made it to the gym, then shower and dress and lunch and pick up Sofia to go to the day school. We had a Shushan Purim celebration (in a "walled city", Purim is a two-day holiday), and Sam's class read snippets of the Megillah plus a storybook about it in English for all the other kids. Lots of costumes.

I started working on the school Yearbook, so of course I'm obsessed already. I think I'm making good progress. I'm trying to use Pages instead of my old version of InDesign. It's interesting; means I have to do a lot more photo editing in iPhoto first, including making all the black-and-white adjustments before I ever place the photos on the page. But I think it'll be cool.

Last night I went to my first ASHPAC (Ashland Parent Advisory Council) meeting, for a screening of the film "Monica and David" about a couple with Down syndrome who get married. It was interesting. I felt that both of them were excessively sheltered. I was struck by how upset Monica got when her routine was interrupted because they were moving. I can't imagine Sofia getting that upset about change; she seems to thrive on our chaos.

It was also interesting going to the meeting. We discussed the film a bit after it was over. And no one introduced themselves; I had to ask names. Everyone was nice, and most were familiar faces, but still strangers to me. Involved parents of kids with IEPs. But I still felt like the New Kid.

Today I had my lovely acupuncture session...aaaaahhhhhh...........

Then I got to visit the new classroom where Sofia will be pulled for her academics. Yes, we are going SubSep - the sub-separate classroom. She will still be attached to her regular homeroom, for things like art, music, pe, and lunch, but she'll get all her academic work done in this much smaller group. I am very excited about it, actually. There are only 5 other kids, so for Sofia it will be just like being in her MWJDS class. Same size classroom as her homeroom of 20 kids, so plenty of space. Lots of work stations all around the room. Very language-intense. And two of her best friends are in there!

The only thing I am worried about it one little boy, who we see at pick-up at the end of the day. He is in that classroom too, and I'm worried that Sofia might mimic some of his behaviors. I had a bit of a chat with the Team Leader; they are well on top of not letting anyone pick up anyone else's unwanted behaviors. But my little lady can be quite the mimic when she wishes. So hopefully she will see right away that he is not someone to mimic.

I'm excited for her to make the transition. I've spent all this time pushing for full inclusion, but really, at this point she does not do any of her academic work with the rest of her class anyway. She is either pulled into a corner to work with a SpEd teacher, or taken to another classroom for work. So that's not inclusion. I think this will be much better for her, and she will be able to progress faster without all the distractions of the large class.

On the other end of the (you'll pardon the pun) spectrum, Mr. Samuel took the math placement assessment today in preparation for Ashland High School. He took it at MWJDS, under the guidance of his learning specialist there, following all his IEP-outlined accommodations. But poor Sam absolutely melts under the pressure of a "test", and he was incredibly stressed. He finished a little more this evening with me as proctor, but there were things he'd done last year that he just could not remember. He is convinced he will get placed into a lower math class if he doesn't get a perfect score, and he is determined to be in Honors Math. It means a lot to him, since he also knows he will be in the lowest level for Reading (because that's where he will get the supports he needs).

So we'll see how it all goes. We'll hand the test into the middle school tomorrow.