“I refuse to comply.”  The quote is from the movie Ghandhi and the concept of refusing to comply with those who seek to control you has become a powerful refrain in my life.  ESPECIALLY in my life now that I have both a husband and a child with SPD and Asperger’s Syndrome.

Not long ago, at various early IEP meetings, there was a lot of pressure put on me (and I can tell from the language used that this is a practiced litany) to “do something” about my child.  Invariably, there was at the table a counselor or other expert with just enough sense of their own power that they felt arrogantly confident diagnosing and prescribing drugs (with  ZERO qualifications to do either) based solely on their belief that my child would “get so much more out of school” if I’d just put him on meds.   Those moments really activate that alarm bell in my head that perhaps these professionals might be more concerned with order on the factory floor of education and not with long term outcomes for individual children once they exit their wing of the factory.

I refuse to comply.

There are many families faced with the above scenario every year—a decision not to medicate, and a host of educators lined up to inform you that you are wrong, that you are harming your child, and then….the REAL issue rises from the deep….that your child would be SO MUCH EASIER to control if you would just comply.  Hmmmmm…..  Control. …continue reading

The Martin Luther King, Jr “I Have A Dream” speech has always touch my heart. I am only 29 years old and I was not even born when he said that wonderful speech. But it has so much power. I take that speech and put it in my own words because of what I see.

Here is the thing: I take my 3 year old to school and see how they push him to the side because he can’t talk or do what other kids can do. Just a reminder  – these kids are 3 and 4 year olds. They are asking my why can’t my son speak or why he sits alone. It hurts. …continue reading