I know, I know…this post totally contradicts another post I wrote, “3 Reasons Why It’s Time to Let Go of Your College Student.”
Please hear me out…with special education students, parents must live on both sides of the street. While there are plenty of reasons not to interfere, there are just as many reasons in which we should interfere.
1) Education Is Ongoing
After we parents clean up the red tape and send our kidlets on their way, we can’t just wave good-bye. Believe me, we want to, but ultimately there will be some type of confusion that will send us so far up the river the only thing we will be able to do is tread water. It is important to use each challenge as a learning experience. Sometimes challenges such as discrimination or lack of physical accommodations are so big that a student without life experiences might need us to intervene. We hesitate, but by now, we are so darn good at gently “slapping” the staff (figuratively speaking of course); not to mention that we love a challenge.
2) Baby Steps
Parents of students who learn differently realize these changes will not happen overnight. With each step is an opportunity to learn a new skill. But it will not come easy. Repetition is usually the most productive.
3) Caught between a rock and a hard place
As much as we want to let go of our kidlets, many times it just is not possible at this stage of the game. For us parents, having our children successfully complete college, or transition accordingly, is huge. Do we want them to succeed or do we want our student to learn social skills? Both of these are equally important. If we give up on helping with the organization skills, he or she may fail the class, and financially, this could be a big hit for the parents. If we help locate social clubs, or manage the class syllabus, our students have no reason to take the initiative on their own. There again, failure.
Our jobs as “special education parents” is to multitask; work with our children as well as work for them. Throw them a life vest if needed, but stay out of the water if we can.
Photo credits: Pick Pik Royalty Free
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