You wouldn't believe it since my husbands official release date is 18 months away, but he has already started the release process. There is so much involved that it is a bit overwhelming. He has had his official paperwork submitted and is now at the beginning of the waiting period that is our federal justice system.
He has submitted the address of the residence where he would like to be released to. It is a home owned by a family member since we are not sure it would be a great idea for him to return to this small community. I am told that an officer will contact that family member so that the house can be approved for him to move into upon his official release. That house is located in a different Federal District so he will have to get all his paperwork transferred to the new district as well.
He is in the final few months of his program which is suppose to ensure that he gets as much half-way house time as possible. What that means is that he can be released from the prison facility and sent to be supervised in a half-way house closer to his intended release location prior to his official release date. That gets him closer to home, but he is still under strict supervision yet he is allowed a bit more freedoms as he earns them. He will be allowed to hold a real job while he is there, day passes to spend with us and eventually weekend passes. He could eventually even be released from living in the half-way house early if he has a job and a place to live however, he will not be released early of there is no one else living with him in the house, so he will have to serve out the remainder of his time at the half-way house. Oh, and the half-way house gets a large percentage of any money he makes while under their supervision.
Everything that we learn comes with even more questions and no one is around to answer any of them. We all get our information from each other, other inmates, and anyone else we know further down this path than ourselves. We get bits and pieces here and there and sometimes it is mis-information but we keep moving forward.
That is all I know right now and things change from day to day. I am sure by the time you are reading this I will have more information or been told that something else we believed is not really true. Hopefully the information I pass on to you, is based on fact and everything that I am certain of. Looking to a better new year when he will be closer to home.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Relish In the Victories
I am so excited this morning...I feel like one of the burdens that I have been carrying can be put down for a while and be left alone. I had a meeting this morning with some of the school faculty and finally had a resolution regarding my son and his reading.
At the beginning of the school year my son had been placed in an extra reading class based on his standardized test scores. Since learning of this I have been asking the school to actually test his reading level. My son has always struggled with reading but it was due to dyslexic tendencies and not normal reading difficulties, so putting him in a regular special reading class was not helping him. On and off throughout the last three years I have been politely arguing with the administration to try and get him the help he needs. I have routinely hit polite and well meaning walls. They kept telling me he was doing fine with their programs.
I am his mother...do not tell me that I do not understand and know my children. Academically he does fairly well, high 80s low 90s, but he still struggles with his reading and writing so they were only looking at his grades and the standardized test scores. I kept telling them that he is much smarter than his grades show and he was not getting anything out of the special reading classes. He makes it through his classes now by his own coping mechanisms but what is going to happen when the reading and school works gets progressively harder? I am not content to sit by and let him slide by now only to end up struggling later. Give him the tools to excel now and succeed in the future.
I finally complained my way far enough up the line and they did some specialized reading test. This morning I had my meeting with them and what do you think the results were? My son does not have typical reading issues, his tendencies seem to indicate some kind of dyslexia and would benefit more from some special one on one assistance to teach additional skills to overcome the decoding issues. Isn't that what I had been telling them all long. Why did it take so long to get any answer?
All I can tell you is that I am so relieved right now. I just sat at an hour long meeting to have the administration and faculty tell me that everything I had been telling them about my son is correct and now they are going to start working to help him. As a parent, I wanted to start doing cartwheels down the school hall as I was leaving the building.
This is only the beginning, but the first step is the hardest and yet the most important. I can sit back and enjoy the victory for now, quietly enjoying the weight that has been lifted. I will have to pick it up again as I work with and monitor the work the school does with my son but it is nice to know that I no longer have to carry it everyday.
At the beginning of the school year my son had been placed in an extra reading class based on his standardized test scores. Since learning of this I have been asking the school to actually test his reading level. My son has always struggled with reading but it was due to dyslexic tendencies and not normal reading difficulties, so putting him in a regular special reading class was not helping him. On and off throughout the last three years I have been politely arguing with the administration to try and get him the help he needs. I have routinely hit polite and well meaning walls. They kept telling me he was doing fine with their programs.
I am his mother...do not tell me that I do not understand and know my children. Academically he does fairly well, high 80s low 90s, but he still struggles with his reading and writing so they were only looking at his grades and the standardized test scores. I kept telling them that he is much smarter than his grades show and he was not getting anything out of the special reading classes. He makes it through his classes now by his own coping mechanisms but what is going to happen when the reading and school works gets progressively harder? I am not content to sit by and let him slide by now only to end up struggling later. Give him the tools to excel now and succeed in the future.
I finally complained my way far enough up the line and they did some specialized reading test. This morning I had my meeting with them and what do you think the results were? My son does not have typical reading issues, his tendencies seem to indicate some kind of dyslexia and would benefit more from some special one on one assistance to teach additional skills to overcome the decoding issues. Isn't that what I had been telling them all long. Why did it take so long to get any answer?
All I can tell you is that I am so relieved right now. I just sat at an hour long meeting to have the administration and faculty tell me that everything I had been telling them about my son is correct and now they are going to start working to help him. As a parent, I wanted to start doing cartwheels down the school hall as I was leaving the building.
This is only the beginning, but the first step is the hardest and yet the most important. I can sit back and enjoy the victory for now, quietly enjoying the weight that has been lifted. I will have to pick it up again as I work with and monitor the work the school does with my son but it is nice to know that I no longer have to carry it everyday.
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