T-Minus 6 Days and Life Interupts

The good news: We'll have plenty of room in the cargo trailer. The bad news, a really tough school decision looms again.

For a couple of years, DD has said that he wants to go to Penta Career Center, the local vocational high school. As an added bonus, they've moved into a beautiful, amazing new building with all the coolest new stuff. DH and I thought we knew that the programs were all about. Last week we met with reps there and started being able to read, or listen, between the lines.

Kids in with disabilities are usually entered into the "Skills Center" where they learn "job skills." What we didn't pick up in our other conversations is that the kids in these programs aren't exposed to much in academics, or in particular careers. It's more a matter of finding a task that the child is capable of doing, not really picking up career skills.

First, remember my posts about parents of kids with special needs being in a constant state of grieving. Here we go again. We understand and recognize that our kids will probably never be rocket surgeons. Or brain scientists, either. But we still hold out hope that they will be able to find jobs with a higher level of skills. All parents want that for their kids. But now that we're nearing the cusp of adulthood, we're becoming painfully aware that even if we push and shove our kids to do more, they will never be 'fully employed.' Ever. So why do we worry about it? Why don't we just let them relax and enjoy the pleasures they do find in life? Why do we think our kids will be able to find jobs when there are plenty of able bodied and able minded folks out there? But even knowing that, we now hope that DD can stay at AW another year, so he can have another shot at picking up some academic skills.

Selling this idea to him will be tricky. Really, really tricky. I think--I hope--that if the teachers he loves at school pitch the idea to him, he might go for it. They'll have to be completely sincere and fully believe that it's the right thing for him. I've only been mulling this idea over for about 24 hours, but the more I think about it, the more comfortable I am with it. If only. . . .