Autism Therapy: social therapy

            It has been a busy week here so far.  Sunday morning, Hayley had her dance class pictures.  All the little girls looked like angels!  I have to admit that I am surprised at how serious this dance thing is.  I guess that I expected a little recital at the end of the year, but there’s this big production at a big auditorium the next town over, and the pictures and the rehearsals too!  I ordered pictures, despite the fact that I wanted to protest the absurd prices by not ordering any at all, so I expect to be satisfied.  I think Hayley smiled nicely.  There’s no way for me to be sure, since parents were not allowed in the picture area.

            Tuesday was Thomas’ IEP meeting and the first full-staff IEP since that fateful IEP two years ago when the word “autism” was finally said.  Anyway, everyone who is part of Thomas’ service team at school was there including Thomas’ kindergarten teacher for next year AND the resource teacher!  Jonathan and I couldn’t believe it.  We were waiting to be taken back to the conference room when this teacher walked in and I recognized her from that silly orientation a couple weeks ago.  I thought, “Could she possibly be here for Thomas’ IEP?”  Sure enough, she was there for it and Jonathan and I thought that was completely wonderful.

            During the course of the meeting, we revised the reason why Thomas receives special education services from “developmental delay” to “autism” which opens a few more doors for us.  Thomas’ teacher did a Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) test on Thomas and with that instrument she determined that he falls on the mild/moderate end of the spectrum.  The psychologist reported that his scores in the various areas of testing ranged from far below average in some areas and “superior” in one area in particular:  long-term memory and recollection.  Normal is about 80-112, and Thomas scored 123.  Everyone around the table said “oooh” and “aaah,” but Jonathan and I nodded quietly.  This score was nothing new to us.  I’m frankly surprised that Thomas hasn’t related details of his birth to me.  I would find this most interesting since I was under general anesthetic for it and don’t remember a thing.

            Thomas’ composite FIQ (I think that’s “functional IQ”) was 72, just above the cutoff for the MLP classroom.  Jonathan was okay with that.  He was very concerned going into this meeting that the staff was going to gloss over Thomas’ problems and make it seem like he is higher-functioning than he really is just so they could get him into the general education classroom.  The staff was very frank about Thomas’ strengths and weaknesses yet confidently recommended that we put him in the general classroom with ninety “resource minutes” per week.  That will be speech, occupational and social therapy integrated into classroom time every week.  The principal said, and I am apt to agree with her, that it does no good to mainstream a child and then have him out of class all the time for therapy.  Thomas’ new teacher (who goes by Mrs. Surname – Thomas has already mastered her difficult-to-pronounce name and we only had to tell him once – hello, long-term memory!) said that she prefers that all therapy be done in her classroom as long as it is reasonable, so I believe that they’re going to do that.  This year, she said that she had only seventeen students as opposed to the thirty that we were warned about, so we’re very hopeful about that.  We think that Thomas would struggle with so many kids around.

            Everyone had really nice things to say about Thomas.  All of the people in the meeting felt that he’s just a really happy-to-know-you kind of kid and they’re sorry to see him go.  So am I!  We’ve had a really good experience at Thomas’ pre-school; we know the staff there and everyone knows us.  It’ll be an adjustment for sure, but I think Thomas will do fine.  He understands that he’s going to a different school next year and he says he’s eager to make new friends.  We’re going to go and visit sometime soon, which Thomas is also eager to do.  He said he wants to meet his teacher and see the room and jump right in, so that’s great.  I’m thinking of becoming involved in the PTO or PTA or whatever the acronym is these days.  It’s a cute little grade school just a few blocks from our house, so I’m not sure if I’ll sign Thomas up for the bus or not.  I’ll feel a little guilty having the bus pick him up when we live so close – it’s like having a pizza delivered even though you live really close to the restaurant.  I’ll probably have him take the bus anyway because Hayley will have to get to preschool by 9 a.m.

            Tomorrow, Hayley and I go to school for the Mother’s Day Sing and Ice Cream Social.  Thomas has been singing his songs here all week, so I kind of already know what the “sing” part is about, but it will be sweet to hear all the kids sing together.  I’m especially eager to meet Thomas’ little girlfriend and her mom!  I’m hoping to exchange numbers with her and possibly get together with them over the summer.  We have to discuss the wedding, after all.  I’ve heard that as mother of the groom, it is my job to “wear beige and be quiet.”  I’m not sure I can comfortably do either.