Autism Team Meeting

What a week.

I went to the Autism Team meeting. It was very uplifting for me. They were quite pleased with my son's teacher, and how she has the room set up. They absolutely love his para, which is also a relief. Everything just seemed so positive, and so helpful! They seem to really care about my son and want to help him succeed in school and socially.

My heart went out to his teacher. We were all talking about what kind of set up to have in place for when Nathan has a meltdown. They made it sound like a "code blue" in a hospital, where people come rushing to the teacher's aid. The teacher finally asked, "What do you mean by meltdown? What can I expect?" I didn't know how to really answer that, because the way he responds at school is far different than how he responds at home. We tried to give her a rough idea, but I suspect all it did was frighten her. Can he throw things? Yes. Can he knock over furniture? Yes. Could he wipe everything off the top of her desk? I guess it's a possibility, though I haven't seen that exact move yet... That poor woman. She had to be thinking something along the lines of "I didn't sign up for this."

Ironically, Nathan did throw a little fit when I first arrived. He didn't even know I was there. He threw his homework on the floor, and then stood off to the side looking like he was really going to blow. He was staring at these behavior things the teacher has on the wall for all the kids. It's like a set of smiley faces on a popsicle stick, and they are different colors. Green is a smile, yellow is more sober, orange is frowny and red is a furious face. If kids act up, the teacher turns around an appropriate face. Nathan was staring at that red face, just waiting for the teacher to turn it around to represent his behavior. Yikes. Had that happened, he would have exploded right in front of her face. I tried to get him to calm down, but then they called me into the meeting before I got him back to normal. He was better, but not great. I hated to run off then, but they weren't exactly giving me much of an option - they were all waiting on me. At least he was better, and talking.

The woman from the Autism Team said that there was another autism group in Rockford! I haven't heard about that yet. Geez, why isn't this stuff easier to find out about?

The social worker also told me about a man at the School of Medicine that works with autistic kids with Social Stories. She didn't know about how much he charges or anything, but gave me his name. I'll try to find out more about him. I also got the name of a book to look for.

Speaking of books! Nathan's teacher read the book I gave her! She's the first person to do so. She said sometimes the kids ask why Nathan is acting like that, and she can give them the book. She said there is also someone doing a paper on autism, a student who helps out, and she is letting her read it as well. Great!! I'll pick up some more copies of it, and I'll let her keep the book. It can only help - and not just my son, but other families as well.

As helpful as the Autism Team is, and how good his teacher has been with him, I have to wonder if he wouldn't be better off in a school specifically set up to work with autistic kids. He's so bright, I don't want to pull him out of mainstream education, but is the public school system really equipped to cope with all of his challenges? God, how do other parents do this? Nathan is so high functioning - what about the kids who are not so high functioning?