The Meeting

Well the latest scoop is that I had another meeting at the school (Tuesday). We found out that Ms. D's official last day is this Friday and then she'll start her medical leave. So I met with the principal, the teacher, both EA's, Dr. S and the SERT for the Behavioural Team for the region. We had to come up with a transistion plan, three days to put it into place, then help Superman start all over again on Monday. It's a huge crunch, not ideal at all but we don't have much of a choice. I just want a bit of a smooth ride for my little man. The upside? Really like the secondary EA and so does he, so we at least have that going for us.

It was a long meeting but I think it was productive. It made a HUGE difference having Dr. S there to advocate for us. Wow. She is absolutely remarkable. I just can't possibly speak more highly of her. She was really able to educate the staff about why Superman does some of the things that he does. Most notably is that his intense need to climb may be due to the possibility of him having Tourette's. That wouldn't really surprise me because it tends to be co-morbid with Autism. We'll know for sure next month after he goes through his neuropsych evaluation. There is a part of me that would be relieved if that was the case because it explains a lot of behaviours over the last 6 years that people were constantly saying would have been "cured" by discipline but my gut always said was something more. At the same time you have that feeling again of wow....so now he has Tourette's as well. So, it's looking very likely and I have to read up on that and give myself some time to adjust and then we'll see what the results are after the evaluation. Nothing is certain yet.

Overall the meeting went well. We're all on the same page. Some concerns I had were straightened out and Dr. S basically read my mind and really advocated for Superman's best interests which was enthusiastically embraced by the principal.

We've made arrangements to keep in touch with Ms. D via email so he can write her when he wants. They're going to make a photo journal this week of them doing all of their favourite things together and he'll have a copy to keep. Plus they're going to work on an All About Me book so that he knows that the new EA (whoever that ends up being) will know about the things he likes, doesn't like, what makes him angry, what calms him down, what words make him feel stressed etc. He's always been so worried that people around him won't understand him and why he does the things that he does. Like last night as I was updating my notes about the meeting, he was standing in the middle of room spinning his head around making high pitched noises. I love that he's just himself at home because he knows it's a safe place. But we run into a problem in public when he's so afraid he'll do something that will make people stare at him. So I'm hoping that this book will help with some of that anxiety.

The principal also got an inexpensive digital camera so that Superman can take pictures of things and put together power point presentations and send them to Ms. D, show them to other students etc.

So we've got a bit of an uphill battle. But the good news is that things are being put into place so that when school starts up again in January, he stays for lunch. There may be the possibility that he starts it sooner if they have enough staff. Every day he tells his EA he doesn't want to come home for lunch so thankfully with the push from Dr. S they're going to build on that and try to have him in full time asap. If not next week, then in January.

In the end, good meeting. I just feel awful for Superman because for a little while his whole world is going to fall apart. This just isn't anyone leaving. She's someone that he loves and trusts immensely. His sun rises and sets on her.