My son Ian, who has autism, returned to school this week after being home-schooled since the beginning of the school year. I chose to home school him after not finding a classroomÂfor him.Â
With the help of my consultant, I found a great classroom for Ian and he was supposed to begin almost two weeks ago. Except everyone in my house became quite ill and, as luck should have it, we (me and all three of my children) were home sick for weeks. So, Ian has only attended school two days and neither of them in a row!
However, I have to say, with what little I have to go on, he is doing better then I could have hoped for. Based on the simple fact alone that he wants to go. Amazing!
I’m sure it will wear-off and he will begin to protest the calls to awaken at 6:00 AM each day, but that’s to be expected and probably one of most typical things he does.
What impressed me the most was that Ian followed his diet… without really being forced to, as the school didn’t know he couldn’t have milk, chocolate, chicken and so on. He did really well and made good choices and I was really surprised because he would normally inhale those foods as fast as possible (and pay for it later).
The communication with the teacher is astounding. I speak with her, in person by phone, whenever I need to and she never rushes me (sounds like a trip to the Dr.s). The notes that come home are not “he had a good day or he had a bad day”, it’s a detailed account of his day and the focus is not academic – it’s about Ian! How wonderful.
I haven’t had to use any of the numerous, ok – countless, letter templates and forms that I use day in and day out. That says a lot in my book.
I see the work he does, because it actually comes home in his bag, and I know he can do it. Better yet, I can tell he is doing the work and not “a helper”.
Which is another great thing about this class; Ian has a 1:1 para-professional assigned to support him, but all staff in the class work with each student, so he will be less likely to rely upon (or become tired of) one person.Â
He now attends a neighboring district, which is taking me some time getting used to; new people, procedures and policies. I have to collect everyone’s information and it’s twice the work, since he attends a school that uses a classroom inside another school… he kind of attends both! This district is also the ‘rival’ district of our home district when it comes to sports and the boys like to pick on each other about that (although neither play sports or will attend the events!).
Like anything else, I’m sure there will be challenges, but with the bumpy start we’ve had, and the great response to it, I expect any challenges will be overcome by everyone working together and really believing Prevention is key (preventing behaviors, frustration, etc).
I won’t say anything yet, but I don’t believe he will have much, if any, homework and, at the risk of sounding like the meanest mother ever, I have to say I want him to have homework and other projects related to school, so I can reinforceÂschool work and have himÂbuild study skills.Â
But, I’ll let Ian settle in for a bit and wait until after the holidays I suppose. Homework isn’t going anywhere and he won’t like the idea as much as me, so there’s no need to rush.
I hope you are all having good experiences this school year. I’m crossing my fingers for us and for all of you too!
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