The neglect that Kyle faces at school

Its been a tough week for me. First, Marissa, Brook and Jenae all have exams. Imagine the tension in this house lol Their all stressed about their exams, wanting the house to be quiet to study (good luck with that one) and Braden's hockey tournament from Friday to Sunday. Our team hosted the tournament, which means that we also have to do all the work for 50/50 draws, silent auction, ticket sales, running the time keeping, finding ref's for the games PLUS make sure that our kids are fed, refreshed and ready for their games. NOT an easy task!! But, in the end, it was totally worth it!!! Braden's team finished of with the Bronze medal!!! Last tournament they were in they came home with the gold!!

When Braden first started hockey this year, he couldn't even stand up on his skates. He had some VERY dedicated coaches that have coached him in Baseball so they know about him and his Autism. Because they really wanted him to feel a part of a team, they gave him so much 2-1 attention on the ice :) These coaches worked so hard just to get him to skate forward and the hardest thing to teach him was to skate backwards!! But, as the season has gone on, Braden has become an amazing hockey player!!! He plays right wing and is as good as the rest of the kids that have been playing for years. He makes me sooo proud!!! Braden will get home from school, pack up his hockey stick, puck and helmet and head to the outdoor rink across the street and spend HOURS just practising everything :) I would say that hockey has become his new obsession!! For years, Braden only cared about coins. It started out with a coin from every province, then it was a coin from every state and then coins and paper money from all over the world!! He has a beautiful collection and still really enjoys looking at them all..but Hockey has taken over his very unique and hard to understand mind. I just love to watch him play and he enjoys being around the other kids on his team :) Us Autism mom's understand how hard it is to watch our kids struggle to have just one single friend, but now Braden has 11 friends and they all have 1 thing in common..Braden's obsession..HOCKEY!!!

ok..mommy brag time is done ...LOL

But now on to the real reason I was writing this blog...

I have been having a LOT of trouble with the school and getting Kyle the help and funding for an EA since last year. Well, he has been denied funding AGAIN.
Now remember that Kyle is diagnosed with Autism and multiple other disabilities. He has global developmental delay which means that he is delayed is ALL aspects of daily living. Because of these 2 disabilities combined, Kyle (6yrs old) has just learnt to dress himself and can now put on his own boots :) With reminders he will sometimes look both ways when crossing the street and will sometimes go to the bathroom at home with reminders and rewards..he IS making progress thanks to Bella, his Autism service dog who helps him with simple things like reminding him to close the fridge door :)

But my real problem is with his school and how their taking care of him..or how their NOT taking care of him. Kyle is not even close to being toilet trained and this is very normal with Autism. on Kyle's very first day of school, I picked him up for lunch and when I arrived to get him; he was sitting in class with a diaper that was soaked with urine and feces so bad that it had soaked through his pants. He had been sitting in this for so long that his bottom and thigh's were blistered down to his knee's. I took him home to clean him up, but the pain was so bad that I couldn't clean him. I put him into a shower/bath to try to clean him and he sat/ stood there screaming and crying from the pain. I was sooo mad that I didn't know what to do!!! By the end of lunch time I had made the very tough decision to send him back to school so I could make the call's and emails to address this situation. I picked him up 1.5 hours later and he didn't go back to school until a full meeting was called and a solution was made to address his toileting needs. Well, his needs STILL are NOT being met!!

There has been many times between then and now that this same situation has come up but, this week, I have had enough!! Just one too many time's that this has happened. I picked Kyle up at 12:15 for his EEG on Friday to find him sitting in class with another poopy diaper that no adult had noticed!! I approached the resource teacher about this problem AGAIN and the response I go was "the person that normally takes him on his bathroom break has been away this week" I said ok, but is there not someone else that is taking him on his breaks? She responds with "Yes, but he won't go to the bathroom for them, so there's not much we can do about that" I wasn't ready to have a personal argument with her in the hallway, so I said "ok" (with a little bit of attitude) I knew I was going to get the same line that I always get from them and I knew it wasn't worth it.

I did contact my lawyer that is handling the legal case with them about denying Bella into the school, just to make notes of what happened. I tried my CSS worker, but she is away till Monday and tried our CFS worker but she left early on Friday. So, what could I do on the weekend?? well, I called a friend who is also an Autism mommy/warrior to give me some advice and an ear to listen to me. She is an AMAZING woman that has a beautiful heart that is willing to help anyone who is in need :)

Thank you ;) you know who you are!!

