Thanks all

Its supposed to be 500 to 600 words I believe.

I have no clue how many I even have.

Donna

you have room to play. i just plopped it into MS Word and did a word count:

431 words as is, unedited.
433 words substituting in the bit that Di edited.

~ waves ~

Here is my final copy for my article I think it looks great.

My son started having seizures in 1st grade. In the beginning, the seizures and epilepsy were very overwhelming for our family. As time has gone on, I began to understand the impact the seizures and diagnosis of epilepsy would have on his education, with other students who have epilepsy and uncontrolled seizures.
When students have an escalation of seizures at school, home, and other places it takes a far reaching toll on them. It not only influences behavior and attendance, but in many cases you start to see a decline in areas such as reading, subject comprehension, math, and even IQ. I experienced this with my son as his IQ dropped about 15 points.
The combination of multiple medications in high doses will strongly affect the way students learn. We know that taking even one medicine can cause concentration problems; now consider the effect that taking two, three, four or more medications can have on concentration levels.
It’s very hard for students who have been A and B achiever’s to understand and accept sudden decline in grades to C’s and D’s. In some instances, the decline challenges to just barely passing or failing
Schools believe if students are passing they don’t need intervention. This is unacceptable to us as parents and advocates. As parents and advocates we need to remember these kids should not be left on the sidelines. It’s imperative to work through and implement an education plan for these kids to keep their long term goals in life.
As advocates of students having seizures at school, we need a plan so that students can stay and learn, being sent home is not the answer. Exclusion from school due to seizures isn’t the answer; students will only fall further behind. However, by implementing accommodations we accept the need to learn differently.
Students have dreams and goals; they can achieve these by the team work of those in their lives. For example, if they wanted to be a Veterinarian, and that goal is challenging, maybe they can be a Veterinary Asst. Our student can perform duties in the offices, such as cleaning, or walking the animals, through accommodated related training they receive.
If students desire to be Chef’s, and it may not be reasonable to use the stove, consider a related job in this area. If they can work with ingredients, we know there are positions as prep persons who are getting organized and ready. Our students should learn from their educational providers the importance of these positions.
All students have dreams; schools should accept our combined dreams and be stronger partner in the meeting these goals. Students do not deserve to be left with just a “get them through” attitude from educators.
Education is provided for every child to help them pursue their dreams; just because of a disability the dreams should not be deterred by educators. Instead, challenge your educators to implement the most appropriate plan to meet educational goals and provide the network of support to achieve those dreams.

Donna,

this is great. i love the build up towards the end. it really packs a lot of positive punch... great job!!!

PRINT IT, PRINT IT!!!

Super good job, Donna. Really impressed by your re-working.
Congratulations!



P.S. Im an old lady. Can't party like that young whipper-snapper ~ waves ~ .