School started last Wednesday, Aug 7. I am not a huge fan of school. I get a lot of homework. People laugh when I say that, but I really don’t find humor in it. I’m not going to classes, so why do I have homework? Someone has to be my sons’ advocate! I am not even going to mention the forms that have to be filled out annually.
To start, I make sure every teacher knows that my sons have autism. Two years ago, I didn’t do this, and it took the case manager a month to get the IEP out to the teachers. After a few weeks of school, I could see Ryan struggling in a class, and I wrote the teacher about his having autism and the accommodations in the IEP. She had no clue that Ryan had autism, and she asked, “Won’t he ask questions like everyone else?” My response was (sigh), “No. He has autism. He doesn’t like to talk, let alone ask questions.”
I learned my lesson, that I was right, to take the initiative and communicate with the teachers. The one year I didn’t became a difficult year, well, more difficult than normal.
Back to this year. Last Monday morning I was up and at the computer by 7:10am. At 7:16am I sent my first email. By 7:47am I had written 5 emails to teachers, explaining issues that Nick was already experiencing, mostly due to a schedule mishap. Someone had left his third period blank. Most classes by this time had been filled, so to find an appropriate class was next to impossible. Once filled, Nick was told that he’d keep all his current teachers. Relief. A few seconds later, he was told that one teacher would be switched.
By that time Nick had already processed that the teachers would remain the same. For him to process and switch back to the issue, which was just concluded, was missed. That happened last week, so now I’m trying to see what we can do to get that one teacher back on Nick’s schedule.
No communication was given to any teachers involved, except what I had sent out. Some teachers responded back quickly. By 10am I had sent and responded to about 15 emails. That’s not counting phone calls and voice mails.
The teachers were grateful for the communication. They were very willing to work with Nick until the issue was resolved. Thankfully, Nick decided to keep the classes he had. He was finally able to tell me that it was the change itself. Once he went through the new schedule a few days, he was fine.
I am thankful that the teachers were patient and understanding, but it took my time and effort to communicate with the teachers about Nick. That is my homework!
sherylscript 