Our son Lennon was born with mild Cerebral Palsy, Arnold Chiari Type 1 Brain Malformation, a double Y chromosome, a large hole in his heart, and a sacral deformity. His hole in his heart was fixed by putting an amplatzer in at the Ronald McDonald House at the age of 3. He is currently 13 and on a lower academic level then his 4 year old sister. Our Lennon is a child who LOVES TO ENJOY "EXPERIENCES " with others; like a trip to an aquarium, a picnic, or a movie with friends. Unfortunately, his current public school pupils don't really " understand Lennon. Sometimes the kids just stare and whisper just because he is a little different. He has always been extremely sweet, kind and always interested in others, to the point where he was nicknamed "The Mayor." Lennon is the STRONGEST hugger we know. He always was, ever since he was a little baby and had early intervention therapists at our home when he was only 7 months old! Lennon would HUG all 7 therapists that came to our home. He lives for laughter and connecting with LOTS of kids. Unfortunately his school is NOT helping him to be who he can be. This is due to the fact that he is stuck is an self contained class situation MOST OF HIS DAY. He just wants what other kids have, and we know that in his current situation he is regressing . We worry as we are approaching 50 years old, who will care for him when we are gone. We have found an excellent program for him, but the district wants us to retain a lawyer, and has filed for due process simply because we want to have appropriate testing for him , We feel, as his results have shown, that Lennon's testing at school was not optimal in showing his disabilities or even capabilities. We have put out hundreds of dollars for initial consults with attorneys, and now we have to get nine professional evaluations, in which the functional behavioral analysis alone could cost up to three thousand dollars, just to prove WHAT LENNON NEEDS. There are many reasons our son Lennon Carter does not belong in his current classroom situation. He still has severe toileting issues during the school day, he was said to be "untestable" when it comes to examining whether he can read or write, he is not fully accepted by the other children in the mainstream, and he is lonely during spring break and summer breaks due to the lack of "peers" HE DOES NOT BELONG IN THIS SETTING. Lennon has given over ten years of his life to a public school system that has been a sacrifice to himself and a disservice to his future. We have found him a school that will have hundreds of peers and will have a alumni gathering approximately monthly even after he is 21 years old for the rest of his life. It has an excellent hands on vocational program as well as job placement. As a mother that ran special needs rec centers I have come to learn first hand that he is in the MOST restrictive setting for his academic career and socialization. Our current school system will offer little to nothing for him when we are gone and at this point I was told by a Doctor that we will have an older depressed male pacing in our society with no interpersonal relationships which as a mother shreds my heart. We are not in this for ourselves, we are in this to create a good citizen that will have a positive impact on our society. So far we have put Lennon in many activities, but it's time to focus on his future and what will he do as a man. In school we need for him to be the most optimal human he can be where he has 100's of peers to grow up with like a family. There, they will "tap" into his future potential work skills, and though the public school states this, once again I must reiterate the ONLY way he will TRULY be an optimal person in society is with a peer based school where he can feel competitive, NOT in a public school with a handful of special needs children. We must remember in life what is most important, our relationships with others, If Lennon stays in this school, he most likely will end up living off the system and become a parasite instead of participating in a community. He will fail in the hands of a school system that doesn't fully understand the needs of people like Lennon. We, as a society have to have him thrive with optimal growth in the LIGHT OF HIS CIRCUMSTANCES, to look at him like an individual instead of a dollar sign.. Let Lennon grow in his light not in the "merely more than de minimis " this public school is doing year in and year out. We must keep in mind that under" FAPE" ( Free and Public Education) and "IDEAL " (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ) we are fighting for this little boy and will promise to continue this fight to the hopeful end. The school district has directed us to contact their DISTRICT ATTORNEY that makes $250,000. a year to come after parents like us that can't financially legally afford to wind up with what is RIGHT FOR LENNON. We are also in the infant stages of speaking with a group who has just set up a special needs parents group to legitimately have a non profit fund for parents legally fighting for their special needs children. Won't you please consider Lennon's future today, because it is together that we can improve his, and all of our tomorrow.
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