Taking the Scenic Route

I plan on posting more later, but I am relieved to report that school went well today.  For the first time, he made it the entire day.  The last hour was pretty on and off, but we made it.

He even played with the other kids at the kitchen/table/register area when the ST was in the room observing him.  I could see very strong influences of ST in his play, but he really looked like he was participating.  It was a great time for me to pitch the desire to keep him in a mainstream room with a para.  As I watch him, I know he needs visual supports, but I am not sure that he even needs a personal para, just one in the room that can help the teacher manipulate the visual schedule for him.  I am finding that I am helping some of the other students as much as I am helping him now.  (there are a few high needs kids in that room, more than typical kids)  He needs direction on social cues, but he understands the academic work for the most part.  That teacher really needs help, the needs are just so many and so diverse, but she is totally amazing

There are a number of kids in the room that don’t know a single letter.  The girl who I suspect will end up with an IEP herself was so far off the mark trying to make the letter I it was even surprising for me.  I asked the teacher if she had seen Handwriting without Tears, because I could see that being really successful for that little girl (she didn’t have any concept of the imaginary boundries around letters, even more than Zane did when he started out on HWT).   She had seen it and wished her budget would allow for it because it was a great program.  If I had the money, I would be buying it for the school.  It was a specific example of the pathetic funding the schools get in this area. 

I also have to go out and buy a few more school supplies.  When another little girl had no supplies except an obvious hand me down, beat up, way too big backpack I pulled the ’spring’ supplies (they were to get two of a lot of things, the second set to be pulled out in January) of Zane’s, rubbed his name off the best I could, and gave them to her.  I just couldn’t let her sit there watching all the other kids filling up their supply box with her’s empty.  She didn’t have a scissors, but at least the crayons and glue sticks spread out made her box not look so different from the other kids.  I imagine that most of the time the burden for that rolls to the teacher, and understand a lot better the frustration these teachers face.  No human being could watch that happen and not do something about it, but it has to be so frustrating to teachers to have to step in like that all the time when they don’t exactly make big bucks anyway.