This is TJ's picture that appears in the Jordan Basketball Program. He loves it at looks at it every time he has a program available to him.
Two points:
First, his best friend is Dane and not Dave. He pronounces it Dame. So they must of came up with Dave to be safe.
Second, he is a very smart boy to state that his Mom is the smartest person he knows.
He has had a very busy year and the team is doing really well. I will let you know how the team did in the end.
Fancy programs. We get one white sheet folded in half with numbers and names, definitely no pictures. TJ looks very handsome.
ReplyDeleteGo TJ!
ReplyDeleteYou are awesome, TJ!
ReplyDeleteTJ knows how to win the chicks over, even his Ma. Handsome young man there.
ReplyDeletehi. i belong to a life after high school transition listserve and i just received a link to the salt lake city tribune to an article about your son tj. i am wondering, have you ever thought about having him NOT graduate from hs, so that he is still in the public system, and having the system pay for him to go to a residential, transitional school program? my daughter has a genetic syndrome, and was 2 points short on her state exam (the math part). because of this, she was unable to graduate. but, because she still needed to learn daily living skills, i was able to get the system to pay for her placement in a residential school. she takes some classes there at that school, and also takes a program at the college there, which will allow her to leave with a certificate in childcare. she also takes 2 mainstream classes. it is her intent to get a 2 year degree in child care. it will be slow going, but i think if she cares enough, and is motivated enough, she will be able to do it. her disabilities are not obvious. many doctors who meet her are not aware of her sped issues. but i was still able to prove that my child needed this extra help in functional skills, so they paid to place her in this school. even though i had the hs contract with 2 outside agencies, 2times a week, to help her with learning to cook, food shop, resumes, job hunting, applications, interviews, etc, this was not intense enough aid to get her to the point where she would be able to live independantly(even though they did help her get her driver's permit...don't know if i am too happy with that, though!). consequently, with doctor's reports, and the agencies' progress reports, and much fighting and letters to my state rep, governor, and superintendant of schools, they finally approved it. and this happened in the course of about 2 and a half months! i don't know if your son is more capable than my daughter is in functional skills, but if he is lacking, it would be really worth your while to check into this...especially if you feel that he will one day be able to, and want to, live independantly or in some type of a group program that will allow him to live almost completely independantly. i don't know about where you are, but there are many, many programs like that in massachusetts. i am just finding out about them, this year, since my child has been in this school. both my daughter and i were VERY resistant to the idea of her NOT graduating from high school. We live in an affluent town, where EVERYBODY(except a limited few) succeeds and excels in just about everything. all the kids just grow up assuming that college is after hs. so, even tho' my child was special needs (but quite well hidden)she assumed she was going, too. i really thought hard about her staying in the system, and was so concerned about what would happen to her. she was adament that she would not stay in the system(this was before we knew the results of the state exam, which decided the whole graduation thing for us. we were not aware of all of these programs that exist out there... no one at the hs ever told us about them (or maybe they did not know? yeah, right!).
ReplyDeletesorry this is so long...i had to break it up into different parts because the site said it was too long! please read on...
ReplyDeleteso, it worked out that she did not pass the state exam and WAS able to go to this school. If she had not failed the state exam, she would have had all of her hs credits finished, so she would have been able to graduate. under law, you need to pass the exam and have all your credits, then you are supposed to graduate. BUT with sped kids on an iep, if their transitional goals (daily living, etc)are written/imbedded into the IEP (not just on the transition form that is attached to the iep)then law states that if all of the goals are not adaquately met, that that would preclude them from graduating. i am not totally sure if this is just what our state says, or if this is federal, too. but i spoke with a legal services center here, and they told me that that was true. i truly believed that not passing the state exam was in the end, a blessing. anyway, i just thought i would write to you to let you know ths info, in case you were not aware of it. i hope you do not feel that i have intruded, i just have met so many people who are not aware of these opportunities for their sped kids, so i always like to mention them, just in case. if you would ever want any more info, please email me at esamphowe@verizon.net. good luck! and last but not least, your tj is absolutely amazing!!!