Preschool was a nightmare, and we ended up placing Stephen in a part-time special needs/speech and language preschool which meant I had to practically quit work. Stephen improved dramatically and we felt he was ready for the challenge of kindergarten. He excelled academically, but his days were filled with meltdowns and misunderstandings between him and his peers. Stephen and his teachers were miserable.
It is now the summer between kindergarten and first grade. We have moved, so he will be attending a new school. I just called the district to set up a transition IEP meeting and asked for the program specialist to be there. No one will be available until next week and I was informed that they have 30 days from the beginning of school to conduct the IEP. My hope is that Stephen will not have too many disruptions at the beginning of school. Transitions are hard enough as it is.
As I type this, I am torn between sadness and joy. Sad because I know the road he will travel will be rockier than most, but joyful because he will (hopefully) receive the special attention he needs in the classroom. Truthfully, he does not need much, just an understanding heart and a patient attitude.
Hang in there Shannon. If you need help navigating the IEP waters let me know. After doing it for so many years, I feel like I can Captain this boat without GPS these days.
ReplyDeleteI hope everything is going well for you and your son. I am in a similar situation. My son's teacher, however, son't see it. My son holds all of his anxiety in during the school day. As a result, he gets headaches and migraines. He has terrible grip strength and needs occupational therapy. So I had his Dr write a note rewuesting that the school do the therapy so that I don't have to take him out of school twice per week. We will see how this goes. He is not officially diagnosed yet. His only official diagnosis is Unspecified Anxiety Disorder with aspects of Autism. The Psychiatrist who gave this diagnosis asked us to take him to a neurologist who can do further testing to see if he is Autistic. His oldest half-brother is on the spectrum, and they are a lot aloke, despite their 13 year age difference. My son is in the 3rd grade, and we are moving half way across the country in a few months. I'm so nervous about the change, but I am committed to doing all that I can to establish, at least, a small circle of friends for him and his older brother.
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