Sunday, October 14, 2012
Story of the Day 9/ 28/ 2012
There was one period left. Tenth period.
My daughter, Sarah, has a study hall of that period of the day.
The interpreter and she were headed to the study hall and the interpreter decided to detour to go to the bathroom.
Sarah got to study hall and took seat.
The teacher wasn't there.
There was a sub.
A man, who started talking and talking and talking.
And Sarah kept a careful eye on him.
Which is about all you can do if you cannot hear what he is saying.
A few minutes later, the interpreter came in and sat down.
And while she is not as old, grey and creaky as I am, she doesn't look like she could possibly be a high school student.
The sub looked at her...and looked at her...and asked, "What are you doing here?"
She replied, "I am the interpreter."
"The interpreter for what?"
"For the Deaf student."
The sub looked a bit startled and then he asked, "Where is the Deaf student?"
The interpreter pointed, and Sarah's friend, who sits next to her, patted Sarah's shoulder, just in case the interpreter's gesture wasn't clear enough.
If you have known me and my children for a few years, or have read my blog for that length of time, you will be cringing. That is because this is related to a few other stories.
A number of years ago, when my son, Aaron, who is also deaf, was in middle school, he had an unpleasant run in with a sub teacher.
As a result of what happened, the school instituted a policy that there would be a "cover letter" or "sub teacher form" that the substitute teachers would get for special education students. That way they would not physically assault or punish deaf students they thought were ignoring them by not responding when the sub teacher spoke to their backs.
Little things like that.
When it was time for Aaron to move to the high school, I inquired if we needed to make sure this protection followed him.
I was, at that time, assured by the administration that following what had happened, the form was actually already in place at the high school.
Except, as we found out, over time and incidents, it often wasn't.
So, of course, as my daughter is telling me this I am thinking that I will now need to contact the school and complain and ask why the form wasn't in place.
Again.
Except that, except for his initial surprise, this sub went a bit in the other direction.
After realizing there was deaf student, sitting there, in his room, he gave the other students a lecture about how he likes deaf people.
Because they are attentive.
They pay attention.
They listen.
Although, obviously, not with their ears.
There is a bit more.
Apparently deaf people are also nice.
This was certainly a much better response than Sarah or Aaron have received in the past...although it might also rank up there with "black people are better dancers," or "Asian students are better at math", but, considering our other experiences, we will take it.
Gladly.
(See previous story- Story of the Day 11/11/2010 http://storyoftehday.blogspot.com/2010/11/story-of-day-11112010.html I believe that the others are not on this blog.)
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6 comments:
OMG...I pray that I am or have never been so insensitive. please tell me I am not that clumsy and treat all people with the same respect no matter what. please. Maybe I should instead pray that everyone gets that level of respect. I never cease to be astonished at the stories you tell. I makes me angry at times. How dare these dolts do these things? how dare they? but then I say to myself..have I done that? My answer is, probably and just like them you were completely unaware. sigh.
obviously I mean i pary I am NOT so insensitive.. yeesh
In all seriousness, I was totally thrilled that this was a benign "problem". Sarah had sent me a couepl of text messages, right after school let out, about this creepy thing that happened, and i was like " OMG!", and, Aaron really was grabbed and shaken by a sub who thought Aaron was choosing to ignore him when he spoke to Aaron's back.....so, while this was........yeah, Terri, insensitive is a good word, I am just glad it was benign.
Welcome back :-) I missed your stories. As for this one, well, all I can say is "Wow! Ya know, I admire your control to not march right down there and give them a good 'attention grabber' moment...Or could you not include that part due to liability ;-)
Will you help me "arrange" the right attention grabber? Smile.
Sorry, my kids have been not approving posting some stories, and slow at getting back to me with revisions.
Actually, I have a meeting at the school , next Wednesday ( Oct.24) . After B. H. imploded, the director of special ed for the township had them set up monthly meetings with us to make sure all problems were addressed promptly. (BH is the one who falsified the assessment report- she did a ton of other nasty things, but she got caught on that one with both witnesses and paper evidence.)
I suspect that what happened is that they made a "sub cover letter" for all of Sarah's "classes", not for this , which is actually a study hall. ( They have study halls that are much more directed and supervised than back in the Dark Ages when i was in school.)
The fact that a teacher is in charge of the 24 or so kids in that room probably never hit their radar.
In all seriousness, this was funny , as opposed to harmful- and we've had so much harmful that I can pretty much shrug his off.
Ahh - the good ol' days of study hall... I learned how to play Spades, Euchre and another card game called B*llsh*t in my "study Hall". I guess its different now - LOL!
I remember B.H. from your posts - give 'er a great big hug, will ya ;-)
Glad this event turned out well for all. Good luck :-)
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