There is a pilot project running right now at a local high school in the town where I live. From Wednesday to Friday each week, there is a room called “The Chat Room” where kids with IPP’s or special coding, or even kids that just need safety can take alternative classes, take a break and unwind, get some food or a cup of tea, and escape from the stress they’re feeling.

I remember first hearing the terms “coding” and “IPP” when my middle son was in grade 2. He was the tiniest child in the school, had pop bottle bottom glasses since he was 8 months old, and had a bad speach issue. I spent hours every day at the table with him, teaching him how to speak, repeating vowels and consonants so he wouldnt have to be pulled fromantic class. The muscles in his cheeks and throat did not develop properly, and he couldn’t say r, l, k, s, w, t, and many other sounds. He basically sounded like he had peanut butter in his mouth. They always wanted to test him for different things and it got to the point that he didn’t even want to go to school. He was horribly bullied, until one day I pulled him out and made a change.

Once we were at the new school they encouraged me to have him tested to see where they could best help him succeed. I had never wanted my kids “coded” because I had learned that this would make you “the class idiot”. I thought they would have this horrible stigma attached to them for the rest of their lives. I was very wrong.

After agreeing and going through the process, I found eventually that he had markers for learning that were completely missing, and some that were off the charts. Over time, he was coded with a rare extreme OCD disorder, severe anxiety, and ADHD along with certain learning markers. Accommodations were put in place, and he started to succeed. Slowly but surely some of his challenges were used in his favor rather than against him, and the one child I thought wouldn’t make it graduated! Not only did he graduate, but he ended up graduating with the most credits any student had ever had.

For awhile I felt guilty that my own fear, and perhaps embarrassment at having a child with special needs held him back. He had no 3D vision (still doesnt), his eyes work independently, his speech was horrible, he was very tiny, and eventually he became very depressed and suicidal. His clothes got bigger as he got thinner and thinner, he never smiled, and just sat in the dark all the time. Once we got him the help he needed, he started to soar. That coding was a signal light to everyone he encountered and changed his life. He became strong, and was his own best advocate.

My daughter is now undergoing coding for an IPP as she enters high school. Should the government decide to keep this pilot program going and make it permanent, which I really hope they do, she will be able to use this room as a safe place when things start to unwind. She can take classes in a room with an essential oil diffuser going, with lava lamps and beautiful art on the walls. She can do her work in a protected environment with other kids that are struggling with life too. There is a window in the room, and on the other side you can see 40 or so students in a sterile white room, sitting at desks with computers. As I stood in The Chat Room, I felt in awe as to how things have changed. For a moment it actually felt like it was ok to be different than the norm.

I come from an age of corporal punishment in school, where “suck it up” was a common phrase, and when it was ok for a teacher to throw his chalk at you if you looked the wrong way.

The future is bright for our kids if programs like this stay in place. No kids are turned away, IPP or not. We need to be advocates for things like this. The teacher told me they had a strong feeling about who would want to use The Chat Room, and when it opened they were shocked to see kids they never would have expected, coming by and checking in.

It’s a different tomorrow out there than I’m used to, but in some ways that alone dispels the fears I have. My knowledge is based on the past, but what I’m learning about future possibilities is bright. Coming back to the system might not be quite so impossible.

We’re back, at least a little bit. And the future is bright.