Now We're Getting Somewhere!
Discussion of topics to build awareness, increase knowledge-base, and ultimately assist in conquering the challenges of being special parents of kids with special needs, such as those with autism or adhd.
I am so happy to be able to provide this update. My son's behavior at school has changed trajectory remarkably. Back in October, I think my hair was about to fall out from the stress and grief I experienced. Back then, my son was being aggressive with other students, the teacher, and the paraprofessionals in his kindergarten special education class. He was not completing any work. On one occasion, he had damaged school property. The day before a scheduled IEP meeting, my son was suspended from school for one day. He was definitely crashing and burning, in great need of an intervention.
That intervention (outside of what I was doing at home) included requesting a Functional Behavior Assessment on him. Also, it included him having a reduced school schedule. On Oct 7, 2022 his two hour a day schedule began. There was an FBA conducted, and on Dec 2, 2022, I scheduled a meeting to discuss the results of the FBA. This FBA was conducted by a BCBA that works for the school.
It became very apparent to me within a short period of time, like within a couple of weeks of the FBA initiating, that having this BCBA involved with my child and his teachers and paras was a blessing. To my great delight and relief, my son's daily reports started showing mostly smiley faces. The comments on the daily reports did not include any acts of aggression. My son was completing work. To date, my son has not incurred any more suspensions. Previously, my son resisted going to Speech Therapy. Now, he looks forward to going. From my perspective, his Q2 report card covering period 10/10/22 - 12/16/22 was great. He only had one absence. His Behavior and Effort was marked "M" for "Meets Expectations". For all subjects, he is marked as a Developing Learner as opposed to a Beginning Learner. Now, I feel like we are getting somewhere.
Plus, I'm receiving comments from school office staff about how well my son has been doing. I know the principal and the assistant principal feel good about not having the added responsibility of babysitting my son in their office during school days to assist the paras and teacher who were obviously overwhelmed and unable to manage my son without the guidance of a BCBA. I'm thrilled, myself. He now has good behavior for entire weeks. From Nov 7 to Nov 11 (Monday to Friday) my son received all smiley faces on his daily report. From Dec 5 to Dec 9, all smiley faces. From Dec 12 to Dec 16, all smiley faces. From Jan 9 to Jan 13, he had all smiley faces for 4 days in that week, but on one day he was marked just "ok" for behavior instead of "good".
Not perfect, but I'm not expecting perfection. In fact, I notice still that when my son's teacher is out, his behavior may not be as good. Obviously, if he has not gotten enough sleep the night before school, his behavior may suffer. But, I'm just not seeing those frown faces like before, and it's great.
Since my son was clearly doing better, I was waiting for the school to indicate when they wanted to increase his time in school. However, I got the feeling that they were never going to make any indication in that direction. So, I brought the issue up myself at the meeting that was scheduled on 12/2/22 to go over the results of the FBA. Since I brought it up, they suggested adding only a half hour. I pushed for a full hour and they allowed it. So, beginning on 12/6/22 my son's school schedule increased from 2 hours to 3 hours. Based on his daily reports, 3 hours has not been too much for him.
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