They Gave Up On My Child: When The School System Refuses To Support Autism - Edited Version

About this episode

Vickie Chartrand shares her experiences advocating for her autistic son within a failing school system.

This episode holds an extremely important message from a parent whose name had to be removed from the episode due to her son's school calling her in for a meeting once this episode was Live. She has been advocating and fighting for her autistic son's basic rights since he started school. The unfortunate reality of too many autism parents. Imagine! A parent who works with 8 therapists for her son to support the school in implementing his 27-pages long IEP and being told: "As a parent, you need to do more!" Now she is faced with the harsh reality that her son, who is at a modified Grade 3 level of learning, is being pushed into a regular High School class with not assistance. The principal's take on this situation? "He'll just have to survive". Words of "reassurance" from a school who is actively advertising on radio and tv that they pride themselves in their safe and inclusive programs. Unscripted and completely free-form conversation, Vickie gives a voice to all parents. From having to start from scratch every year, to being told her son will not survive high school, where are parents suppose to turn to to make sure their child will be SAFE to learn? This parent's message to…

People in this episode

Host: Danielle

Guest: Vickie Chartrand

Topics covered

• autism advocacy
• education challenges
• parenting struggles
• IEP support
• school system failures

Keywords

• autism
• IEP
• school support
• parent advocacy
• education

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: school, radio, tv

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