Student's Speech Needs Ignored By Administration

 My balls are being busted by the scheduler because there was an ambiguity in the schedule. Instead of trying to work together to clear up the matter I was brought in with my chapter leader. But what to do with an administrator that fails to heed to the unambiguous need of a child when brought to that administrator's attention? A need that really hit home for me. 

From the age of about 4 1/2 to about 8 I was in private speech therapy. I was told that when I was about 2 3/4 I stopped speaking when my brother was born and didn't start up again until about 4 1/2. But I remember my mom driving me to the speech therapists office once a week from Flushing into Manhattan and then from Westchester into Manhattan. 

I had a whole bunch of issues. I recall that from 1st grade to 3rd grade I was always put in the lowest reading group at the beginning of the year. I would assume it would be because of my "marble mouth" and after a few weeks put in the top reading group. This even after the speech therapist told my mom I would not ever be a good reader. 

But I am fine now. Mostly. I have trouble with back to back words with similar sounds if I go to fast and I still have the lisp. It's much less noticeable now. What really decreased the lisp was more the braces than the speech therapy. But the lisp could be an advantage. In college I met this girl and she said, "Oh, you lisp, that's so cute!" 

And that is why I am empathetic to Joe Biden. Years ago I was told by a friend who was a speech therapist that she could tell I had speech therapy. I asked why and she said that she noticed that when I have trouble pronouncing a word I revert back to what I was taught as a child.

Enough about me. This student, (henceforth known as Boba Fett) who was new to me in February I noticed that Boba had an articulation issue. It was obvious. In my non-professional opinion it was something quite correctable as was my son's back when he was in 1st grade.  

Was it hindering Boba's learning? Boba is on grade level for reading. Could it in the future? You never know. Can being teased and ridiculed count as effecting learning? Can poor self esteem count as effecting learning? Yes, to all the questions. 

In my scheduling meeting with The Scheduler I brought this up. I saw The Scheduler write the information that was given and told me that this would be shared with the appropriate staff member and it'll be looked into. To the best of my knowledge, it hasn't. 

Boba Fett's language at home is Spanish. I do not know if an articulation issue in English transfers into another language and vice versa. 

But look at The Scheduler's priorities. I am shat upon for an unambiguous schedule why is concern about a child in which there is no ambiguity ignored by The Scheduler? Take responsibility. Be proactive. At the very least if Boba Fett did not meet the guidelines for in school speech therapy, one can be rather certain that Boba Fett's parents could have been referred to any number of well qualified outside agencies.

A manager at McDonald's is held to a higher standard than The Scheduler.