Dear Teacher, Teacher’s Assistant, Therapist, Therapeutic
Support Staff:
This week we’ve been making some thank you gifts and cards
for all your hard work and dedication. I’ve struggled with them because they
don’t seem ENOUGH.
Thank You seems like such a simple way, like an inadequate way, to express our appreciation.
When JD started special instruction pre-K, he had a 2
word phrase limited vocabulary. That first day he hid underneath the desk. His
anxiety and sensory problems were challenges. Currently, JD is much more
present, able to converse, able to sit and listen to a story time. JD’s a happy little boy with a
wonderful sense of humor, a strong curiosity and I don’t know that I’d know all
this if it weren’t for how well he’s progressed.
As he has changed and matured, I have also changed. I’ve stopped being the terrified sad mother and have dared to dream and hope that one day we could mainstream to a regular setting school. My goal at that 1st IEP meeting was to have him in a regular Kindergarten setting. I am terrified and incredibly thankful as we say good bye to SPIN.
You may have been my son’s teacher, teacher’s assistant,
speech or occupational therapist, or his staff support. But you have also been
someone to give me hope, to offer helpful feedback or advice. You have been the
brunt of my pushing, my demanding, my questioning, and sometimes even my
crying.
As we approach our last day at SPIN, I struggle with the
words to convey how emotional this is. SPIN has been our home and now we’ve
outgrown it like a pair of his shoes. I’m the one who wants to cry and hold on to
the desk chair, scared of what’s to come. I cried the first day I dropped him
off, I followed his bus that 1st day, and now that we’ve reached it, I’ll cry our last day. Bittersweet tears of thanks, of good bye, of
awe for the work you do. You will
always hold a very special place in our hearts. I won’t ever
forget how much a role you played in my son’s early intervention. We're going to miss you ladies so much!
