FAPT

Well, it was a nightmare. It started off badly, when the new case manager showed up late for the meeting. Case manager? What case manager? In 18 months of FAPT, I never had one. To make matters worse, the case manager was a school employee that (at least I feel that) I have been at odds with before. The same one who took over the parent/teacher conference last year. I know it is a conflict, whether it is personality or philosophical, it doesn't matter. I was (and still am) furious.

As I alluded to, it got worse. I was presented with reports on Jimmy's behavior over the last two weeks. Jimmy running into the nearby wooded area, Jimmy running into the school parking lot... Details the school failed to mention to me as the parent until they decided to fight for a one-on-one aide. One-on-one... great, it's needed. But this new case manager did it at the expense of our in-home hours, which had been decreased to three over the summer because of the full day at the summer program. I had to fight just the three more back and maintain consultative services. The new case manager tried to get consult thrown out of school entirely. I reminded them that consult came in to play when it came to light that the school's idea of getting Jimmy to sit and attend was strapping him into a Rifton chair for six hours a day, a violation federal law. In all fairness, consult isn't working how I would like, but that was another thing that failed to be brought up until FAPT yesterday.

I would love to go into more detail about how I feel about all of this, but I really don't think I can. Disgusted, enraged, betrayed fail to begin to touch the tip of the iceberg. I think only the woman from Parks and Recreation was there for Jimmy yesterday, representing what was best for him inside and out of their program. While I am grateful for that, it is pathetic. The people I have come to rely on the most - his teachers and private therapists - all failed him yesterday. I think I failed him too - I tried too hard to polite. I should have questioned this whole case manager thing the minute this woman walked through the door.