My guy, T. Autism is not fun.

Today I went to T’s IEP meeting.  T is 9 years old and in the 3rd grade. He has Autism. He does speak, he is learning to communicate his needs, wants, and emotions.  He is socially awkward, at best. He has hit students. When he was in first grade he was given a person to be exclusive to him. There have been 4 full time since then. however for the last 2 years he has had Mrs. B. Mrs. B is incredible.  She has brought him out of his  withdrawn world.  He is a bright boy. He did have reading help for a couple years.  He remembers events to the smallest detail.  He’s of average height and weight for his age.

so anyway….

I found out that he has been having some stressed, anxiety filled times.  such as one lunch time the cafeteria was set up differently. as the kids came in they were told where to sit for the day and so forth. Tucker walked to the back of the room and stood there, silently. He would not acknowledge what anyone said to him.  It took 4 adults over an hour to talk him into sitting and finally having his lunch. after that he was his usual self for the rest of the day.  another instance was on the play ground. he was running and playing with a group of 3 other kids. it was his turn to chase them and someone did rhyme with his name. He stopped playing. The kids tried to encourage him to play and continued to do things they thought would make him laugh. T did not laugh. He got very upset and yelled at them and then threw his water bottle on the ground. And then he shut down.

Next year they will have a plan in place that he has P. with him or with in close range to remind him how to cope. T. will also have scheduled time outs from the class room.  He has always had time out..sometimes a walk in the hall is all that’s needed, sometimes going to do something else for a while. work on a different project. go to the library to walk around or look/read .  that helps reduce his anxiety.  he has the last hour of the day without P. They want to get him to the point he doesn’t need her there.  they hope by middle school.  or what was middle school. 5th or 6 the grade.

T is very stressed right now.  It doesn’t take much for him shut down at home. This morning he stopped responding because I made him put his tablet in its proper place before he left for school.  That did not start his school day off well. They did tell him.  I said, You’re welcome.  haha.

It was a good meeting and I feel the problems were worked out satisfactory .  Now to make it through the next 2 weeks, then summer vacation.  We are going on vacation shortly after school gets out.  He loves going on vacation because it means he gets to swim every day!.

I love this little guy, well, not so little any more.  He is my life, and so is his sister M. I am indeed blessed