Today was the start of Max’s summer school program. He is not going because he is behind in his work; this is a regular program in this school to help their special needs kids through the transition from one grade to the next. By the time September and the start of school arrives they will have become comfortable in their next grade level. They will be ready to start learning next year’s work.

During the summer school work is mixed with field trips and play time. For example, on Mondays and Thursdays Max is scheduled to go swimming in the town pool.

It is great for the kids and it certainly is wonderful for us parents too. We don’t have to worry about finding daycare for the summer as we continue working at our jobs. Not only that but the program is flexible enough so if we go away for a week or more during the summer it won’t impact our kids’ school work.

But as every parent of a child with special needs knows nothing ever goes smoothly. Most of us know that we have to get an IEP (Individualized Education Program) either set up or renewed each year. This makes sure that our children get the required school services that they need.

Max is 9 years old but he has problems with his handwriting. It is very difficult for him to hold his pencil or pen properly to write even a little legibly. I know, some people have commented that he would make a good doctor. But as part of his IEP he gets two sessions of Occupational Therapy a week to work on writing. At the same time he is taking a typing course so that a lot of his work can be done on the computer.

Max’s school is pretty good at following the IEP requirements. A lot of schools whether consciously or unconsciously forget; parents have to keep track of what is going on so everything happens. Max’s typing didn’t start until the second half of the year when we complained it wasn’t happening.

But it is not just the IEP that parents have to watch. There are many other issues in a special needs child’s life that must be taken care of too.

Don’t get me wrong. I know that “normal” kids have issues that have to be watched but the ones with disabilities and disorders generally have even more things to worry about.

Another example is transportation. Max rides a van to school every day and it takes an hour to get there. Every year we have problems with the bus. Last September a new bus company had taken over the contract for our town. Their goal was to eliminate what they considered waste:

• They combined upper and lower grade students in single vans. There were two results from this:

1. The van was traveling between the children’s homes and two different schools. The younger kids, like Max, were always late for class and very late coming home at the end of the day.

2. The older children were teaching the younger ones things they didn’t need to know like smoking, profanity, and sex.

Along with one other parent we complained over and over again to the van company and our town school system. They finally listened and added a van to the route. And in fact they ended up subcontracting our earlier van company which already had everything established.

• We had campaigned the year before for a monitor on the bus. The young kids were swearing a lot and fighting with each other. This meant that every morning they had to start out in the time out room at school before they could join their classes. At the beginning of this school year the company cancelled the monitor and we had to fight for one yet again.

At the end of it all we had a van for the smaller kids and a monitor and things went smoothly.

But then the summer program started. This morning Max was waiting at his usual time for the van. It didn’t show. We got a call at 7:30 from his van company which informed us that their contract had ended. The company that subcontracted them had decided to do the route themselves.

This was a shock. We immediately called the new company to tell them the ride was late. They responded that several children had been slow getting ready so the driver had had to wait for them.

And, oh by the way, why hadn’t we been informed about the change? They told us every parent had been called. They even insisted that they had talked to us. Hmmm, interesting, it is only my wife and me and we didn’t get any calls.

The driver was a half hour late. No, there weren’t a lot of students that were late. There was only one child on the van. Now I can understand him being late because he is always the last one to be picked up. All these kids know what time they have to be ready and they always are. This boy was the first today.

Even if things went smoothly from here on out today we know that these kids would be late for school. I know Max hates to be late so he will be in a bad mood. On top of that he ended up sitting beside the one child he never gets along with on the van.

Not only that there wasn’t a monitor and the driver doesn’t speak English. We immediately called the company again and asked where the monitor was. They claimed our town didn’t authorize one for the summer. They also told us that this was the way things were going to work next year too.

Um, I don’t think so. They haven’t dealt with us or the other parents yet. We immediately called the town school department. The woman in charge was shocked that there wasn’t a monitor. She was going to take care of it when she got off the phone with us. Sometimes we get ignored after we get a promise like this so we will be after everyone to get things back to where they should be.

So just like with an IEP special needs parents have to keep track of the transportation constantly. Everyone should get to know not only the important contacts in the transportation companies but also the people to call in their children’s school.

If the kids are sent to special schools by their town school department then it is important to know whom to contact there too. Not only will these people be good for resolving issues but the head of the town school special needs department should probably be involved in the yearly IEP meeting as well.

So, Max’s van issues will be resolved, hopefully sooner than later. But parents always need to stay informed so they don’t unknowingly lose benefits that have been established for their children.