Not only did I talk to her but I also sent out an email to try to have my concerns heard. And here it is

Dear Mr. Greg Selinger. I am coming to you about my 6yr old son who has Autism. The reason I come to you is because my son has been denied funding, AGAIN. The reason he has been denied is because there is no more FUNDING for our school division. So, because of this; my son, who is just learning to hold a pencil, has no help in school. Now, this is a very big problem cause he is entitled to an education in this country, but its not my biggest problem. Because our government will NOT provide the funding he very desperately needs, my son has been picked up from class while he is sitting in his own feces on many occasions, one time he sat in it for so long that it blistered his bottom and all down his legs (I have the medical documents to prove it) Where is the dignity for my boy who has special needs?! Does he not deserve to have someone change his diaper?! I have paediatric specialists, neurodevelopmental specialists, speech therapists and occupational therapist ALL stating that he needs 1-1 care in school (I have the documents to prove this too) THEN, because the school could not provide him with the services he needs, we got him an Autism service/seizure detection dog that is no longer allowed to go to school with him. Why you ask? The reason I was given by the principal is.."We have a no dog policy" Where is my son's human rights?! How is our government going to help him? Who will be the one to stand up and fight for our citizens who have special needs? I have taken ALL the right steps to have my concerns heard by the school division and they don't listen! Who is going to listen?? will you hear me?

Sincerely,

Dusti and Earl Richardson

Parents of Kyle Richardson

dusti28@hotmail.com

204-344-6017

I will fight to the ends of the earth for all my kids, especially Kyle. They wear me down so bad that by the end of last year I couldn't fight anymore. I believe this is what they try to do. I again have been in this same fight since the beginning of this year and again, and again, its breaking me down. I know they say to keep fighting..but how long can you fight against the school, school division and the board of education?? I am just one single person that is fighting for a child that is slipping through the cracks!!

What do I do?! 

Who do I turn to now??

who will fight WITH me??

who is strong enough to stand up for my son's human rights?

Will I still have to do this alone??

These are questions I ask myself every single day!!!

Kyle NEEDS help and Kyle needs Bella!!!

and this is what has been happening this past week!!

Dusti <3

Seven Oaks Veterinary Hospital

I want to share with you about the vet that sponsor's Bella. Its called Seven Oaks Veterinary Hospital. The Dr's name is Dr.Adelman aka Dr.A. I had been following along with a FB friend who's little dog had gone missing and she desperately wanted her baby home!! A couple of weeks later, her furbaby was found but her eyes had been very injured and of course needed to see a vet immediately!! She kept us posted about the Dr. that she had been taking her dog to and how wonderful he was with her baby and had nothing but good things to say about him. After following the story from the beginning to the end of recovery, I decided to send him an email in December and asked him if he would be interested in sponsoring Bella and got an immediate response from him stating that he would be honored to :)

We went in for our first meet and greet with Dr.A in the first week in January. He spent 45 mins just showing us around the hospital, meeting the staff, and having a chance to get to know him. He noticed instantly that Bella has a problem with her eyes that would need to be corrected by surgery. I had taken her to Stonewall vet a couple times about her eyes and was told that she had blocked tear ducts, I was given meds for her that never fixed the problem :/ 2 days later, Bella was in surgery to have the problem corrected. But, not only did he operate on both eyes, he also did all her dental work, gave her  complete blood work up and the ladies there took very good care of her :) They kept me posted during surgery and how she was doing right after. They all go over and above what I have ever seen at a veterinary office before!!!
Now, I don't know about you, but I trust my dog's reaction when meeting someone!!! Every single time we walk into Dr.A's office, Bella goes CRAZY with excitement, she runs to greet everyone there, takes off to the back to see Dr.A lol and then I have to beg her to come back to me so I can say good bye :) Dr.A gets down on his hands and knee's to pet Bella and whispers in her ear :) It sounds funny but he figured out that Bella loves this on the very first visit!!  He is very in tune with what the dog is feeling and reacts appropriately to it :)

 Since the beginning of January, when we first met Dr.A, he has done 4 surgeries on Bella already. They all have to do with her eyes, but he say's that Bella's has a very important job and needs to have perfect eyes for her whole life!! He has also given her the head cone's, all the meds that she needs for the eyes, antibiotics, toothbrush and dental chews, more meds for an ear infection from wearing the head cone for so long and then more antibiotics for a bladder infection...with everything all totalled up from just the past 3 weeks alone, Dr.A has already donated $2,151.49 worth of vet care for this girl!!! And he has agrees to do this for the rest of Bella's life!!! How amazing is that?!?! AND, not only is he sponsoring Bella, but he is also doing ALL of Delilah's vet care for 1/2 price!!!!! Once Delilah has completed all her training and is certified, we will also find a sponsor for her too :)

