Healing and School for Micah
Donation protected
We are a family with a son, Micah, who is eleven years old and who has Autism Spectrum Disorder. In September 2014 we enrolled our son in the Structured Learning Center of a local public school, where we thought he would be safe. Instead, he was bullied by an older special needs student.
This bullying was supported by the teacher, as hard as it is to believe, because of the teacher's frustration with our son. As Micah said, "The ignoring was so extreme it was as though she had never been a child" and couldn't understand what he was going through when the bully threatened to kill him, yelled at, put him down and exposed him to extreme horror stories and graphic news stories and pictures (e.g. corpses) from the Internet at school.
When we pulled him out of the school in February 2015, he had PTSD, which has continued up until now. Last summer we supported him with therapeutic activites like equine therapy, music therapy and occupational therapy. However, we cannot currently afford those things due to an increase in our food bill that has been necessary in order to provide organic, local, grass-fed foods to both our son Micah and our younger son who has a different medical need.
Micah is home schooled and is isolated due to behaviors resulting from the trauma he experienced at school. The school district refused to admit anything wrong happened and has balked on their responsibility to provide all he needs educationally.
Since friends and acquaintances provided nearly $1000 through gofundme.com Micah has been able to participate in equine therapy, and soccer. We also continue to search for an appropriate mental health therapist for severe separation anxiety and PTSD. We would like to add music therapy as well, which unfortunately is not covered by our insurance.
Finally, we hope to enroll Micah in Victory Academy in Sherwood, Oregon when Micah's separation anxiety abates. Victory Academy is a private school run by a mother of a child with ASD, and is successful in caring for and educating children and teens with ASD. The soonest enrollment would be August 2017. The cost of enrollment is $24,960 a year.
http://www.victoryacademy.org/
The past 2 years have been the most painful of our lives, because it has felt as though Micah's childhood was stolen from him. To have friends and not-yet-friends support him and us at this time has been healing both practically and spiritually for him and all of us.
Micah's goal in life is to defend wild animals from extinction and harm. He would like to earn Ph.D.s in biology and zoology. With his brilliance and sensitive heart we know he can do much in this world, but he needs healing and skills first.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping to bring healing to Micah. Your love means more than we can say.
This bullying was supported by the teacher, as hard as it is to believe, because of the teacher's frustration with our son. As Micah said, "The ignoring was so extreme it was as though she had never been a child" and couldn't understand what he was going through when the bully threatened to kill him, yelled at, put him down and exposed him to extreme horror stories and graphic news stories and pictures (e.g. corpses) from the Internet at school.
When we pulled him out of the school in February 2015, he had PTSD, which has continued up until now. Last summer we supported him with therapeutic activites like equine therapy, music therapy and occupational therapy. However, we cannot currently afford those things due to an increase in our food bill that has been necessary in order to provide organic, local, grass-fed foods to both our son Micah and our younger son who has a different medical need.
Micah is home schooled and is isolated due to behaviors resulting from the trauma he experienced at school. The school district refused to admit anything wrong happened and has balked on their responsibility to provide all he needs educationally.
Since friends and acquaintances provided nearly $1000 through gofundme.com Micah has been able to participate in equine therapy, and soccer. We also continue to search for an appropriate mental health therapist for severe separation anxiety and PTSD. We would like to add music therapy as well, which unfortunately is not covered by our insurance.
Finally, we hope to enroll Micah in Victory Academy in Sherwood, Oregon when Micah's separation anxiety abates. Victory Academy is a private school run by a mother of a child with ASD, and is successful in caring for and educating children and teens with ASD. The soonest enrollment would be August 2017. The cost of enrollment is $24,960 a year.
http://www.victoryacademy.org/
The past 2 years have been the most painful of our lives, because it has felt as though Micah's childhood was stolen from him. To have friends and not-yet-friends support him and us at this time has been healing both practically and spiritually for him and all of us.
Micah's goal in life is to defend wild animals from extinction and harm. He would like to earn Ph.D.s in biology and zoology. With his brilliance and sensitive heart we know he can do much in this world, but he needs healing and skills first.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping to bring healing to Micah. Your love means more than we can say.
Organizer
Susan McLeod-Harrison
Organizer
Newberg, OR
