our transitional meeting with the school - Autism Spectrum Message Board

Liz Cook · 05-26-2006, 01:34 PM

well we just had our first meeting with the public school that isaac will be going to in the fall... easy peasy...

i dont think i could be happier with how it went

isaac was asked to attend by the woman who coordinates his ABA because in her words "isaac is his own best advocate for services right now". and he was

he was totally isaac. at first he came into the room and sat at the table with all of the adults and his ABA instructor who was also present played with some toys with him... and about 5 to 10 minutes into it he decided he was comfortable with everyone and the enviroment enough to show them what he is really like. the head of the special education dept. commented to me that no wonder his ABA instructor was so skinny

(because for the rest of the meeting she chased him about the room, keeping him out of sinks, from eating glue and paint, and so on.) and during the meeting the woman who will be his future class room teacher got hit in the head with a toy... so the school is more than happy to provide him one on one services that will always be at arms length of him. and they are coming to house to train for 60 hours this summer with his current ABA instructor so they can learn all of the tricks of running an Isaac

i suppose it didnt hurt that we had 2 case workers there who's only interests were isaac and not the school's budget... also we had 4 pages of info for them and questions about different things so we were ready. i was lucky enough to have worked for almost 5 years for an agency that provided services for adults with mental disabilities so i have a pretty good idea of how these meetings go and initials dont intimidate me

what a relief though! we have been worried that the school might try to balk at some of the things isaac needs... like a worker who will be willing to work with him on vacations as well

but so far so good... we will have to wait until the fall though to see how things really went

sorry so long but it is just so cool that it went so well

and now you know... you get more of what you want when your kid is there being a pain in the butt

Jana2676 · 05-27-2006, 01:55 AM

That is awesome! Congrats! I am preparing for my daughters transitional meeting next week. I hope it goes as smoothly has yours did!

Brandiof4 · 05-31-2006, 12:05 PM

That is great!! Unfortunatlly I'm not having the same luck! I can't even get the school to call me back for an appointment, No one seems to care around here. and all the employees are college students who have no idea what they are getting into. It seems like the only option for me is to start a school myself for all abillities a place whare Parents teach, oversee things and hire professionals, I have already recived my child care lisence. hopefully I will get things going by next year, I just can't count on anyone but myself to get things moving for my boy.I would like to know of any organazation or funding that would be more helpful because my regional center is not on top of things.
I am so upset that it has inspired me to turn my whole darn house into a school! Until I have enough funds to put a romper room on my property.

Liz Cook · 05-31-2006, 02:24 PM

the school has to by law provide for your child. do you have a case manager or advocate? sometimes the school respects them more. they can sometimes consider us just hysterical parents even if we arent always

have you tried contacting a local home schooling support group for info on your project? support groups often have the inside goods. our offline autism support group has been great at informing us about all kinds of services and advice on how to go about getting them.

also, you can try contacting similar schools, organizations, daycares, etc for inside info as well. send them letters so they can anwser them when its conveinent for them. give them a brief and professional explanation of what is going on with your child and what your project idea is. tell them that you are looking for any information on how they got started and where they were able to find resources to do so. thank them for their time and recongnize that they are very busy serving their students/clients etc but that any thing that they are able to spend you would be greatly welcomed. i am sure some one will bite.

their are also state sponsored websites you can find. they MAY be of some use.

G-Luck!

Brandiof4 · 06-01-2006, 01:17 PM

Thank you for the advise-home schooling group, that is something I had not thought of. The school finally called today and I had better luck with who I talked to and feel much better, I still am going to start a child care for all abilities, I have checked into it and there doesn't seem to be any around. There is one lady in the next town over who is really on top of things, I am having my child attend some of her summer programs! Thanks