Cooking in Style

One of the requirements of being Teddy's mom (or parent) is advocacy. As Teddy has no voice with which to advocate for himself, or even express his wants, we serve as his voice Sometimes that means translating for him because he certainly can communicate in his own ways. Other times that means speaking up for him (and his peers) to ensure they have access to what they need and deserve.

Through conversations with Teddy's team last fall, we learned that his life skills class wasn't intended to continue through the spring semester. This life skills class, for typical 6th graders, covers basic life skills like laundry, housekeeping and cooking. The teacher does an amazing job with an adaptive life skills class that focuses on similar skills, with an emphasis on cooking. This class is one place where Teddy gets additional support from OT and PT and often spends time interacting with other students and adults through deliveries throughout the school of homemade treats and goodies. If you can imagine, with as much as Teddy loves food and loves people, this class is his favorite! It's also extremely practical skills for him in life and an area where he shines in his own way.

While this class only lasts one semester in the standard 6th grade schedule, there's nothing standard about Teddy and his peers. We were excited to learn that the team had already coordinated and thought it was feasible to continue the class at his IEP in December. But ... they were waiting for approval from the district. 

So, naturally, we asked who needed to approve it, so that we could send an e-mail. I promptly drafted a beautifully written advocacy e-mail that evening and patiently waited ... an entire week. Rather than simply being frustrated that I got no response, I reread my email and realized I didn't specifically ask if the class would continue. So I redrafted my e-mail and resent it and patiently waited until I got a response the next day.

That response was along the lines of thanking me for my feedback and that schedules were already set for spring, so they'd try to incorporate this for the next school year. Knowing that Teddy's team had already coordinated and knew they could fit this into the schedule, I asked if there was any other barrier preventing the class from continuing through spring. Thankfully we were informed that the class could indeed continue! (I'm glad ... because otherwise we would have called another IEP to specifically request it, even though we just finished an IEP.)

My intention is never to be a pain for the school district, or anywhere, but I will advocate always for what is best for Teddy as kindly but strongly as needed. We try to be good partners, offering support to Teddy's team, brainstorming and showing our appreciation for all they do. So, after hearing how much all the kids enjoy "helping" each other tie their aprons, even though no one can actually tie the aprons, I offered to make no-tie aprons. The teen life teacher accepted that offer, so I finally finished 4 aprons this week (using some of my mom's fabric, which she would have loved). 

It seems the aprons are a hit! I was rewarded with a picture of smiling faces wearing the aprons. (I don't know that they were as excited about the aprons as they were the milkshakes they were making that day, but I'll take it.) 

Look at those smiles!

It's a sweet success to continue this class!