AS teachers we all except the beginning of the year exhausted, and the end of the year exhausted, and even the count down to winter break exhausted (I do miss calling it Christmas break!)!! But today I have come to realize a whole new level of exhaustion…FIELD TRIP EXHAUSTED!!!!!

AND to complicate matters, I made the worst of all schedule errors today, as I am apparently I am a glutton for punishment, and I scheduled a field trip with my SDC class this morning and arrived back JUST IN TIME to shove an apple in my mouth on my way to the conference room for an IEP meeting. I don’t think I have 2 brain cells to rub together to make a spark.

Both activities were a success (only because if I don’t find a way to laugh I will cry so I am able to find the positive in most things, even if the bus ride there included me getting peed on) but both activities are completely mentally taxing. Being out in public with students who are non-verbal and have severe disabilities is a huge responsibility and I find myself constantly counting heads. I am taking pictures on my phone almost constantly just so I have a record of the last time I saw a student, and if need be, what he/she was wearing at the time they disappeared. Plus it is a change in their daily routine, so bring on the meltdowns!

Then there was my IEP.

I have been completely beaten up this year during IEP meetings. As an educator, I haven’t been able to wrap my brain around why parents think it is my job to “cure” their children. Thanks to random “D List” celebrities, every parent thinks their child’s autism can be cured, and I am on the receiving end of their anger when they are in another annual IEP meeting and I am not telling them their child is perfect and ready for full time inclusion in a mainstream grade-level class. It breaks my heart every time because I just have to sit there and take it. I can’t yell back; I can only point out the positives and the growth their child has made in the last year. And I am left wondering, do they yell at their children’s doctor as passionately as the yell at me? So I was very nervous going into this meeting. Will these be the parents I have met with in the past, or are they going to go all cray-cray on me? And I am already exhausted, as I pointed out, from the morning field trip.

I have sarcastically referred to “My Favorite Parent” in the past, referring to my most high-maintenance parent, but I truly got to meet with my favorite set of parents today. These are the text book parents that are written about when referring to how collaboration in the IEP team should work. They get it. They work regularly with their child and have an appreciation for her level of functioning. Today’s meeting went the way SPED teachers dream of. These parents came prepared, reviewing the reports sent home ahead of time; they had meaningful questions and observations; we actually got to spend time discussing how best to support this student. What works at home and what doesn’t. What is working at school and what isn’t. No yelling. No accusations that I am not doing enough for this student.

My body is still exhausted to its core. My brain still hurts. And it is still a whiskey night. But as I put my head on my pillow (is 6 o’clock too early?) I know that I did my best today and my best today was great enough.