Well we have had an eventful year so far. My Aspie son starting having problems in school and the school was not following his behavior plan so it got to the point where they were sending him home everyday. Then we had a meeting and they proposed sending him to a school that had no permanent teacher and would be closing at the end of this year. I refused their offer and they could not come up with another option so we ended up filing for due process to settle this in court (I proposed a private placement which they refused to pay for). I had my prayer team going and I was feeling good about our decision.
I had been warned that their attorney likes to intimidate people and that that is the reason he wins so often. We did not hear from him right away after filing so I was hoping maybe it would be a different attorney. No such luck. He had just been on vacation.
We had a resolution meeting last Thursday with the head of special education for our district, their compliance monitor (who knew us well from working with us in the past) and their attorney. They listened to our allegations and what we were proposing and then they left us for forty-five minutes while they decided what they could offer us.
They offered us an excellent school in my neighborhood that is one of the top ten in the state. I also found out from people outside the district that this school has dealt with issues like ours and worked with the kids and got them into regular mainstream classes within the same year. I toured the school that same day and was very impressed with the school and the staff. I called my attorney and we accepted their offer.
I took my son to tour it Friday and he loved it. That is the first time in years he has liked a school and been excited about it. I was a little worried that it might take some time to prepare him, but he wanted to start immediately. We had had issues before when they were going to try to change his school and I took him to tour it and we could not even get him in the door. He loved everything about the school and some of the boys in his class had asked if he could stay and play, which really made him feel good.
The school had already been advised of the situation with my son and things they would need to do in order to make this transition successful. By Friday morning, his teacher had already been trained by the behavior specialist. I took him over the weekend to get a few new school shirts and a new backpack since the zipper on his old one was busted.
Today is his first day at his new school and he went grinning from ear to ear. I'm so excited for him and I hope it goes well for him.
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