Quidditch, Inclusion, and Summer School
Sometimes a title says it all. One of my most fondest hopes was that Yester would someday adopt my LOVE for Harry Potter. In the last few days, Yester and I have sat and watched all but one Harry Potter movie. He loves them! Even in his ABA therapy he’s been asking to work for Harry Potter. I love sharing this with him.
Yet another I.E.P. under my belt as of Tuesday, and again, it couldn’t have gone any better. The entire team agreed, including myself, that Yester was ready to move on. The team’s recommendation:
“Yester would do well in what we call a “partnership” classroom or “blended inclusion” classroom. A total of 20 students of which, 8 are special needs kids. By special needs we mean, a stranger could walk into a classroom and try and guess which ones would be special needs but, they’d fail. Amongst those 20 children, 4 teachers would assist in the curriculum of the classroom. One teacher and aide that specializes in child development and one teacher and aide that specialize in special education.”
All of Yester’s other services will remain in tact as the support that has fostered his accomplishments and has continued to move him forward. 90 minutes of speech therapy, 2 hours of occupational therapy, and 15 hours of ABA therapy in home. The fall semester at his new school, is an exciting first step to being fully included come kindergarten in 2008.
Summer school however, is quickly becoming something I may dread. Yester’s current teacher, whom we love, is not staying for the summer session. Which means that Yester will remain in the class room he’s been in but with new teachers and aides. I’m not comfortable with that because Yester will be changing to a new set of teachers and aides with the new fall school placement. During this weeks I.E.P. I did request that his current teacher do more investigating as to Yester being able to spend the majority of his day on the mainstream side for the summer. They agreed, but that is a stipulation written into Yester’s I.E.P. I’m afraid even with those additional hours that that’s alot of change in two months. Not to mention, those very classmates that Yester is ready to move away from will still be there.
So, I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around how I feel about these circumstances and I’m spinning my wheels trying to figure out an alternative. I wonder what others are doing or have done during the summer months? Any suggestions?
As usual, I’m just popping in for a bit of encouragement, since I’m predictably no help. We are doing absolutely nothing this summer but ride bikes and eat junk food, lol. Personally, I would probably just try to incorporate the ideas you and I already talked about (i.e.- spending as much time as possible with NT kids, helping out in the classroom). And try to talk to him as much as possible about how much you like the new things he’s learning and doing. He may not get it, but on the other hand, it might be just the motivation he needs to keep from regressing around the other SN kids. Good luck and let me know how it goes. =]
SD and I enjoy Harry Potter too. He’s anxious to share the movies with Boo and Gabe also. Maybe later this summer as the hype grows and we are watching all the movies again.
It always amazes me about the profound differences in educational opportunities between California and Michigan when it comes to special education, especially in regards to a child having Autism. I think it is so great that he is doing so well and is ready to move on to new and exciting challenges. I hope one day Michigan can also lead by example and do the right thing by our children and all children special education or not.
Kristin
Sophia really excels with her academic programs and I just love how eager she is to gobble up new information. However, her greatest challenges are in play/peer skills and responsive language. So our summer objective has been to develop new play programs and training in PECS. Although she is already familiar with PECS, unfortunately in school they have only used it for requesting food which has led Sophia to only associating PECS with food! It really frustrates me that they would not take PECS a step further beyond just requesting a highly desirable item- next please! I think these kids get the first step! NOW let’s build more skills! So limiting! So we’re starting right back at Phase 1 to show Sophia that there is a lot more to it than food! I hope that focusing on developing more play/pretend skills and functional communication will open the doors to building Sophia’s confidence with other kids by summer’s end!
`NATALIA!!!
You and Sophia have been on my mind. Minus your frustrations it
sounds like you really like her programs. Still in Claremont? You know I
was never a fan of P.E.C.S. for Yester anyways, but I do think they are
very useful. We use them for traveling….it helps a lot.
I’d love to show it to you…hint hint hint!
How are things…Catch me up! Oh, and what ever happened with your
requesting ABA?
Contact me when you can
We are in Claremont and receiving in home services with Sunny Days. I am pleased with Sophia’s team because the therapists are always receptive to my concerns and ideas and always willing to adjust or create new programs.
Initially, I wasn’t too keen with PECS. So we really concentrated on teaching Sophia SEE signs (Signing Exact English) which she was really into and picking up at a fast rate. But then, her fourth birthday approached and I started realizing, ‘wow, she’s getting older and will be in contact with more people who don’t all necessarily know sign language.’ Sophia is trying so hard to verbalize but still no words. So, here we are starting the PECS journey. It just breaks my heart when she tries SO hard to tell us what she wants or is feeling. I’m hoping that PECS will alleviate the frustration. I will give you a call soon. It would be wonderful to see you guys!
I would love to see the both of you too. Home life is good? Love life exist? Work still ok? Talk to anyone from Casa Colina anymore?
PECS is good. I think each individual child who benefits from it benefits differently. It certainly helps Yester with scheduling and he has a million words. You got it exactly right, it’s about eleviating their frustration.