Contacted our Govenor

I hope that your contact is responded to. It is so important for parents to be in contact with people who can make a difference when problems such as these are being addressed. It is really sad when representatives do not respond to people who make contact with them. That is just not good communication style. I hope that the governor will make some kind of acknowledgement of your contact.

Unions can be the very devil. No, I don't want to hear the defense of all unions - puh-lease. I can't imagine why anyone would be against the testing. It would benefit both teacher and student.

You will have a better chance at a response if you actually write a letter and mail it to him. They have employees and interns who are responsible for going through the email and winnowing out the most important. If your subject line doesn't attract their attention it will just get deleted--and if the person is bored or stressed they'll just hit delete regardless of the content. Write a real letter. State the subject in the first sentence. Be concise, use good grammar and spelling and try to keep it to a couple of short paragraphs. Sign it "sincerely" and below your signature print your name, address, phone number and email address. Don't use a cutsey envelope or stationery, make it business-like. A real letter shows that you are committed and making a real effort to be heard. Plus, they don't get as much real mail as they used to since everyone is emailing.

I hope it works out. You know, I read this discussion yesterday but didn't respond.. couldn't think of anything much to say to it. Then last night while I was at work a friend of mine came in. I hadn't talked to her in awhile so I was asking about her kids and stuff. Her middle child is autistic and has a bunch of health issues, I'm not really sure the extent of it. I knew this child was the same grade as my twins because at one point he was in the same class as one of my twins. So I asked her who his teacher was this year and how he's doing in class. She said he's not doing too well because the teacher is very young and not really equipped to handle an autistic child. That of course got me to thinking about this dicussion. I agree, I think teachers should be trained on how to handle special needs children. Teachers need a way to teach that child as well as the rest of the class. Otherwise, what's going to happen to these kids as they get older? I can think of a handful of teachers have dealt with over the years that had very little patience for my oldest son, who isn't labeled with a disibility. Actually they've been refusing to label him because his grades aren't bad enough to qualify him as special needs. Yet I get constant complaints that he can't keep his grades up without a struggle, he can't sit still in class, he can't keep quiet in class. If I had to guess I'd say it's a form of ADD, possibly mild ADHD.. but the doctor's kept telling me it's a learning disability so the school should test him and the school kept telling me his grades aren't bad enough to test him for anything. However over the years he's had some teachers make me so mad for the way they deal with his issues. Lately I've been getting daily e-mails from his health teacher complaining about his behavior in class. I had to tell her to have a little patience with him because some of it is just nateral for him and he can't totally control it.. he has always been slightly disruptful in class by talking out of turn or getting out of his seat. But when he gets yelled at for doing this stuff it makes his behavior worse. He sort of shuts down when he gets in trouble, gives up on even attempting to behave. So if the teachers could have some patience with him, or give him a chance to get it out of his system, they may find he behaves better. But when they punish him for it, he gets worse. I'm hoping this health teacher has learned because the e-mail I got yesterday said he'd behaved very well in class.

Good for you, keep up the good fight for all children who need someone to notice that they need a little special help. Children with big special needs are recognized but those who are just a little different are often misunderstood and caused much pain in their lives when just a little training would have allowed their condition to be understood and treatment applied early, before the trouble starts.

It is very hard to get a direct response back when you have written to a lawmaker in your state. However, this doesn't mean that what you have to say is going unheard. The letters that are send regarding different bills are sometimes used as evidence in favor of or against a particular bill. I think that it is great that you are doing this and I think that all students nationwide should be tested for dyslexia at an early age. I am dyslexic and was identified early so I had early intervention which helped me succeed in school as a child.