Wednesday 10:00 AM. I texted Huy, the supervisor, about what happened at the daycare yesterday that Mr. Gary was so upset and wanted me to call him. So Huy called me to talk about it.
Huy came with our new BT Anthony to the daycare yesterday (3:30 – 5:00 as schedule); Huy talked to Ms. Chastity and Ms. Angelina asking how was William doing without aid for the past 2 months. They both said William has been doing great. So Huy came to Mr. Gary and asked the same question. At first Ms. Gary said it William is doing fine but then went on saying that William is talking deficit, and that William doesn’t want to play with other kids so Huy should set up some activities like small group to help William. Huy replied that it’s not his job to do so; he and his staff are here just to support William, not to interrupt or pull William out of his daily schedule. I think this is why Mr. Gary is mad because Huy would not take his advise and refuse to do so.
Then Huy concluded that it seems to him William doesn’t need any help at the daycare any more so he will not send BT to the day care! I felt very sad about his decision; he only came for 1 and 1/2 hour and only based on the 2 teachers’ words who each has about 10 children to watch.
Dropped William at the daycare as usual, Mr. Gary was sitting in the yellow bird classroom, and gave me a signal that he wanted to talk. So after I put William to his bed, I came to him. He was very mad, “This is exact his words: there’s nothing else I can do here”. Mr. Gary referred to what Huy told him. Mr. Gary was upset because he thought Huy’s quitting on William by decide not to have sessions at the daycare anymore so he suggested things that Huy still can do for William, like setting up the small group where William can learn to interact with other children but looked like Huy took it the wrong way: Huy said “He told me how/what to do my job!”. I explained to Mr. Gary that they’re here just to SHADOW William, they will not interfere or create opportunity because it’s not their job to do so; and Huy preferred natural settings. Mr. Gary calmed down and he said, “If they’re here just to shadow then he’s right, William is fine here, he doesn’t need any help.” Then Mr. Gary said “I should apologize to him”, I gave him Huy’s number, he called but Huy did not pick up; he left a message in Huy’s voice mailbox.
Then Mr. Gary turned to Ms. Chastitiy and another staff (?), “Is William lacking of anything that need to improve?” They both said No; “William is very independent, he wakes up from his nap, put on his shoes, go to the play ground and play, doesn’t make any trouble at all.” The only thing he needs to improve is Speech. So they agreed that William doesn’t need any aid here.
Mr. Gary turned to me and said, “if there’s any tears these should be happy tears because William is at a different stage now”. I agreed with him, William is so much different than he was 1 year ago before he has ABA sessions. Of course I’m happy that he has growth so much but to say he doesn’t need any more help then I disagree.
I’m so touched that Mr. Gary did not think twice to argue with Huy to fight for William’s benefits. Other daycare’s director would careless about an ABA supervisor’s decision. From bottom of my heart, thank YOU Mr. Gary! I know all you want is the best for all your children under your supervision at the daycare.
On the way driving back to work, I realized that it must be the daycare staffs’ words that influenced Huy’s decision. They all said William is doing fine. I just hope that what they said is true. Although I’m very skeptical about that because to them if a boy doesn’t make any trouble, it means he’s doing fine.
Bottom line is that as a Mom, who knows his son the best, I still think William needs someone to encourage him to participate and socialize at the daycare; otherwise he’d be often stand or sit alone near the fence , just like when I dropped him off in the morning during last summer break. When William has school in the morning, his time at the daycare is not that much so I would not worry about that too much; but when the school is off and he has to stay at the day care all day, it hurts me when I see him standing and holding on to the fence looking at my car as I drive away. Other children at his age would just run off to his friends, say hi and play in the group. Our boy would just stand there and watch with careless and emotionless eyes.
I felt hopeless that I can’t convince Huy to change his mind. He took over the case for only a few months; at first he cut the hours (we lost 7 hours/week) and now plans to stop ABA sessions at the daycare, and based on what? Doesn’t he need to base on the ABC data to decide? What would another mom do in this case?