Sorry in advance don't read if you dislike family discussions
 

but last night was a proud night for me.

My first son, about whom I post too much, decided now that soccer season has ended, he will continue fitness through running and lifting. So we went out and jogged two miles at night together.

The younger wants to join in, as he already jogs by himself.

As an aside, this son has a slight propensity toward pudginess. Yet he is doing some of what he can to overcome it.

In elementary school, he would cry when he had to run the mile, rarely finishing below 9 minute pace.

Now his goal is to be in the low seven minutes. Not earthshattering by any means and not enough to send him to the track team but a world of improvement.

This boy is proof that through work you can achieve.

When he was born and early in life, he had a jaw problem, a speech impediment, eyesight problems and a slight weight problem. They wanted him in special ed because the teachers were afraid he couldn't learn.

We believed in him, and placed him in speech classes, worked hard on math and then reading. At first, he was not even at grade level in reading. Yet just this past year, he has developed a high sense of awareness and ability such that he's now performing, while in middle school, at high school level in all subjects.

He wants to overcome his limitations, so it's exciting to see somebody overcome severe limitations he had at birth and in earlier childhood. At birth, he had the cord double wrapped around neck partially affecting him.

As an aside, for parents who have children that educators inform you can't learn or should be limited, fight for them, fight for them, as educators although well-meaning don't know everything, and love and hard work can produce amazing results.

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

Both of your boys are terrific kids. I never would have guessed that one had any sort of the difficulties that you mentioned.

What's cool about this is that it's like an "and now the rest of the story" moment from Paul Harvey.

Here's what I mean by that. Mr. and Mrs. Archaea set up the first half of the story by advocating for their son in spite of the school's special ed recommendations.

But there came a point..."the rest of the story"...when the young Archaean had to make a decision for himself as to whether he wanted to succeed. He decided that he did. The thing of it is, that opportunity wouldn't have been available to him if the Archaea family hadn't put forth the effort early on.

Thanks for sharing, Arch. He is a very impressive young man.

Nice story Arch...I think you nailed it with educators. They are well meaning and for the most part, do a very good job...but they don't get to know your kids like you know your kids. They often don't get to see all sides of these kids. Its too bad that many parents give up on their kids or aren't willing to support/push them to be the best they can. You did your part and it sounds like your kid is doing his part. Well done and that is fantastic!

Good stuff. Your kids sound great and you should be proud.

In fairness, I need to weigh in here in support of resource learning (special ed - whatever you want to call it) programs. As I have mentioned before, I have a son with a learning disability. Sadly, his story does not have the same happy ending. He's a sweet kid with a big heart, but learning is a major struggle for him. One of the reasons I post a lot at night is that I am often sitting next to him with my laptop for hours helping him with remedial math and other homework. Throughout all of this, we have been helped by many educators who have chosen a career in special education. The majority have been wonderful people who have shown an amazing amount of patience and love for my son. In one case, one of the teachers in his elementary retired to go on a mission. My son was so distraught that he cried for days when he found out. He absolutely loved that woman. And she loved him (she wrote to him every month while on her mission). And in almost all cases, these educators have had a positive/optimistic view of our son's future and potential.

I totally totally agree. One of my dearest friends (and obsessive triathlete) is finishing up her masters in special ed and wants to spend her career working with handicapped kids...in spite of the fact that she'll make about $27,000 a year.

I did not want to bring up my son because it bears no resemblance to Archaea's story, and I did not wish to detract from the Archaeans. But my little guy loves school more than anything in the world and we've been fortunate to find an excellent program with spectacular, loving teachers.

I don't mean to demean the great programs that exist for kids in appropriate circumstances. It is a good tension that exists to pull kids in appropriately versus mainstreaming them.

Our reason for not wanting it for the son whom Jeff has met is mainly, we believed it wasn't appropriate for him and we didn't want him to have an excuse not to succeed. The boy is a little bit OCD, (geeze I wonder where he inherited that trait), but through his own work, love of teachers and general good fortune to live in this country has placed himself on a road to potential success. He is also a symbol to me that many kids who succeed, don't have it handed to them, don't have inate qualities polished but actually through the discovery of hard work and latent talent make something of themselves. It's not as if this boy, without prodding and encouragement would have become anything other than a kid with bad grades, bad self image and no future. I for one, believe most kids can succeed beyond our wildest dreams, if teachers and parents believe in the kids. Some will fail regardless of assistance, but it warms my heart to see this once little guy succeed where others deemed him destined for failure. He is, like all of your own kids, a good kid, as are my others. He has simply required the most work so we appreciate seeing some fruits from our work.

We have several friends whose children have Autism, and the special programs existing for such children is necessary and wonderful. However, even those mothers desire mainstreaming for their children. They have the children in the appropriate aged school classes.

In my exhuberance I may have offended those parents whose children are benefitted from these necessary programs. I do not wish to demean them, as many well-meaning and talented teachers devote thankless hours to them. I remember several extremely gorgeous women while at school who studied to participate as instructors in them. I almost wanted to enroll in their classes just knowing their caring personalities.