504
Okay, so we had the 504 meeting on Monday and it went pretty well, I think. DH and I both went, along with the vice principal, the boy child's teacher, his counselor and a special aide who acted as secretary for the meeting.
First we explained the boy's problems with executive functioning. This is his major deficit and it governs his ability to organize and to generalize. This is why it is nearly impossible for him to remember what he needs to do at the end of each day in terms of getting all of his homework papers and stuff into his backpack. It also affects his ability to get started on assignments and to ask for help when he needs it.
We stressed that the most important thing for the boy, particularly when it comes to teaching him these skills for which his brain is simply not wired, is consistency. He needs a routine, and it has to be done the same way EVERY DAY so it will become a body memory. That's the only way he's ever going to be able to do this stuff independently.
Anyway, everyone seemed to be in agreement and so the meeting went very well. We were able to get the following:
I've forwarded some general info to his teacher about AS and highlighted the bits that particularly apply to the boy. We've also asked that in-class partners/groups be chosen by some arbitrary system rather than letting the kids choose. Like many kids with AS, the boy is often left out in the latter case -- not necessarily because the other kids don't like him, but because by the time he figures out what "choose a partner" means and what he needs to do to make that happen for himself (both from a proactive and receptive standpoint), the other kids are already paired off. It's part of the whole social skills deficit thing. So hopefully the teacher will make a few changes there.
Anyway, so far, so good. We're in the trial phase of all this now, so we'll see how it goes.
First we explained the boy's problems with executive functioning. This is his major deficit and it governs his ability to organize and to generalize. This is why it is nearly impossible for him to remember what he needs to do at the end of each day in terms of getting all of his homework papers and stuff into his backpack. It also affects his ability to get started on assignments and to ask for help when he needs it.
We stressed that the most important thing for the boy, particularly when it comes to teaching him these skills for which his brain is simply not wired, is consistency. He needs a routine, and it has to be done the same way EVERY DAY so it will become a body memory. That's the only way he's ever going to be able to do this stuff independently.
Anyway, everyone seemed to be in agreement and so the meeting went very well. We were able to get the following:
- Extra copies of all the boy's school textbooks that we can keep at home. I read this suggestion in one of the AS books (can't remember which one, sorry) and it made a ton of sense. Half the time when he does remember to bring home his homework, it will turn out he needs a textbook to complete it and he will have forgotten the book. Or vice-versa. This makes one less thing he has to remember to bring home, which alleviates a lot of stress for him.
- A checklist that the teacher will use with him at school. This spells out explicitly what he needs to do at the end of each day (write his assignment in the planner, put his homework in his homework folder, put the planner and folder in his backpack, etc.). The teacher will go through this with him step-by-step at first to get him started, and she will sign off on the checklist when it has been completed. Then we'll also sign it at home. Eventually we hope he will be able to complete the checklist independently.
- An aide who can be available to accompany the boy on field trips when I can't go. I decided to ask for this just for the hell of it. It's something he really does need, but I wasn't sure we'd be able to get it. Turns out it was no problem at all! Yay! This relieves a ton of stress for ME because I have worried myself sick on every field trip that I've had to miss. There are so many things that can (and have) set him off when he's outside the routine of school, so this is really pretty huge.
- Continued weekly meetings between the boy and the counselor to work on social skills training (they have been doing this since last year and it has been working out GREAT).
- A meeting between DH, myself, the boy's current counselor and the counselor he will have in sixth grade, to be held this spring. This isn't actually part of the 504 plan; there was some mumbo-jumbo about them not being able to officially set that up for some reason. However, the counselor, who has been WONDERFUL and in every case has absolutely followed through on what she said she would do since the beginning of last year, has promised that she will set this up for us. This will let DH and me have face time with the new counselor and kind of open the door for the boy to be transitioned from his current counselor to the new one. It's really important that when he moves to middle school he has at least one adult that he knows on campus who can be a "safe" person for him, especially during those first few weeks.
I've forwarded some general info to his teacher about AS and highlighted the bits that particularly apply to the boy. We've also asked that in-class partners/groups be chosen by some arbitrary system rather than letting the kids choose. Like many kids with AS, the boy is often left out in the latter case -- not necessarily because the other kids don't like him, but because by the time he figures out what "choose a partner" means and what he needs to do to make that happen for himself (both from a proactive and receptive standpoint), the other kids are already paired off. It's part of the whole social skills deficit thing. So hopefully the teacher will make a few changes there.
Anyway, so far, so good. We're in the trial phase of all this now, so we'll see how it goes.
posted by Miss Anthrope at 1:52 PM
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