There was a watershed event here this week. Kian is finally past the college math course required on his way to a Liberal Arts Degree somewhere in the future. Niall also did very well in a difficult Physical Science course and they are both ending this quarter (Strayer is on the quarter schedule as opposed to semester) with averages over 90%. This of course is most worthy of mention in that both guys attended Central Virginia Community College starting Fall 2008 which is a "brick and mortar" school; where Kian's first year English Composition professor who happened to be the Department Chair couldn't pronounce his name correctly at the end of the semester and who completely ignored his ADA mandated accommodations. Where both the ADA Coordinator and senior administrators including the college president told me in no uncertain terms that they didn't have to help either of my sons. That's right, Darrell Staat was the president of CVCC told my exactly that on the phone at this time last Fall when Niall's Business Technology Course instructor panicked after she met him and almost ushered him out of the room because he was "so handicapped". Let's just say that CVCC in Lynchburg is managed like so many other state agencies in Virginia; by career bureaucrats who are interested only in keeping their positions until they're able to retire. We found out when we moved to Virginia that the entire state education system is decades behind almost every other state and for children like ours and for our entire family, it's every man for himself. For the first time since 2001 we're not in struggle any more worrying whether our sons are getting the assistance they need to succeed in higher education. We can only wonder at how other peoples' special needs children are faring in the wasteland that comprises the so called Commonwealth of Virginia VDOE and State College and Community College systems. Needless to say, our sons will continue and finish their educations either with Straye or another private college. Perhaps Dr. Staat is already practicing his golf swing in his office as he certainly doesn't have the time of day for just about anything else.
You can imagine my trepidation doing research on where our sons could continue their educations while we live here in Paris. The French school systems make no accommodations for anyone and have a very strict methodology regarding who goes to school where and at what level that will probably never change so sending them to school here particularly with neither of them being fluent in French was out of the question. After doing some pretty exhaustive research I arrived at Strayer University which is a private for profit college located in Virginia but who has campuses all over the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states and also one of the best "online synchronous and asynchronous" classes that span their entire catalog and in which students can attain their degrees without ever having entered a brick and mortar classroom. I took a deep breath and signed the twins up in January of this year to begin Spring Quarter shortly after we arrived here in March. There were some bumps and false starts but overall, the experience with Strayer has been a smashing success. Their online course methodology is perfect for Autistic Students and although pricey it's worth every penny.
After the last couple of school years, to see Kian's self confidence back is priceless. Niall is thriving too and I'm looking pretty good having made this decision on something this huge that's worked great. It's been a great thing for Cassie too as that's one less thing she has to worry about.
Strayer University has proven to be responsive to problem areas and the student support has been second to none. If anyone who reads this knows anyone else in a similar situation to ours, I would highly recommend Strayer University to them at least as a starting point or as in our sons' case a transfer transition to something a bit less ambiguous than a regular classroom setting. The entire Virginia Public School Systems including the State Colleges and Community Colleges could learn a lot from how Strayer conducts their University but as I mentioned earlier, it's doubtful if anything like that will ever happen.
It is indeed an auspicious beginning to this week and the twins have the next week and half off so we're going to do some exploring on the bus system.
Love to all and thanks for reading.
Bon journee,
Sid
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