Ashley is a few weeks into her new school and doing amazingly well. We are so excited about her new classroom and the team working with her. We made the decision in January to move her from an autism classroom (with several children with varying degrees of severity) to her own private classroom, at another nearby school. This school building she is in now contains a behavioral program and a life skills program. Ashley is not really in either program, but has peer interaction with some of the children. At first I was a little nervous about the change. I had concerns about the lack of peer interaction with neurotypical kids and the fact that an isolated setting is not “real life”. But I can certainly get her peer interaction, having another and very social daughter also in 5th grade, and I don’t think an autism classroom or typical classroom is really “real life” either. Things were going so poorly at school for her anyway, and my concerns were growing daily, so what did we have to lose? We made the leap to the new school, and it has been fabulous. She has a team working with her. They are assessing her needs, and then structuring a curriculum and environment to meet those needs. Ashley’s team includes a behavioral magician (as far as we are concerned), that has worked with her in the past, a woman I have known for years, and a registered nurse that has almost daily contact with Ashley. Also her Para from the old school moved over with her. There are several other people on her team as well. Everybody is excited and happy to work with her! A lot of fresh ideas are being thrown around and tried. The team is open to my input as well. It is so nice to have a nurse on board to give input for the many medical decisions that we need to make. The school is only a couple blocks from our house, but she is still able to ride the bus (one of her favorite activities and a good source of independence) in the morning to the old school to participate in adaptive P.E. with her old class. Then Ashley and her Para drive over to her new class for the rest of the day. At the end of the day her Para brings her home to me. They are able to be a lot more flexible and really work on skills relevant to Ashley. We don’t have to worry about state assessments, trying to fit in with the rest of the 5th grade class, etc. I know this situation wouldn’t be ideal for everyone, but it is working for us. I also hear so many parents that complain about having to really fight for their kids educations, and that they don’t get what they believe their child needs. I can certainly relate to that sentiment. However, over the last couple of months, I have had a lot of meetings with all sorts of people working within the special education co-op. I really felt that everyone listened, and worked hard to create an ideal environment and team to meet Ashley’s needs. I am confident that we will all continue to work together for Ashley, and she will benefit greatly. Like us on Facebook
Originally posted February 2012
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Ashley's New School Experience
Ashley is a few weeks into her new school and doing amazingly well. We are so excited about her new classroom and the team working with her. We made the decision in January to move her from an autism classroom (with several children with varying degrees of severity) to her own private classroom, at another nearby school. This school building she is in now contains a behavioral program and a life skills program. Ashley is not really in either program, but has peer interaction with some of the children. At first I was a little nervous about the change. I had concerns about the lack of peer interaction with neurotypical kids and the fact that an isolated setting is not “real life”. But I can certainly get her peer interaction, having another and very social daughter also in 5th grade, and I don’t think an autism classroom or typical classroom is really “real life” either. Things were going so poorly at school for her anyway, and my concerns were growing daily, so what did we have to lose? We made the leap to the new school, and it has been fabulous. She has a team working with her. They are assessing her needs, and then structuring a curriculum and environment to meet those needs. Ashley’s team includes a behavioral magician (as far as we are concerned), that has worked with her in the past, a woman I have known for years, and a registered nurse that has almost daily contact with Ashley. Also her Para from the old school moved over with her. There are several other people on her team as well. Everybody is excited and happy to work with her! A lot of fresh ideas are being thrown around and tried. The team is open to my input as well. It is so nice to have a nurse on board to give input for the many medical decisions that we need to make. The school is only a couple blocks from our house, but she is still able to ride the bus (one of her favorite activities and a good source of independence) in the morning to the old school to participate in adaptive P.E. with her old class. Then Ashley and her Para drive over to her new class for the rest of the day. At the end of the day her Para brings her home to me. They are able to be a lot more flexible and really work on skills relevant to Ashley. We don’t have to worry about state assessments, trying to fit in with the rest of the 5th grade class, etc. I know this situation wouldn’t be ideal for everyone, but it is working for us. I also hear so many parents that complain about having to really fight for their kids educations, and that they don’t get what they believe their child needs. I can certainly relate to that sentiment. However, over the last couple of months, I have had a lot of meetings with all sorts of people working within the special education co-op. I really felt that everyone listened, and worked hard to create an ideal environment and team to meet Ashley’s needs. I am confident that we will all continue to work together for Ashley, and she will benefit greatly. Like us on Facebook
Originally posted February 2012
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