Renee...
Find a Conversation
| Sat, 08-06-2005 - 4:45pm |
What kind of program is Jake in? How are you and he handling the whole middle school thing? Does he have to transition classes? I am still nervous that Mike won't be able to do that.
He is in a special ASD group. They have one main teacher that specializes in ASD's. She maintains contact with each child during their day. If they need a break or are having issues she will take them to her room and help them through it. Last year she even let Jake take a nap(like 15 mins) to get him through the day. He is in 3 SP Ed classes and 3 mainstream classes. He does change rooms for each class. Thress time a week he eats in what they call "lunchbunch". All the AS kids will eat in the AS teachers room and talk about things are concerned about. She is also a great advocate for the parents. Last yr jake had a Science9he is in mainstrem for Science;he test at a 12th grade level for it) teacher that just didn't "get it" and she stood her ground. Jake also has an aide in his all classes(except PE). Last yr he had an aide walk him to his classes;this they are not unless the need arises.(Meaning he strays of course and ends up in the bathroom inastead of class). Jake had to transition classes in 4&5th grades and he was always unorganized and behind and totally off track-he should not have been doing it but I couldnt get anyone to listen to me until the end of 5th grade(read last day of school)when they tried to hold him back and I held up his dx papers and told them they were not meeting my childs needs-he went to 6th grade. He went from 5th grade making for the year all F's on his report card to making final grades of A's and B's in all classes in the 6th grade.
He is handling middle school much better then me. He has no clue that people talk about him behind his back. I on the other hand consistantly worry about bullies and people(read kids) that don't get it and take advantage of him.
What kind of program is Cait in for next year?
Liza

That sounds pretty similar to Cait's program for next year. I have seen articles and such on similar programs in other areas too, so it seems these are becoming pretty popular.
Cait is in an AS program as well with her main AS teacher. There are 4 aides to that class. One was added to the class on Cait's IEP since she had a 1:1 for 1/2 days this past year. That aide was useless, but Cait can have a tendancy of ending up in the wrong place too. Each year it gets better but she still ended up "lost" about 2-3 times last year. I know in a big school with switching classes she will surely get lost a few times, lol.
Cait and all the AS kids are in the AS classroom for thier first and last periods of the day. They have 1 period of social-language skills, and 1 period of organizational/study skills. They also get the kids ready for thier classes in the morning and in the afternoon make sure they have all thier homework together, it is understood and they can do it independently. The kids are mainstreamed for the other 4 classes (academics). They don't have PE due to the special AS classes so the AS teacher does PE a couple times a week as part of the social skills class. One of the aides goes with the kids to thier assigned classes so you may have 3-4 kids from the AS class in one mainstream class and the aide is there for all of them. The aide takes notes on the class and makes sure to record the homework so they have that to help during the study skills class.
If the kids are stressed they can go see the AS teacher anytime. She is available to support the other teachers during the remainder of the day. The kids often have lunch together or in her class. I guess they (the teacher and aides) often go out and start card games and what not during lunch and social activities for the kids to do with the NT kids.
It is a really great program. I have met the teacher and she is a peach. There are 2 boys going into the class that we know from outside school as well. One is a friend of ours and the other one was in class with Cait in 3rd grade and he rides at the same horsebackriding program.
Only downfall is Cait is the ONLY girl with 12-13 boys. But if it wasn't for this program there is no way I would send her to middle school. Might as well just get flourescant paint out and draw a big target on her head. But I feel pretty safe with her in this program. They also have a similar one for high school.
She didn't fail last year, but not for a lack of trying, lol. If not for her IEP, having monthly meetings and adding the aide I think she would have failed. They also go by a different system here where they go on standardized testing and not the daily classwork for grades. She got a large amount of F's that came home and struggled quite a bit but tests well so she ranged mostly 2-3's and a 4 in spelling. (2 is approaching grade level - about C or D grades, 3's would be about a B and 4 an A)
Renee
Oh yea-that sounds a lot like what Jake has. There is one girl in his grade level and one girl in the grade above him. They get along very good. I think because they socialize like 8-10 yr olds would and not 12-14 yr olds would. They also share the same special interest-Yu-Gi-Oh--
I am sure Cait will do GREAT next year!
Sorry to cut this short-my kids are staying at my parents tonight(the whole night) and I am going on a date with DH!! Something we haven't done for 4 yrs-at least the over night!
Liza ;)