Achieved: James re-admitted into Special Ed

The ARD/IEP meeting went fabulously. (It was 3 hours long!) We were all on the same page and it turned out I did not need to prepare as much as I had. I had brought with me a list of things I wanted addressed and listed some goals, and I invited the social worker from the ARC (to prevent the nightmare we had the first time). They had the same goals and things as I did so I didn't need to add much to what they suggested to implement. In addition to the IEP (Education plan), we also drew up a BIP (Behavior plan). (Thank goodness the district recognizes that Aspergers falls under the Autism Spectrum Disorder because they DO have established assistance for those with Autism. We actually have a Disability Evaluation/Report which protects him from getting swept out of special ed again.)

I was super relieved to know he can now see the BMC teacher (Behavior Mastery Center), not only for 1 ½ hours per week of social skills learning, but also as a place to regroup when James’ emotions get out of hand. And he will have a "time-out" area in each classroom he's in so that he can regroup without having to go to the BMC teacher. (About time!) No more of those getting-sent-to-the-office at the end of the day to have in-school-suspension the following day (for which James made no connection to his previous day's actions). I was pleased to hear certain methods would be used that I didn't know if they were familiar with: social stories, social cue cards, etc.

Even though James was proficient in speech tests, the speech pathologist acknowledged her speech observations and based his need on that. He will finally get speech twice a week for 1/2 an hour each, focusing on pragmatics (social and reciprocal conversation), especially on topics not of his choosing. They said they cannot work with him on his voice tone/volume/inflection unless I first take him to a doctor to rule out a physical problem. (Would I take him to an ENT?)

In addition to all the helps in school, I was impressed that they offered in-home training/retrofitting. It is too late this year to have someone come to our house for this, but in the fall, someone will come and do an inventory of our house and schedule and work with me to help put up lists/signs/etc. to accommodate James’ needs. This is a huge improvement from the start of last school year when they turned us away. After 2 years of fighting, James is finally back in Special Ed and I am pretty confident we will now be getting all the help we’d been seeking. And what we work on with him at home will be reinforced at school.

While our district does not have an Aspergers parent's support group, another district does. I went to it last month and was absolutely amazed. About 40 people were there. I cried all the way home, so relieved, happy, and hopeful, knowing we are not alone on an island after all. They meet once a month and I am so excited that Mom and Dad (Roberts) can babysit so that Rex and I can both go.

We increased James’ dosage on Focalin XR to 15 mg a week ago (for ADHD). But on Saturday, we started noticing a big difference. James acted totally out of it, nearly comatose. Furthermore, all week, I noticed his appetite completely diminished and he ate almost nothing until right before bed because he said he wasn’t hungry. So on Sunday and today, we gave him half the dose and decided we’d go back down to 10 mg next time we visit the psychiatrist. (We might even drop back down to 5, I'm not sure.) But this we know for sure: the medication sure does help his hyperactivity and impulsiveness, even if it doesn't help him focus. The hyperactivity and impulsiveness I've noticed, makes his behaviors more problematic, so I've concluded that it is better to have him on medication than not.