Bella's story

https://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=hp#!/pages/Kyle-and-his-Autism-service-dogs/273307786038870


I want to tell you all about Kyle's Autism service dog. Her name is Bella, she is a 2year old choc Lab that we got from a rescue in Saskatchewan called Smokin gun dog rescue. From the moment I layed eyes on this girl, I knew she was the one!! The one to change Kyle's life :) I know it sounds a little crazy to already have 6 kids and 2 dogs, but something in me told me that we NEEDED to get her!!
Now that she was officially ours, I knew that I needed to find someone to train her. I emailed a ton of places that might be able to help with her basic training and get her to a level that she would be able to listen to all basic commands. Problem was..I couldn't find a place to do what we needed. I was so frustrated at the end of that day because I knew that this dog had the ability to become an amazing dog with just a little bit of work.
I decided to take a break and googled the story of the little boy in Brandon MB who's service dog was denied access to his school. it was in this article that I found the name of MSAR. so, of course I googled them lol I picked up the phone and made the call that would eventually change our lives. I was greeted by a soft spoken man (I know know his name is Scott) and he was the only person that listened to all my concerns and the reason I needed a service dog that would save Kyle's life. We live in a small village that has a penitentiary with an unfenced shooting range, lime quarries that surround our town and thick bushes that Kyle could get lost in. These are the things that make Autism so dangerous!!
Did you know that most people with Autism wander..and drowning in the #1 cause of death due to wandering?! Before we got Bella, we had to have extra locks on the doors, we have windows screwed shut and we fenced the back yard so Kyle couldn't get out...but even with all this, Kyle was still wandering 3x a week!!! Now, I can handle Autism, the meltdowns, screaming and crying for hours, not being able to wear certain clothing and having a strict routine, especially in the morning, but I can NOT handle wandering!!!
Scott talked to me for at least an hour about our needs for Kyle and our despite call for help to keep him safe. He said that he would talk to the head trainer but couldn't make any promises. That same day, I got a call from Captain George Leonard, master trainer from MSAR. He agreed to come out and meet me and Bella and talk about what we could do. I was scared shitless cause this man was my only hope. He came to our house the next day, walked up the sidewalk and said "you must have made a real impression on Scott cause he yelled at me" I now know that Scott is a very quiet man that doesn't get upset about anything, so when he raised his voice at George, he knew that he needed to listen. While we were standing in the front yard George asked me where the shooting range was (prob cause he wanted to know if I was making this stuff up) I pointed to its clear view from our front yard and his response was "holy shit, are you kidding me" lol I said NO and that was the beginning. He came 2 days later to pick up Bella for a week to see if she had what it took to be a service dog. I then got a call the very next day from him and he was already completely in love with her :D By the end of that first week he KNEW that she was going to be perfect!!!
In my eyes, Bella was already perfect, but I needed George to see that too. He called me everyday to brag about how well she was doing, how she reacted to the other dogs that he has in training, how she did with his horses (she was scared of them at first but by the end of the first day, she thought they were just big dogs) he took her out to expose her to little rodents cause we always have a hamster or rat or some little thing in the house. When she came back after that first week, I had already noticed a HUGE difference!!!!
The way this training works::: Bella lives at both our house and George's house 50/50 Kind of like shared custody lol she will go for 2-3 weeks for training and then home for 2-3 weeks. This step is VERY important to keep the bond between Kyle and Bella strong!! There was only 1 time that George kept Bella for very intense training for seizure detection because we've been suspecting that Kyle is having ssilent seizures. On Bella's first day back, she woke me up 8 times that night and took me to Kyle's room. This went on for a few days and then I knew that something was wrong, so I made an appointment with Kyle's Dr to get him checked. Kyle goes for his EEG on Jan. 27th to check for seizure activity. I have learnt to trust Bella when she's trying to tell me something cause this is what she's been trained to do!!!
A couple weeks ago Bella was acting a little crazy and wouldn't listen to me, this was completely out of the norm for her, I tried over and over to correct her but she insisted on being right with Kyle and touching him. She then started to paw at him and layed her head on his lap. It was about 2 mins later that I figured out why she was acting like this. I was because she had sensed that Kyle was soon going to have a seizure. This was the biggest and longest seizure that Kyle has had. She stayed right with him through the whole thing and waited for the seizure to be completely over before she even moved :)

