Thursday, October 16, 2008

And the Roller Coaster Continues

Yesterday morning, my wife came home with a cute story about B. She was taking him to his kindergarten classroom when he ran across a group of 4th-graders. He impressed the older kids with his spelling and reading abilities and he made them laugh when he called one of them 'Airplane' because he thought the other child's name sounded like that. Soon, they were all saying, "Give me a nickname, too!" He totally charmed them.

Things have been up and down all week. His latest IEP has met with mixed success but it's clear that he is behaving better in the CBIP classroom than he is in Gen-ed.

I was on a sort of high after the cute story when I got a call from my wife at work well before the end of the school day. I knew something was wrong when I heard B in the background and realized the call was coming from our house. B was sent home today for something I'm not going to go into but he's been suspended until next Monday when there will be another IEP meeting.

Friday is picture day at his school so he'll miss that.

He is so smart and creative and charming and high-functioning in so many ways but he still doesn't understand the difference between major and minor infractions of rules. I don't know what to do.

The principal at his school is wonderful. She just called a few minutes ago to tell us what the policies and procedures are and to let us know what to expect. The horrible counselor continues to be horrible. I am not looking forward to seeing her at the meeting.

We'll get through this but it doesn't make it suck less. What does help is that I know he's a wonderful boy and that he will eventually learn what to do and when to do it. I just want to make things as easy for him as possible until then.

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3 comments:

Joy said...

Your post made me cry. We'll all make it. I'm sending emails with information and resources because I'm now in action mode!

Love, Mom

Calli Arcale said...

*HUGGLES* Good luck to you. I hope the roller-coaster ride evens out for you. I watched my mother cope with all of that with my youngest brother, and am now beginning that journey myself with my own daughter. The worst part, to me, is not the tantrums, the zoning, or the uncommunicativeness. It's the challenge of navigating the morass of public school services, teacher conferences, school rules, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, insurance companies, and so on. There's no roadmap. And you have to find your way despite conflicting suggestions while you are trying to make time for your child without totally burning yourself out.

Hang in there! There will be some major ups and major downs, but it's all worth it. And remember that you are not alone!

I'm going to post this over at Perky Skeptic too.

Vaklam said...

Thanks Mom and Calli!

Like Perky said, all these words of encouragement and comisseration help immensely.

We'll keep you posted on the progress.