I had a very "DUH ME" day today.
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| Tue, 08-21-2007 - 1:24am |
Okay most of you know how Chris stopped going to school last year. He just couldn't cope.
This year started last thur and so far so good with school. He went, and seemed to be okay. A little bit of a upset thur night but I got him to school on friday.
Today I took the boys to school and Nic got out and chris all of a sudden started freaking out. He kept saying today's Monday and everything has changed. I do think he has problems dealing with school for 5 days, weekends 2 days ect. Last week it was school for 2 days, then sat, sun off, then school started again....
I couldn't get him out of the car for nothing. The office lady tried to coax him, his new teacher came out and tried to coax him, and then the principle came out to coax him. He wasn't moving....
He was curled up in a ball, facing/against the other door (wouldn't even look at us) crouched down halfway on the seat and halfway on the floor of the car.
Okay at that point I say to the principle that I am going to take him out of this environment to calm him down and see what I can do. I knew I shouldn't go home as then I would never get him out so we went to Starbucks for Coffee and Hot Chocolate.
Were sitting in the car talking, drinking our stuff and I slowly ask him about the changes that bothered him.
OMG he started telling me stuff I never had a clue about before.
He said first that the fire drills bother him because they come unexpectidly and the noise hurts his ears.
Then he said the bells hurt his ears.
Then (OMG why didn't I figure this out before) he said that he has problems moving from subject to subject because he can't read an analog clock!!!
I sat up and went omg. I felt like a crappy mother because I knew he couldn't read a regular clock!
So I said Chris, if we go now and buy you a digital watch, would that help? I said then you will be able to tell when there was gonna be a transition/change most of the time.
His eyes lit up and he said yes.
The principle had given us a schedule that said what the teacher planned to do, everyday, what time it started and so on. I gave a copy to chris and plan to place copies on the refridgerator and also on my computer so he can see these things often. (I thought hey a visual, great!).
So off we went to longs drugs for a 25 dollar watch. Best 25 bucks I have spent in a long time! When we were at the store he kept saying we had to find a watch that had school time on it. Then I explained that we could buy any digital watch and can set the time to school time so we would be okay.
We bought it, set the time, drove up to school, went in and talked to the principle for a min and he happily went off to class. Now we do have to figure out how to set the time closest to the schools time (he gets confused when different clocks say different min), but today he did great :).
I can't believe I didn't think about this before!
Lainie

I am so glad that Chris was able to cope after getting him the watch. I know what you mean when it's something so simple that can set off a meltdown and you don't even think about it. I know you probably already have thought about it, but could the principal have the clocks in each of Chris's classes set according to his watch? Just an idea.
Alexis
I'm glad you found something to help!
Actually this proves what a phenomenal mother you are. You stepped back, brought him to a safe neutral environment, allowed him to chill out and he began to communicate. The watch was a fabulous idea. To think sped ed teachers get paid to do what WE do everyday...trouble shoot and find solutions. Whoo Hoo Lainie and Chris!!!!!
Dee
WOW, that is awesome that he told you all that and now you have something to work with. WTG Mom and CHRIS!!!!
Not a DUH moment. How can you know these things? Yes it is common for kids with ASD to have problems with transitions but you are not at school to see how he is dealing with them and the school refused to notice.
Hopefully with this new information they WILL SEE the ASD stuff and help him out.
He needs AT SCHOOL BY THE SUPPORT STAFF THERE:
1) a schedule that is very concrete.
2) Transition warnings that a change is about to occur. "Chris start packing up, we are switching in 3 minutes" kind of thing. This is so he doesn't spend the whole day staring at his watch and stressing over when the next transition is.
3) Extra time to make transitions whether that means starting him earlier or giving him more time to do it.
4) Social stories about school bells and fire alarms. Also social stories about the transitions to help ease his anxiety over them.
5) Advance warning if they can when a fire drill is going to occur. Mike's teacher always told him on the sly if she knew EVEN if she wasn't supposed to let the kids know. Her class was different (special ed and many with this issue) and she considered it a modification to meet their needs.
6) They may want to consider a time timer which is a visual timer where the red dissappears as they get closer to the end time. Works great for transitions.
That is all I can think of off the top of my head.
Renee
Hi Alexis,
Well she did mention that the teacher could easily plug in a digital clock in the classroom which would also help. But I think bascially he should just set it to the school time, which would probably be easier than to change the school time KWIM?
Thanks sweetie :)