great place

Feeling excited! The district's Director of Special Programs, who is wonderful, started a committee. SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Committee), and I have been chosen to serve for this year with seven other moms of children with special needs in the district. We had our first meeting Tues morning, and I think we can do a lot of great things. I will say, there was one mom who wanted to use it as a venue to complain about everything wrong with the district's special education program, but I think the rest of us were able to keep things on task and positive. Nothing frustrates me more than people complaining about something but having no solutions for the problem. If you want to talk about it negatively, have some ideas to fix it. Especially in a situation where other people are taking time out of their day to hopefully come together with great thoughts and ideas to improve something so near and dear to our hearts. Her biggest complaint was that Special Education teachers did not have enough training... oh lady... where do I begin? I did tell her that teaching Special Ed can be a very non-rewarding job and that keeping people in those positions is difficult. I also mentioned that I was Spec Ed certified, and she made a point to be frustrated with the fact that all I had to do was "take a test"... yes, this lady and I may have several conversations throughout this year.... ok, off that soapbox.
  We also had Jacob's ARD on Tuesday. Let me back up and say that all of the legwork I've done this summer and this year seems to be really paying off. Having those test results has made a huge difference in the ability to help everyone understand what we are working with when it comes to Jacob. He did score in the mild Mental Retardation range (I think I said before he was close, but I looked again and he is actually within range), so this changes things. I took those results and met with first his Science Lab teacher, at his request. He felt as though she was mad all the time, but I just had to explain to her that if she is disciplining other students in the classroom, Jacob is internalizing that. I suggested that she just lean over to Jacob and whisper, "Jacob, I'm not talking to you." He is very black and white and will take you for your word, so hearing that gives him permission to check out and not worry about the discipline that is happening, because she said it wasn't him. I also met with his four other teachers, two at a time (I find this keeps things short and simple), and everyone was very supportive. I also talked to everyone about the test results, the upcoming ARD and what I was hoping for, some suggestions for helping him in their classrooms, some helpful quirks about Jacob, and most importantly, my expectations for him. They all seemed relieved to find that I am always realistic in my expectations for Jacob, both from him and from his teachers.
      I had the Psychologist that did the testing this summer join us for the ARD. I felt that she was way more qualified to explain the test results and answer any questions anyone had. Turns, out for whatever reason- maybe the test results themselves, maybe the fact that I met with everyone in small groups prior to the meeting, maybe bringing the Psychologist, or maybe me starting at the top with the Director of Special Programs for the district- but either way, for the first time in a while, I felt like everyone was on the same page. The meeting felt productive, positive, and like everyone really got a sense of who Jacob is and what his needs are. Everyone was also very agreeable and accommodating, which is just awesome. We decided not to do an aide, I guess I just felt like we had so much support and ideas to help Jacob, that we could try all of that first. As one of his teachers pointed out, it would make Jacob stand out even more than he does if he has an aide following him around and helping him with everything. That is a big deal already in 6th grade, and I can only assume a bigger deal as he gets older.
     My biggest point to everyone was that Jacob's biggest handicap right now is his inability to interpret and respond to his environment accurately. Whatever Jacob is capable of cognitively or academically is pretty much impossible to see right now. He was somewhat comfortable in elementary school, but switching to intermediate just did him in, and he shut down. Now we are in our second year there, and not much is getting accomplished. I expressed that fact that until we do what we can to affect positive changes to his environment, we won't know what he is capable of. Thankfully, everyone agreed.
     So, we talked about some options. He has not been using his AlphaSmart much, but we agreed that was because of other factors- confidence being one, so the OT is going to work with him a bit to make sure. Each teacher is going to find a way to have a sort of schedule specifically for him in their classroom. I had already requested a few weeks ago that they each find a spot in their rooms for his stuff, so he can leave it all there, in one place, to find, use, and put back every day. This would alleviate him having to organize it all himself, an impossibility.
      I'm not sure what each teacher will come up with yet, but I assume something like what I have done at home for Luke. He was having a tough time keeping track of everything he has to do each evening. So we bought some craft sticks and wrote on them the different jobs to be done: homework, 1st 30 min of electronics,  read 20min, math 10min, practice piano, and 2nd 30 min of electronics. He sets the sticks out on the table in front of him in the order they need to be done. Once he's done one, it goes back in the cup for the next night. This way he can see what has been done and what still needs to be done. Jacob's might be something more like a dry erase board or something that has a list on it: get out pencil and paper, open book and find chapter, do problems 1&2, etc. We are hoping this will help him with self-starting skills. The teachers all felt like they would much rather just periodically walk by Jacob and remind him to check his list than have an adult drawing attention to him. The one teacher even got emotional about how she felt like he enjoyed being in her classroom. 
           We also talked about lowering his goals to a much more attainable level. His confidence in school has been shattered, and we have to find a way to give him some academic success again. This will hopefully help with anxiety, stress, and confidence so that Jacob can not only enjoy school again, but learn a thing or two. We also talked about keeping the objectives for him at a realistic level, basic life skills. He needs to add and subtract, read, tell time, count $ (all of which he can do) but stick to the basics. He is probably not capable of ever being on grade level, and that is ok. Learning what he can and confidence and low anxiety are our priorities. We also changed the STAAR test he takes to the "Alternative", which is done by a Special Ed teacher, over a period of time, at the rate that works for Jacob. It starts in Jan and has to be done by Apr 7. So by the time the other kids are sitting down for 3-5 hrs, Jacob will be done. :-) That's a big one.


    Overall, I think I accomplished my goal of putting (and keeping) Jacob on everyone's radar, giving them more of a personal understanding of him and his needs, and enacting ways to help him succeed. Hopefully we've put enough in place to help him through this year, and maybe even follow him into Middle School. I may have to meet with all of his teachers, every year until he graduates, but that's fine. He seems happier and less stressed about school, even sleeping until 7 or 7:30am most mornings (not much of the 4am wakeups). So for now, we are in a good place. A great place, and that makes me happy.