FoUgHt ThE FiGhT...

Well, we fought the fight and we have decided to end it. We have made a difficult decision. We have decided that the school system here will no longer be able to bully us (not that we would fall for it anyway) and we have decided to have Matthew take a step back, release him from this public school system and progress further with him in home school. I cant even begin to express the anxiety, stress, frustration, nights with loss of sleep, tears shed and arguments that this school situation has caused for our family. It has been awful. I feel so sad for Matthew because he is caught in the middle of adults at a stalemate with him in the center of it all. I don't at all regret our decision to pull him from school. Now maybe he (we) can heal from this terrible experience and he can actually begin to learn. I am looking forward to doing this with him. I will also be supplementing Bethanie into this curriculum, though she will stay in public school. We are so tired of the threats that the school has been dishing out, from 10 day suspensions to calling the police on him (because he is so full of anxiety that he will hit or kick). Now we can control him at home. I am so happy it has come to this! I am totally at peace tonight. I know we have fought for Matthew, we have stood up for him, stood our ground, and even though we were not successful at "winning" anything from the school here, we still won because we made our case, we stood our ground and we are finally going to PROGRESS, rather than REGRESS. I would do anything for any of my children. People who don't have a child on the spectrum can only guess what it is like. We live autism daily. Our whole family suffers from autism even though only Matthew has it. But you know what? He has value, as does his sisters. He IS perfect because God made him, he is who he is and I was the lucky one to be picked to be his mother. At the end of the day, *I* am the one who gets to hold him and kiss him and keep him safe. :) Too bad for the school because one day he is going to be a very successful man, and there will be little credit to them. THEY failed him. THEY gave up on him. I never will.