Download 2 Free Webinars Now! Subscribe to our newsletter to receive your 2 FREE webinars. You receive: - Autism 101 - Effective IEP Strategies Name: Email:

	Back to Autism Information >> Next Topic
	First Report Card; seeking 1:1 Advice? Hello All, After a few days since my son's report card came home, I feel I can now calmly and rationally request some advice. I was not angry with him or his report card. I was sad, I was upset, I was disappointed. I did not set my expectations high. Background for those who don't know. My son is kindy, came from an ABA preschool with 7 kids and essentially 1:1 all the time, just by nature of the number of adults in the classroom at any given time. He is in a private Catholic school by our choice receiving speech and resource room services with a special eduation teacher all provided by the public school district. Speech is on site 4 days a week, 2 group with another child and 2 indv. Resource room is at the end of his school day, bused to the public elementary school and spends a little over 1/2 hr. there receiving help from the special education teacher. His school classroom is 11 children including him. He is the only one with a known classified disability. (meaning all others are considered NT). There is no special education teacher in the school. His teacher has an aide for her assistance, meaning the aide works with all the kids. This is an aide the private school pays for. This arrangment seems to be working for my son. We are definietly seeing progress in areas. Back to the report card. Lots of "N's" (needs improvement). Mainly in behavior areas. Basic academics are satisfactory or improving, save for social studies and science which were "N"s. He is on grade level for  Math and Writing, but below grade level (this is one step up from not meeting standards) for science, social studies, reading, health and religion (I"m not worried about the health and religion). In teh personal progress section, his "N's " are coming in social development and work habits. I knew about the issue with work habits. He can not focus. If an adult is working with him, he does very well and the academic progress is observed when concepts are introduced and renforced when he is 1:1. He is a smart boy, he just needs someone to keep him focused, and maybe explain what he needs to do. (ie: trace the letters, follow teh lines, etc). Socially, his eye contact is greatly improved and he initiates conversation with his friends, plays nice with the other kids and so on. But in group learning situations, he has difficulty focusing and concentrating and his actions are disruptive to teh other kids. Like I said, I was not expecting high achievments with this report card. But, he has for the most part been bringing home stars on his calendar (the behavior management system his teacher has for the whole class). So, I thought things were going OK. I think seeing this reprot card just hit me hard. Instantly, I thought about "what if this doesn't imporve by teh end of teh year? He's too smart to be held back in kindy for stuff liek this? " And then I got down on myself, like somehow I am failing him. And then I got a little angry because we had requested a para for him at his transition meeting only to be turned down because the CSE chairperson said they liek to see the kids try and be independent (this is a kid going from a restrictive 6:1:1 ABA setting to a regular classroom) The chair said we could add a para later if it was determined he needs one. I feel liek time has been wasted for my son. Funny how within a few minutes of reading the report card, his teacher called me! She is out on disability probably until after the new year. There has been a sub for about 3-4 weeks now, who my son seems to like, although he does test her (liek refusing to particpate in centers and such). I know for sure his meltdowns have decreased significantly from the first couple of weeks. He does not understand concepts of privacy in teh bathroom and personal space. Anyway, I todl his techer my feeligns and she told me not to get down on myself, that those N's will turn around, and to remeber how far he has come from the first 1-2 weeks of school. She has seen so much progress in him. I try to remember that, but it is still hard. SO, during this 10 weeks, I have discussed with the special ed tecaher about the likelihood of him getting a para. She said we had to wait until the first report card. Last week, before the cards came home, I asked her what her opinion was, if she thought we might be seeking a para, based on her observations, her discussions with my son's teacher, and the speech therapist (who spends some time with him in his classroom). She said, "yes." Tomorrow will be the first time in a week I will see her and I'm going to give her a copy of the report card. She has told me it is very difficult to get a 1:1. I can't help but think if he was in the public school he'd have been given at the very least a shared para without batting an eye. I believe we are going to be looking for a 1:1 para through the academic portions of his school day, about 3 hours. Also, we saw my son's service coordinator the day of report cards. I shared with her some of what was going in the classroom, as well in his extra curricular activities (see posts under parents forum). She is suggetsing we seek a sensory eval to get recommendations with the goal of helping my son and helpoing his teacher. Not a full blown OT eval, he doesn't need that. His sensory-seeking behaviors have been creeping up again ever since he left his ABA preschool, where they dealt with it by changing the behaviors (didn't believe in sensory diets and such). SO, here are my questions: 1.Whoever makes the call for a meeting (me or the special ed teacher, who has offered to do it), do we request both a sensory eval as well as the para? I read the post about a 1:1 (didn't want to hijack the thread, which is why I"m posting here) and there are some good points and Norway Mom has some excellent resources I've looked at. 2. What do we need to prepare to make the best case for a para? 3. If a sensory eval is granted, could we be turned down outright for a para, with the CSE saying "it could all be sensory, let's see if the resulting recommendations do the trick."  I don't want to wait much longer for a para, because this could only make it more difficult for my son as the year goes on if he does not have the proper support. 4. Should we seek an independent sensory eval on our own and leave the district out of it? If any equipment was needed (a vest, blanket, cushion, my son's service cooridnator would put in for it as a waiver service). 5. It is 30 days from the time of a request for a meeting to the actual meeting, right? Or is it 60 days? If we can get teh para, I want it well before the end of the second makring period, which should be sometime in January, early Feb. As always, thank you for reading the lengthy post. I really value all your input!
	Copyright Autism-PDD.net