Back to school
We're about a week into the new school year here and so far, so good. Fourth and fifth grade classes are taught in portable buildings at the kids' school, so that's something new for the boy child, but it doesn't seem to be causing any problems (except that he may possibly be allergic to something in his portable building, but we're monitoring that).
We are quite happy with his teacher so far. She doesn't have any real experience with Asperger's Syndrome (apparently the boy child is her first and only Aspie student), but she is very eager to learn more about it and has actually gone off on her own to research it, in addition to calling us at home just to touch base and pick our brains a bit. She does have quite a bit of experience with Sensory Integration Dysfunction, apparently, which is wonderful because it's the sensory issues that tend to come up most in the classroom setting as far as the boy child is concerned.
She's aware that we're asking for an ARD for the boy child this year (that's the meeting during which we'll draw up his IEP). I haven't gotten in contact yet with the ARD coordinator at the school but I will do that this week. I'm kind of dreading the whole process, frankly. Most of the ARD/IEP tips I've found online and in books set the parent up in an adversarial role, and I'm not altogether comfortable with that. The school has been awesome with the boy child so far, making accommodations for him even without an IEP. It's mostly middle school that I'm worried about -- I definitely want to have a very thorough IEP for the boy by the time he's through with our current school. I'm hoping to be able to advocate for him without taking the attitude of "since you're probably trying to screw us anyway, this is what we demand you do for him and we'll sue your asses if you don't." Ugh!
The girl child is in second grade now and loves it. She has a lot of friends in her class (as does the boy child, thank goodness) and her teacher is really young and enthusiastic but with a couple of years of teaching experience under her belt.
It's early days yet, but I think both kids are going to have a good year. Fingers crossed!
We are quite happy with his teacher so far. She doesn't have any real experience with Asperger's Syndrome (apparently the boy child is her first and only Aspie student), but she is very eager to learn more about it and has actually gone off on her own to research it, in addition to calling us at home just to touch base and pick our brains a bit. She does have quite a bit of experience with Sensory Integration Dysfunction, apparently, which is wonderful because it's the sensory issues that tend to come up most in the classroom setting as far as the boy child is concerned.
She's aware that we're asking for an ARD for the boy child this year (that's the meeting during which we'll draw up his IEP). I haven't gotten in contact yet with the ARD coordinator at the school but I will do that this week. I'm kind of dreading the whole process, frankly. Most of the ARD/IEP tips I've found online and in books set the parent up in an adversarial role, and I'm not altogether comfortable with that. The school has been awesome with the boy child so far, making accommodations for him even without an IEP. It's mostly middle school that I'm worried about -- I definitely want to have a very thorough IEP for the boy by the time he's through with our current school. I'm hoping to be able to advocate for him without taking the attitude of "since you're probably trying to screw us anyway, this is what we demand you do for him and we'll sue your asses if you don't." Ugh!
The girl child is in second grade now and loves it. She has a lot of friends in her class (as does the boy child, thank goodness) and her teacher is really young and enthusiastic but with a couple of years of teaching experience under her belt.
It's early days yet, but I think both kids are going to have a good year. Fingers crossed!
posted by Miss Anthrope at 10:30 AM
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