by Shaun, a Duchenne Dad
About the Author:
Shaun is the father of 11 year old DJ. DJ has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and is in 6th grade.
“We’re Responsible for the Education of Your Child” Part 3
Seeing That Smile
DJ finished his first successful in person week today!
The school had “complications” with the lift all week. They did Facetime videos with the Hoyer specialist and made a few adjustments and now everything’s going smoothly.
Melissa and I want to send a thank you note to the district. We know it was a LOT of frustration on everyone’s part. It’s been a difficult couple of weeks.
But an 11 year old in a wheelchair can now be with the class and that’s the part that matters. Seeing that smile, hearing the stories, knowing that they’re “back”…
The One Takeaway
The one takeaway I would tell any special needs parent, or any school administrator, is that “walk thru’s” aren’t “optional”.
You need to make sure the facility can accommodate the disabled child before the child arrives. Oversights happen, but you must check everything – before the parent and child are there, while they there, and after they leave.
Also, please understand that the school can make plans without the child physically being there. The time to create the plan is before the child arrives and not while the child is already there.
Thank you, everyone, for reading our story.
In case you missed it…
I’m so sorry that you had to go through this. I also have an 11 year old in 6th grade with duchenne muscular dystrophy. Thankfully, Mathew has an amazing group of teachers, PT and TA that help him. Handicap parking at his school is ridiculous, but otherwise I have no complaints. Hope DJ continues to have success at his school.