It's pretty well documented by (mostly) moms that when their child with Down syndrome is hurt, talked about, passed over etc. for any reason, a mama bear comes out of them. Thankfully, I have not had to deal with this too much, we have been pretty blessed with understanding people, great therapists and teachers.
Yesterday, I had our discharge meeting. Here, we receive Early Intervention from birth to two years...then you are discharged to the system. What system? I haven't found out exactly what it's called, but here we are taken over by Community Living North Halton..and from what I understand, the new case manager (Resource Consultant/RC) will stay with us until the transition to the school board. I think...
Our RC has never really sat well with me, from the first time I met her unofficially at the daycare center, and I couldn't tell you why...she just rubs me the wrong way. I am trying to give her a fair chance...it's like a new relationship...you're not going to feel completely comfortable with eachother at first, but hopefully as you both find your role, things progress. So I decided to just give her a chance and try to remain impassive until we get to know eachother.
(Side note: Everleigh does not drink milk. It causes her to be incredibly stuffy, congested and all around cranky. She gets one cup (about 9oz I believe) of orange juice fortified with calcium and vitamin D at lunchtime, one cup (9oz) of almond milk at bedtime, and as much water as she desires throughout the day)
Today, the RC visited Everleigh in the daycare center around their lunchtime. I'm not sure what they had for lunch, but Everleigh is generally a pretty good eater so I never really worry about that. Well I guess the RC decided to make a comment about how "she would never send her child to school with juice" and how "she should be having milk instead". The ECE in the class explained to her the situation with the milk and orange juice and left it at that. She then relayed the incident to me at pick up time.
Do I say something to the RC? I feel that a) she should have read Everleigh's file at the daycare/the files sent from the previous case manager and be up to speed on things like this and b) it's not really any of her business what Ev drinks or does not drink. Everleigh is not her child. Or should I just let it go, document it in my own files, and hope that she was just talking without thinking...and that as time goes on and she gets to know Everleigh better, she will stop making comments like this? I also feel that this is something that should have been relayed directly to me...she has my e-mail and phone number...if she had something to say, should she not have said it to me and not the teacher?
Because information can get skewed between people, I'd recommend just writing a file in your folder and leaving it at that. If it happens again, address it for sure.
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