Another thing about Bella is that neither George or I have been able to get this girl to bark!!! She's been with us for almost a year and I've heard her bark 4 times and all of those times is while she was playing with Delilah (our other dog and another story) But, 5 days ago Bella went to the front door and whined then ran to the back door and let out 1 loud bark, which got my attention cause she never barks. turns out that she was telling me that Kyle had gotten out of the house and was outside without me or her. It was -25 outside and he was only wearing a jacket, nothing else. He could have frozen to death in such a short time with our Manitoba winters. This girl is just AMAZING. I know that she was sent to us for a reason, Earl didn't think so at the time, but now he see's the improvements that Kyle has made by just having her here with us :)

Now, its just to get the school to understand how important Bella is for Kyle. I got an email from Kyle's principal back in November telling me that Bella is not allowed into the school. I don't understand WHY she's not allowed in, but as it stands right now, they only see her as a pet dog. I have filed a human rights complaint against the principal, the school division and the board of education. I have also hired a human rights lawyer to handle all the legal stuff but everything takes so long. I'm hoping within the next 2 weeks that Bella will be able to at least walk kyle to school and help him transition into class and pick him up at the end of the day. This is my story on Bella but I will always be posting about her. She is a VERY important part of our family and has saved Kyle's life more times then I can count already!!

An Introduction to our family..First post.

My name is Dusti and I am an Autism mom. I am married to Earl who is the only man that could ever put up with my crazy ways lol. I have all the same struggles that most moms have, with 3 teenage daughters, who give me lots of grief but are also all amazing girls!! Jenae is our adopted daughter who has been in our life since she was 7, she is now a beautiful, smart and caring 17 year old girl that has a true love for her brothers. She works with disabled people in her school, on all the leadership teams in school and goes over and above what most teenagers do. Brook is my step daughter, she is 16 and is the quiet one in the family. She enjoys drawing, reading, walking the dogs, riding horses and hanging out with her sisters. She is smart, loving and has a gentle sole. Marissa is 15 and the loud mouth in the family. She is more like me then I like to admit lol She is my first born, my first true love and the biggest pain in the butt. She is a true teenager that loves hanging out with friends, watching movies and hates to be alone, but like the other girls, she really does have a true love and understanding of the struggles the boys face everyday. Then there's Braden. He's 11 and has always been a little "different" He is hyper, always into something and getting himself into trouble. He was finally diagnosed with Aspergers when he was 8. He is also diagnosed with ADHD, Dyslexia, learning disabilities and anxiety disorder. He has the gift of math and has been collecting coins for years. He is very private and he and his brother have a real understanding for each other. Kayla is 7 and is the second mommy in the family. She is funny, she loves to laugh, enjoys painting, color and likes spending time with me. She is a bit on the quiet side and I believe she is also on the spectrum. She is quiet in school and is always the teachers pet cause she likes to help with everything. She doesn't get along at all with Braden but plays the mommy role with Kyle. Then there's Kyle, he's 6 and is the baby in the family. He was born very premature with a lot of complications and spent weeks in the NICU. He has always been delayed in everything. I always knew that there was something "wrong" but trying to get the Dr to understand was like pulling teeth. I finally insisted that he was refereed to the child development clinic for an assessment. He was first diagnosed with PDD-NOS, developmental delay and speech delay when he was 3. Kyle then regressed and still wasn't speaking so he went back to CDC for a follow up appointment and was then rediagnosed with moderate functioning Autism, global developmental and adaptive delays, ADHD and anxiety disorder when he was 4. With Kyle being more affected with Autism, he has been in all the therapies. eg..ST, OT, PT. I chose not to do ABA. In 2011 is when we made the decision to get a service dog for Kyle. It was a choice we made after Kyle wandered from the house and made our first and only 911 call to have to search for him. His service dog's name is Bella, aka Baby B. She is a chocolate Lab that has eyes the color of gold. She is not only beautiful, but she is smart too. In the short amount of time that she has been a part of our family, she has done amazing things for Kyle. We also have Delilah who is in the training process of becoming a search/tracking dog to be able to find Kyle or Braden if they wander off. This is just an intro to the Richardson gang and I hope you take the time to get to know us and how our whole family lives and deals with Autism.