(no subject)

[felicula]

I should be joyous and enthusiastic for Aidan, but I'm bawling as if I am trying to re-enter the Our Lady of Victory Infant Home

Today we spoke with Aidan's Kindergarten teacher. She is concerned that if we don't take action, he will not be challenged in his school environment. I'm immensely proud of him. Today mechanchaos spent some time online researching possibilities. Luckily, one of my favorite professors at MCC was involved with the education department at the University of Rochester. Not only has he promised me names and contact information, he insists that we us his name as a reference. Another foot in the door for U of R support is the fact that Aidan participated in the Science Start program pioneered by their Warner School of Education. Today Aidan's teacher is sending him up to the fourth grade teacher for developmental testing to assess his current abilities. She even gave us her home phone number, something she hasn't done in her 30 years of teaching, and she made certain we had the direct extension to the classroom, in case we need to get in touch with her.

Our homework is to find out how we can help him. The U of R studies are what she recommended as a jumping-off point. I am confidant that between my academic schmoozing and mechanchaos' internet research we'll be able to come up with some ideas. We may have to enter the fray with the City School District to get an IEP and see if there are programs already in place. We're at the bottom of Mt. Everest in the task of advocating for Aidan.

That's not the issue.

I included the above article because it gave me pause... then it set me to tears. So many of the problems they say are encountered by "gifted students" were problems I faced as a child. I don't think I was extraordinarily gifted per se, but I know I was rarely on the same level as my peers. I learned early on that things weren't challenging in school, then I surfed the BS wave until I got college burnout in 1998. There were many aspects of those times that I loved, and many things that I learned, but the what-ifs are building up when I read about specialized programs like the one listed in the Tennessean article...

It's as if I've just opened the door to a bright, lovely mansion to find myself descending the steps into my parents' darkened basement. In order to do the right thing for Aidan, I need to make peace with the cruel mirror of my own past. I want to give him what I did not receive. I don't want him to suffer the same disillusionment I had. The circle has come around.