Awards
The school my children attend is on a year-round schedule. For those not familiar with how year-round school works, instead of one large break for the summer, the class takes multiple breaks through out the year. I can not speak for all year-round schools, but my children’s school has an awards ceremony as 2 days before they prepare to take a break. Today was that day for us.
Now, on with the story… This morning, my wife reminded me that the awards ceremony was today. She also stated that this was the first time that neither of the boys would be receiving awards. I didn’t worry much about how my oldest, Aiden, would take it as he is pretty easy going. Unfortunately, I had suspicions that Connor’s would not be so great. One of the problems we have had in the past with Connor is that he feels that everything should be even or fair. He usually keeps track of who is called on in class, weighing the probability that he will be called, and getting upset if he is missed.
Well, unlike dinner a few nights before, we were very right in expecting an incident. As the awards ceremony rambled on, and Connor realized he was not being recognized, he began to cry a little. That led to more crying. Then, finally, it evolved into a full blow meltdown. His teacher, who had only had Connor in her class for 3 weeks, developed a “deer in the headlights” look. She then rushed Connor off to the side of the multipurpose room, where his mom was waiting. It took some time and a whole lot of work for my wife to calm him… but he eventually did regain his composure.
In the end, it was a very emotional day, but such is the rollercoaster.
1 Comments:
Hi Brian, I saw your blog with your post on the cafepress "buzz and trends".
My 8 year old son Connor also has high functioning Autism, though not high functioning enough to be mainstreamed. I'm very impressed by how well your Connor got through the restaurant. I just usually buy mine a happy meal first any time I'm going into another restraint. I realize, in retrospect, my younger brother has many of the indicators of autism, though not the "magic number” to qualify according to the doctors. I wonder hoe many other families it's true of? BTW, I do have a positive message on my CP autism site. @ http://www.cafepress.com/autismhope
I'm hoping to add some of Connors drawings to the shop, just as soon as I could get him to cooperate. LOL. By the way, did you know that you can have a one on one aide exclusively for your child, to help in addition to the regular teacher? They are paid for on the Federal Level, so the school budget isn't a barrior. If you call for an IEP, as say that you are "acting as your childs advocate" it gives you all kinds of legal clout to cut through the BS and get your child the help they need. Also, because I only found out all this the hard way, you should appy to the "regional center" in your area. They provide respite care, and aide with getting social security disability payments. Don't go through the S.S. dept. without them. It can take years instead of months. Once your children are accepted by your local regional center, then social security MUST accept them, instead of turning them down two or three times as is their want. Once in S.S. they will receive, for life, a cash entiltement and Medi-Cal.
The money can help pay for therapies or whatever. Let me know if you have any questions or need any help.
PeggyWvB@aol.com
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