kimjergen

In My Own Words

I have the sometimes bittersweet, yet always amazing experience of raising two incredible sons who are less than two years apart on varying degrees of the educational spectrum. From the day they were born, my sons were like salt and pepper. One very blond, the other decidedly brunette. One docile, intelligent and sweet yet with high needs while the other is easy, independent, firey, sharp as a whip, and one of the most inventive people I've ever met. My oldest son, with flaxen hair and a cherub face is an incredibly affectionate and beautiful child with Asperger's syndrome, a speech articulation disorder, fine motor delay and auditory processing deficit. He has an incredible heart, incredible potential, an unyielding determination and yet faces constant challenges with his peers, society and the school system in general. There is no perfect place for him as an ESE labeled student who performs well on standardized tests yet has social challenges due to his differences. Bullying sadly begins early when you are different, my son was punched in the stomach already by 2nd grade just for being different! He knew he was different by age four and asked us why he was different at that tender age. He tries very hard, but is awkward yet well meaning socially. It hasn't gotten easier either being he is approaching the teenage years. Last year in fifth grade the bullying and teasing only got worse when he was told by another student "I'll kill you later in life" - believe it or not, it got even worse! We tried putting him in a private school for the first time this year for his first year of middle school, 6th grade and he was bullied by of all people - the Principal!! So now, left to fe other options for 6th grade and his middle school years, we opted to homeschool him for the first time for his own personal safety as clearly and sadly that was not a concern in our local schools here in Miami. Some people just have a hard time digesting the fact that noone chooses to have a disabiilty or be different. My son had been successfully mainstreamed with only pull out speech and OT prior to that from kinder to 5th grade. It gets tough when you are socially challenged by a disability but look totally normal. My son has high interest and ability in math, science, ecology, and history and struggles to some degree with reading comprehension and writing composition along with social skills. He enjoys scouting, archery, coin collecting, technology, and reading non-fiction books and he looks forward to the business section of the paper. He adores politics, geography, and travel and his favorite role model is Al Gore - he secretly wishes he would put his name on the ballot in November. The beauty of Asperger's is their deep focus and research in areas well above their chronological age and their commitment to their interest. My youngest son has a devilish grin and an amazing sense of humor. He is one of those very fortunate people who does everything with ease. Although gifted, he is otherwise a neurotypical child making friends easily and thoroughly enjoying the pleasures of childhood. Asthma is the only challenge he seems to ever face. Since turning 10 recently, his asthma has dramatically improved and we are all thankful! He excels in all academic areas without even trying but has serious interest in science, art, and technology and can't seem to get enough of it! He loves creating and building things and is an amazing artist with very creative edge, almost Escher like fine motor skills and divergent creations. A born engineer of some sort with an artist flair. He always HAS TO know how something works and dissects it until he fully understands it. He is beyond a voracious reader, reading probably about 5 novels a week well above his grade level, at 10, he is currently reading two books at one time - War of the Worlds and Wicked, to give you an idea of his personality. He was recommended and tested for gifted near the end of his kindergarten year and scored well into the gifted range. This year he is being homeschooled 3 days a week and attending a resource gifted class two full days a week along with art and music at our local school where he had attended school full-time from kinder thru 3rd grade. After scoring perfect 5s on his FCAT last year, as well as each year scoring in the 99% percentile on his SATs, I feared he was bored and unchallenged so we opted to try out homeschooling combined with his gifted days. It seems to be a good fit and works well with homeschooling my other son full-time for 6th grade. Life at our house is never boring; the conversation is constant and the questions are always on overdrive due to homeschooling both of my sons. Some days I crave adult interaction, other days, I just relish the pleasure of having two kids who LOVE learning. Parenting is not always what we expected but could I honestly love any two people more than my sons or you love anyone more than your own incredible child?

Parents I'd Like to Meet

I am interested in meeting any and all parents who share enthusiasm, concern, courage, triumphs, travails, and more in educating their children. I'd like to meet other parents who feel passionate about getting and finding the appropriate education for their children with exceptionalities whether it be gifted, or learning disabled. I'm also very interested in meeting other parents of high functioning autistics, asperger's, etc as well as interested in meeting homeschoolers in the Miami area. I would like to share questions, advice, and comfort in numbers in dealing with puberty related issues and disabilities as well as ideas for social skills, and more for autistic spectrum preteens and teens. Parenthood is a journey filled with bumps and ditches along the way, but never let those minor issues steal your joy; embrace this time and follow your heart in your decision making concerning your child's health, welfare, and education - you are the expert on your children just as I am an expert on mine. Grades and test scores in the grand scheme of things mean nothing, what matters is who your child grows into. Plant the seeds of hope, confidence, courage, curiosity, charity, good intention, self-direction,and appreciation into your children - this is what produces happy, responsible, contributing and ever-growing and evolving adults.