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We got Ben's school assignment a few days ago, and after we finished up all of the paperwork at his home school, we took him over to his real school (his home school does not have an autism program). Thornebrooke Elementary only just opened last year, and it is a beautiful building with a very nice shady park right nixt door. There are currently five autism classrooms, and will probably be a sixth within a few months. His initial class assignment was to be in Mrs. Miller's class, and after meeting her on Wednesday we were less than impressed. Although she has 14 years of teaching experience, this is her first year teaching in the autism program and she just didn't seem to relate to Ben very well at all. Then she informed us that she had just found out her husband has been transferred to Pittsburgh, so she will be leaving in two or three months. This poor kid is already going thorugh a huge transition, and the last thing he needs is more confusion.
After chewing on it for a few days, we finally decided to call the school today to request he be placed in a different classroom. As it turns out, they had already shifted him around due to some re-arranging of the classroom mixes. His new teacher is Mrs. McCauley, who is actually the head teacher for the autism program at the school. We went over this afternoon to meet her, and it was like night and day. Mrs. McCauley had given up her office in the classroom in order to turn it into a play room, which Ben dashed into right away. The kids have to complete whatever task they are working on before she allows them to go into the play room as a reward. As we were talking to her, she actually apologized and confessed that she was a Disney fanatic so we would probably be seeing lots of Disney stuff in his school work.
Yeah, that's gonna be a real problem...
When we arrived at her classroom she and one of her teaching assistants were already working on personalizing things for Ben, creating signs for his desk and cubby hole, making PECS cards just for him, that kind of stuff. There are currently seven kids in the class including Ben, and there is teacher and two assistants -- almost exactly the same ration Ben is used to from his old school. His teacher is absolutely on the ball, and knew how to relate to Ben right off the bat. The assistant that we met was also very good. Needless to say, we are very very happy how this is turning out.
After chewing on it for a few days, we finally decided to call the school today to request he be placed in a different classroom. As it turns out, they had already shifted him around due to some re-arranging of the classroom mixes. His new teacher is Mrs. McCauley, who is actually the head teacher for the autism program at the school. We went over this afternoon to meet her, and it was like night and day. Mrs. McCauley had given up her office in the classroom in order to turn it into a play room, which Ben dashed into right away. The kids have to complete whatever task they are working on before she allows them to go into the play room as a reward. As we were talking to her, she actually apologized and confessed that she was a Disney fanatic so we would probably be seeing lots of Disney stuff in his school work.
Yeah, that's gonna be a real problem...
When we arrived at her classroom she and one of her teaching assistants were already working on personalizing things for Ben, creating signs for his desk and cubby hole, making PECS cards just for him, that kind of stuff. There are currently seven kids in the class including Ben, and there is teacher and two assistants -- almost exactly the same ration Ben is used to from his old school. His teacher is absolutely on the ball, and knew how to relate to Ben right off the bat. The assistant that we met was also very good. Needless to say, we are very very happy how this is turning out.
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Hugs to you and Ben.