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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Aidan moves to a new school... or, why first year kindergarten teachers shouldn't have autistic children in their classroom...r

It's been an excruciating and stressful process, which has taken nearly a month (maybe more) to straighten out, but Aidan is now happily ensconced at his new school. Let's hope this time is more successful.

Because I registered Aidan late at Creekside Elementary (here in Limestone County), he was placed in a classroom with a FIRST YEAR TEACHER. Okay, seriously, who is this fair to? Aidan did alright at first, he made lots of friends, and came home singing songs and did his work. He adored his special ed teacher, Ms. Matsos (thank God for her, or things would have been a million times worse!), but she could only spend so much time with him, since she's got a lot of other students to tend to.

Aidan has a lot of issues with sensory overload, and I made sure that his kindergarten teacher (Ms. Hayes), Ms. Matsos, and the principal (Mr. Scott) all knew about these issues. Sounds are really his weakness, and he has to put a lot of effort into ignoring all the little noises you and I are able to filter out with no issue. I know some smells bother him, and he hasn't really told me about whether certain lights bother him, but who knows. We send his iPod to school with him everyday in case he needs time out and some different sensory input, and you'd think Ms. Hayes would learn pretty quickly when Aidan needs a chance to escape.

A couple weeks into school, they started DIBELS testing. This is basic reading skills competency for kindergartners. Aidan had been doing fine up until this point, with really very few problems. As far as I can guess, this change of schedule and routine really threw him off and the problems started.

Now anyone who's been around Aidan a lot, knows that when he's trying to ignore the world around him and focus on the task at hand (school work, TV, playing with trains, Lego's, etc.), if you touch him or speak to him, he lashes out. He just has a hard time with the sensory input. At school there are even more noises to try to filter out, and even more to focus on. Of course, kindergartners aren't great at staying out of personal space, or leaving other kids alone, and they all sit at group tables together. What does this mean for Aidan? It means that he starts hitting kids or pulling their hair or whatever reaction he feels is necessary when they break his focus or he goes into sensory overload. He had been having problems with pickup in the afternoon because it was too loud, and we changed that situation, but you can't exactly pull a kid out of the classroom every time he gets overwhelmed.

At least twice a week I was being called by the principal, or having to go the Principal's office to pick Aidan up because he had hit another student, or worse had hit his teacher. Kindergarten children should not be spending the day in ISS (in school suspension). But Aidan realized that the office was quiet, and there weren't other students there to invade his space or make irritating noises. So he continued acting out, because for him that wasn't a punishment. And it felt wrong to punish him for reacting the only way he knew how to a highly uncomfortable situation - he just doesn't have the coping skills to deal with it any other way.

Finally, Mr. Scott (the principal at Creekside) recommended that we consider placing Aidan at a different school that could better provide for his needs as a child with autism. Johnson Elementary, which is about the same distance from our house, just in a different direction, has a self-contained autism unit, with several aides to help the children one-on-one, and one of the best autism teachers in the state.

What an opportunity!

We were hesitant at first. Aidan is super-smart (highest reading level in his kindergarten class!), and very high-functioning - would these kids who were much lower-functioning make it harder for him to progress? Would he be overwhelmed by their behavior? If we didn't move him, what could we do for him?

Fortunately, Limestone County spent the majority of their stimulus money on their autism programs. In fact, they have a nationally renowned behaviorist from Auburn on retainer for the year - Dr. Babcock. He's odd, but he's very intuitive and has been working with autistic children for a very long time. We had the chance to sit down with him, as well as two of the special ed coordinators from the school board, and the autism teacher at Johnson (Ms. Enloe, who is amazing). Dr. Babcock also went over and spoke to Ms. Matsos about Aidan, and also observed him for a little while to get an idea of Aidan's behavior. Apparently, it is very rare for Dr. Babcock to recommend for a child to go to the autism unit, but he told us without a doubt that this was where Aidan belonged (heck, we asked God for a clear direction, I guess he thought he'd better make it crystal clear!). He feared that if we didn't move Aidan, he would develop a school phobia - he didn't want Aidan to feel like he had to act out to escape the discomfort of the regular classroom.

So, I took Aidan the next day to visit the classroom, with the hopes that if he liked it, we could get him enrolled the following Monday. This was the plan, and I was told by the special ed coordinator that it was clear for us to do this. We were delayed by a week because Ms. Enloe was going to be out on training, but when she returned then we'd start Aidan there and have his IEP meeting on his first day.

This is where the tangled mess that had me so stressed out really got even messier. Jeremy and I showed up Monday morning with Aidan who they took to the classroom. Ms. Matsos, Ms. Enloe, Dr. Lewis (Johnson's principal - who I don't like), and Ms. Simmons (a kindergarten teacher at Johnson) met with us. Instead of coming up with an IEP, they (Dr. Lewis and Ms. Enloe, but mostly Dr. Lewis) started back-pedaling. Oh, we didn't know about any of this, we don't have enough info to do an IEP, we don't know enough about his behavior, we didn't know this decision was final, are we sure he should be at Johnson, I thought Dr. Babcock was supposed to make a behavior plan first, that meeting wasn't official, let's step back and think about this. I went into mama bear mode. I was ready to slash some throats and take some heads. We left that day without accomplishing anything. They said he could stay the rest of that day, but should return to Creekside until further notice. The principal would attempt to contact the special ed coordinator. We had to wait until Friday after next to hear from Dr. Babcock. Who cares if we're shoving an already miserable little boy back into an uncomfortable and unproductive environment? It's convenient for us.

Thank goodness Ms. Matsos told Mr. Scott. About an hour after the disastrous meeting, my cell phone rang and it was Ms. Baccus (the special ed coordinator). She said Mr. Scott had called her and said the meeting hadn't gone well. I told her what had happened, and she confirmed that it was not THEIR decision to make, and that the decision had already been made and emails had been sent two weeks before. She said not to get upset because it would be taken care of. She called me back again and said we could go ahead and transfer Aidan from Creekside to Johnson, that he would finish out the week at Johnson, and on Thursday we'd have the IEP meeting, and she would be there to ensure that things were done properly and Aidan wasn't shuffled to the side again for the sake of bureaucracy.

So Aidan started his second week at Johnson yesterday. They've been working on handwriting, and numbers, and when he behaves for a certain amount of time he gets to go the sensory integration room. He calls it the nursery room for some reason - he loves it. It has quiet music, and dim lighting, and all kinds of interesting toys like a ball pit and a tent, and eventually a swing. He seems so much happier.

Right now they're observing his behavior, and letting him acclimate to the new school and environment. He's getting used to the new schedule and people, and then once they've gotten to know him, he'll start spending time in the regular kindergarten classroom, with an aide. Eventually, he'll spend the majority of his day in there with an aide. The plan is that next year he'll be back at Creekside and we'll try the whole kindergarten thing again. Considering he's got the maturity of a 4 year old right now, then next year he should fit right in. And you can be sure, I won't allow them to place him with an inexperienced teacher again.

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