Building Bridges

[Guest guest]

Hello, I am new to the group. I have silently been " lurking " in the background

and reading everyone's comments. Some stories are so familiar they could have

been written about my son. is 5 and was recently diagnosed with Aspergers.

He was asked to leave 3 schools prior to his diagnosis and I was devastated when

I was told he would attend special ed for PreK Dec 2008. It was probably one of

the best things in the world that could have happened. The Special Ed teacher

was great and had a good understanding of developmental milestones and the

challenges some Aspies have. also attended a daycare half day with a lady

who was firm but loving. They understood that behavioral challenges are part of

the spectrum. I had asked that he be evaluated by SLP for pragmatic therapies,

but everyone agreed that he did not need it as long as we were firm and

consistant. His IEP is minimal. I agreed with the plan and due to significant

improvement he was placed in a mainstream class with the Spec Ed teacher looking

in once a day. Flash forward to today. has been in school for about 3

weeks. We receive a communication notebook from the teacher daily. And daily I

receive a comment about how " chose to disrupt " the class, pinched a

student, ran in the hall..you name it. There was not one comment in the

positive. After a week I called the teacher to discuss his conduct and what we

could do to reinforce her expectations. She has been a teacher for 13 years and

she told me she has never taught an Aspie before. In a nutshell I told her that

I expected to have certain behaviors in the day, but I am sure in 7-8 hours

he also did something positive and I would also like to hear about these bright

spots. I also tried to use the analogy that if you are teaching a hearing

impaired student you would not necessarily send home a note detailing problems

related to their disability. She seemed to understand and told me she was

documenting to see if there were a pattern to his conduct--more in the am or pm.

It seemed to make sense, so I tried to end the conversation on a positive note.

That evening I received a one page chronicle of my son's behavior on an hourly

basis. I was troubled by this. I am a teacher's wife, and I realize that such

excessive documentation can sometimes be prior to a request to move a student or

make a case for ED and place a child back in Spec Ed. , like many Aspies, is

way beyond his peers in the classroom, although I have to say his spec ed

experience has made him especially compassionate to special needs children(his

only great social skill). So my question to many of you out there is this. How

do I go about addressing the ignorance of this teacher, who continues to send

notes home, and still maintain a good environment for my son? I forgot to

mention that she has called in the administrator on several occasions when my

son did not listen to her and I have had to sign papers acknowledging the

discipline. I thought Aspies had some protection due to the IDEA act. I want to

build bridges, not cause him to be singled out more in class. I have a meeting

with Spec Ed, Admin representative, and the teacher next week. Any ideas? I

appreciate it!