Back to School with my Special Needs Child

My son would be the perfect candidate for year round schooling – he really misses the routine and activity of his school environment when he’s not there, and on the flip side, once he’s been out of school for nearly three months, getting back into the routine is difficult at best…

I should back up a little bit and introduce myself and my son.  My name is Heather and I blog at Acting Balanced. I have a wonderful husband, two kids and another on the way.  My daughter is twelve and in the middle of middle school and seems to be starting to learn to manage the tween drama that inevitably follows being at the brink of teendom.  My son turns four in 10 days and is starting his second year in a Partially Integrated Classroom for children with special needs.  He has mild to moderate autism and as such has both wonderful strengths and different challenges than his peers.  

One of the quirks of autism is that children enjoy routine and patterning, so I thought that one hurdle would be overcome more easily this year because he’d be returning to the same classroom with the same teacher… and for the most part it has been a smoother transition, but there were changes that occurred at the school that have made our routines different and are causing a variety of issues. 

The first new hurdle is that we can no longer use the exit door he prefers – I used to be able to drive up to the door nearest his classroom and his teacher would open it and allow me to pick him up, avoiding having to walk the entire length of the school… but that is no longer an option.  In the interests of safety and security, a large black fence has been erected around the bus waiting area and the gate on it is locked, barring anyone from using that entrance.

The second hurdle has to do with dropping him off – he’s not ready to walk to class by himself, so I walk him to class regularly… however the school has implemented a new ID sticker system and so now, before I can walk him to class every day, we have to stop at the office to be scanned and get that day’s sticker with the multitude of other parents who are doing drop off to the classroom…

The consequence of this is that by the time he gets to class he is agitated and clingy instead of happy to be there…

But we are slowly working through it!

The good news is that all of our one on one hard work this summer has paid off in learning goals – he now regularly recognizes and uses the alphabet, shapes, colors and numbers we worked on in class and he’s more interested in participating in all aspects of his classroom world, not just playing with toys… 

I know that we’re on the right track to working through our issues, because he was mad at me on Monday (Labor Day) because he wanted to go to school and couldn’t.

I hope that those of you with little ones (or big ones) who are headed back to school get off to a great start and have a productive year!  I’m sure that my little guy will thrive in his class once we get past these minor changes in his routine and we’ll have a great year!

I want to thank Heather for sharing with us a look into her life with her and her son! If you would like to read more make sure and check out her blog Acting Balanced.