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Being that it is the last day of Autism Awareness Month and as part of Blogging for Autism Awareness, I’ve decided to close it with an amazing update that I’ve received about my son, Christopher, during the IEP meeting I had with his teachers last week. I want people to know that I’m not trying to brag about my son, I am just so happy about the progress he has made, and I feel the need to share it and hopefully Christopher’s story will give hope to those parents out there, that are dealing with a similar situation.
First, these meetings always make me nervous. This time, I had a feeling it would turn out good, because of the wonderful progress reports that were being sent home. There was no doubt in my mind. But at the beginning of the year, things started out quite rough.
Christopher was having trouble adjusting to the schedule and his teacher, and I have to admit, I was very discouraged. You see…when Christopher was first enrolled and evaluated, it was recommended that he be placed in a 4 to 5 year old preschool class, that would allow him to be in a more restrictive environment. Whatever that means, but upon hearing this, my husband and I were not very happy about this placement. I wanted him to be placed into a regular Kindergarten class. Given, my son had issues, but we knew how smart he was, and we strongly felt that this was not the correct placement for him.
So, after discussing this with the SPED department, they agreed to put him in an inclusion Kindergarten class (a mainstream class, consisting of typical children and children with special needs). First day of school wasn’t too bad, but after going one day, Christopher started refusing to go, crying and pleading for me not to leave him. Now remember, this is my first child, on top of that, he has special needs, so I didn’t know what to do, but to just bring him home with me. I immediately called the school and arranged for a meeting to discuss our options. I was feeling like I had made a mistake having him placed in the Kindergarten class. The meeting was held, and although the topic of moving him back to the pre-school class was discussed, it was ultimately decided that he just be switched to the other inclusion class. The teacher in this class had a different teaching technique and her class was not as structured and a little more laid back. And I’ll admit the minute I met this woman, I took one look at her and immediately knew that she would be the perfect teacher for my son.
Click the screenshot.
