School & Summer Vacation. Where Does One End and the Other Begin?

Busy, busy! No time for rest! Gotta get this kid caught up with the rest.

The 2007/2008 school year was a very busy one for Laurance and I. He just completed his 5th and final year of elementary school. He will be going into middle school next year, yet he still sits at a mid 3rd grade level in math. This does not have to be except that TUSD in its infinite <choke!> wisdom <unchoke!> , decided to take him out of one school where he was doing very well, and place him into another one where he did not do so well. Their reasoning? Glad you asked. They felt that he would be better off in a school with a program that was designed strictly for autistic children. However, they did nothing to expand upon the skills that he had already acquired over the course of the prior two years.

During his 1st and 2nd grade years his development with his reading and math skills was at par. At the end of his 2nd grade year he was going into a literature program, and they had introduced him to division. He was the highest functioning child in his class. When he started at the other school they did nothing to expand upon the skills he had already developed. At the end of his 4th grade year he was at a beginning 3rd grade level in math, and he was meandering through language arts. They would put work in front of him that they knew he could complete without any direction, and would not challenge him, but would at best keep him busy for a few minutes. The school did very little to work with me, and they blamed me for his digression. The teacher refused to listen to me, and she would not implement any of my ideas. In the end Laurance suffered.

I removed him from there at the end of his 4th grade year, and thank God I did. I placed him into a better school that was closer to our home. His teacher and I were on the same page with his education. I showed her a stack of work that he had done from the year before, and she agreed with me; the other school had not done their job. The two of us worked together as a team. She would put forth the education plan, and I would have to approve it. She would send work home and state the expectations clearly. I would implement various tools to help him accomplish the task. For instance, he was expected to take 10 words, write them 3x each in alphabetical order, and use each word in a sentence. However, he had difficulty understanding how to alphabetize the words. He knew his ABC's, so I got the idea of writing each word on a flash card. This helped to provide a visual effect, and gave him better understanding on how to alphabetize words. Toward the end of his school year he no longer needed the flashcards.


By the end of the year he was at par in language arts, but he had only gained 6-months in his math skills. So, what does that mean? Laurance's Summer vacation, is not going to be much of a vacation. We are working on building his knowledge of division and fractions. This is a feat for me even with a masters degree, because my knowledge of fractions is challenged at best, completely lost at worst. That's all right, that's all right! We will be okay. I will refresh my math skills and be the smarter for it.

I'll keep everyone posted on the results....

Development

When Laurance was 3-years old I began to notice delays in his use of language. The other children in his daycare were moving right along in the typical fashion, but I noticed his speech was at least a year behind the other children. He did not actually potty train until a month before he turned 4. Of course, the potty training was more of a power play tool than anything else. When I told him I had had enough and privileges were going to be taken away if he didn't start using the toilet, that was it he was potty trained. He wore pull-ups to bed for 2-weeks after that, then he decided that he didn't need them. He never went backward, or lost any of his skills.

Aside from his struggle with language he is really quite normal. However, his teacher recently pointed out that he is still at that huggy stage, which most children outgrow by the time they are 8 or 9. I remember my nephew at 8-years old becoming embarrassed when we would give him hugs and kisses at ball practice. Laurance has never had a problem with a public display of affection from those he loves.

Though he is still having some difficulty mastering his use of language, he has improved considerably, and he is continuing to grow. He is a very intelligent boy, and sometimes he surprises me at just how intelligent he is. In fact, he's learned how to use his developmental challenges to manipulate me; that is where I really have to be on my toes.

His delays are most noticeable in his use of language, and he needs to hone some of his fine motor skills. Other than that there are really no outside signs of autism. I am beginning to think that he is not actually autistic, but that he falls more within the spectrum; PDD or maybe aspergers syndrome. The most frustrating part of all this is that the professionals cannot agree. He has been evaluated by 5 professionals so far, and 3 have said autism; one of those 3 said that he needs to be evaluated more frequently. The other 2 believe it is simply ADHD. I cannot agree with a straight ADHD diagnosis either; Laurance's language delays at his age are not due to ADHD.

So, here I am still trying to get answers. Since he is high functioning he falls through the cracks, which means that I do not get the help that I would if he was considered low functioning. I am frustrated he's getting older, and the answers are going to cost me money that I do not have right now.

So, what am I doing about this? I'm selling everything!

Please check out my store on eBay, A Boutique of Everything.