Despite the assurances given to us by his IEP team leader that they would work out a gradual transition to avoid upsetting Monkey, Monkey is in his new classroom after only a single day of support. We should have expected this, right?
What we had expected: A few days (to be determined by Monkey’s behavior) of spending a few hours in the new classroom becoming familiar with the new kids, the new room and the new staff. He would have a favored staff member from his other class with him during these hours.
What happend: His prior teacher informed us she had planned to move him on Tuesday but that his signed IEP was missing. We argued for the gradual transition we were offered and we were turned down flat by the teacher. The signed IEP turned up on Tuesday afternoon so the switch was planned for Wednesday. The favored staff member took him to the new classroom and he stayed there all day.
It was reported that he had a GREAT day! That he had the best circle time (period of high stress for him) ever! SEE THEY WERE RIGHT!
Except…they weren’t. We dropped Monkey off in his new class this AM after a really bad transition to school. We figured why bother dropping him off in the other room if they’re just going to dump him in the new class after we leave? Monkey was back to kicking off his shoes, which he does when he is extremely stressed. The teacher commented that he “loves” to take his shoes off, that he was doing it at circle time yesterday too.
WTF? I told her that he doesn’t “love” to take his shoes off. He takes them off when hyperaroused and then tosses a FIT. He HATES to take off his shoes in school. It’s a sign of stress. If he was doing that in circle time yesterday he was not having his greatest circle time ever. Period.
I’m not angry…I’m disappointed that the school once again told us one thing and did another (shocker) and I’m disappointed that the staff is once again painting a rosy picture of a bad situation. The new staff had no way to know about the shoe thing but the favored staff member did. Why she didn’t point that out, I do not understand. Part of the point of her being there was to share this sort of information. So frustrating.
Monkey is there, in the new class, alone today. Poor kid, this just sucks. Tossed to the wolves AGAIN.
Positives…he does like the new kids in the classroom and is already seeking out interaction with them (duh, we keep telling them he’s social, they seem to be missing the boat here still), he participated in the movement activities during circle time and he was relaxed at pick up yesterday so Duhdee was able to chat with the teacher for a bit.
OH! We have a communication plan (promised LAST year but delivered yesterday, woot!) and we should have a sensory diet by the end of the week (also promised LAST year.)
OH! We do really like his new teacher too, I think this *is* going to be a great classroom for him ultimately.
I had Kyle and Matt’s conferences today; I’m completely drained! As said in your next post, TGIF!
Two in one day? I can’t even begin to imagine!
I really want to talk about it, too, but I don’t feel comfortable putting it all “out there.” I’ll send an e-mail to you sometime today.
Yeah, we love Ian’s teachers, but they also tend to paint a better picture than what is really happening. I think we’re getting a bit more truth from them though because we’ve been begging for it. It is so important that we have a true picture, especially when we’re talking neurologist and medications. Since Jim teaches there, hopefully they will see that we can see right through it all and that they’re really not helping by ‘trying to avoid saying something that could get them in trouble’.
Our new communication plan is AWESOME. Monkey has been in this class for only 3 days now and we’ve gotten better information in these 3 days than we have in all the last year. Sad but true.
I’ll have to post the file, we came up with a draft and the school behaviorist tweaked it a bit. It’s easy for the teachers to use too. We’re going to chart the numbers in Excel (yes, we are dorks) so we can see the situation a little more clearly.