So we left off last blog at the impasse between the public school system and me when Marcus was not yet 5 years old. What happened next is someone told me about a local school for special needs students called the Madonna School.

“OK. We’ll look into it.”

In 1995 we toured the school, a small converted church in Benson, desperate for an option…We were greeted by book pages covering the principal’s floor. He apologized for the disarray, explaining he was creating the 40 odd math syllabuses for the nearly 50 students.

“Wait-” I said. “You don’t force everyone into three peg-hole options?” Marcus was only five years old and I already displayed battle fatigue from our public school experiences. The idea of school staff being on the same team as Marcus, of our educating and preparing him together to face the world-that concept created hope.