I feel like an ol timer bringing up my past experiences like “when I was your age, we had [blahblahblah].”

It seems like in today’s narrative this will be one of those cases.

For most people who grew up in the 1970s to perhaps the 1990s (and maybe after that time), most US public schools in all age groups had guidance counselors. They helped people during any types of crisis, ether in the classroom or at home. This was also great for special needs – especially ones who can verbalize. Apparently they still exist, because a father of a moderate/severe autistic, friend of mine complains about how PC school systems are top heavy of administrators and guidance counselors and not security guards, etc. I look back, and he was a Grumpy Old Parry type of angry man.

I had this up until high school – once I started south of the border.

I do not understand why we didn’t, or if we could’ve been given the option. At GLEC, there was about 5 programs based in Methuen. One of them appeared to have counselors but it was a “therapeutic school”. Because I do not possess a Masters or PhD I can’t tell what the hell the difference of a “therapeutic school” from a traditional out of district program.

In anyway, most of us who were verbal or non verbal were screwed. My first program there had about 7 to 8 classrooms, mostly 6 to 8 students to teacher ratio (which for special ed standards was way too high.) Half the program was verbal or non verbal. Unlike Ltown, we weren’t integrated between the verbal or non verbal. Regardless the spirit was there of a “family” like culture.

Diversions was a typical SOP in high school, if GLEC or SAU12 couldn’t provide the service, then I was diverted to other parties. So that “counseling” for really less than heavy things you don’t want to talk to your teacher but not to your psychologist was non existent. Even if I did advocate myself, I knew for sure, maybe a 9 times out of 10 it would be denied due to Mass law or create a political wildfire within my classroom of “why can Steven have him/her?”

In short, my counseling was diverted to the psychologist who I worked with for 18 years and also acted as a consultant to the team, with a bias towards my mother and not to me. And her advice? I was better off reading her stupid books! I’ll admit, I may have made the time more useful, but hey – I’d say, a service I got so spoiled in New Hampshire I was trying to replicate but this “progressive” state so so far from the truth and yet I’ll probably be called an “ableist” just for calling this out.

If only I could find hope, have someone help me through this mess and act as an mediator  between my mother and I and avoid putting my personal issues as a burden to my “core” (as I describe this) between my day program or my area agency, because to be quite blunt, this really isn’t their business.