Meeting the Teacher

Today we met Bug's teacher.  I have to tell you, I am thrilled with her!  We spent an hour with her and she was just so great on so many levels.  I seriously could not have asked for better.  If she remains as awesome as she was today then we are certainly blessed to have her.

We were able to talk about Bug's needs, strengths, weaknesses, and all of that stuff.  We also talked a bit with the Special Ed teacher who... I guess you could say is "in charge" of the mainstreamed kids.  I gave my write up to both Bug's regular teacher (who is a former Special Ed teacher herself) and to the Special Ed teacher and they are also making copies of it for some other people who will be involved with Bug and a copy is going in his file.  I am so glad I followed the advice to make that write up - they were THRILLED to have it and told me they wished more parents would do that as it is a window into what I deal with and it helps them know what to expect and prepare for.  After all, I am his best advocate!

So we got to talk about everything you could imagine: seating, bathrooms, lunch, homework, skills, bells, visual schedules, other visual cues, playground equipment, meltdowns, stimming behaviors, assessments... Oh geez, it went on and on but we covered a lot and I feel much better today knowing that I have met her and she understands.  Monday is day one and I feel like we are as prepared as we can get at this point.

There will be some other assessments done this fall with Bug.  There is an IQ test they are going to administer.  I don't think we have had one, I know that in Early Childhood they did a whole slew of tests, but I don't recall one being an IQ test.  Who knows... All I know is they are going to do one as part of some requirement with getting Bug his services.  It should be interesting to see the results of that.  They will also be doing another speech assessment to determine needs there for services - we all know he needs work on reciprocal conversation.

I feel pretty comfortable with the teacher, knowing that she has experience with Autism/Aspergers and also knowing that there will be an aide in the room.  I'll probably be a disaster on Monday.  I'm sure I'll cry.  I feel good about where he is going, but yeah, I'm a bit emotional...