Son's Goal

Son has been having difficulty with his Aid recently.  Well, not really recently, more like ALL school year.  He is very disrespectful to her and I don't know what to do about it. 

At every IEP meeting with every new child study team, I expressed that I would like to see Son taught the skills he needs to cope with daily school life without an Aid by high school.  And since he is in 5th grade, I felt that a reasonable goal.

In his last IEP meeting we discussed working toward cutting the Aid to half time with him.  There seemed to be only certain times of the day (as well as every other Monday) that he needs the extra support.  His teacher seemed to think that as long as the class size stayed where it was, that she and Son could handle things without the Aid.  Btu there were skills that he needs to learn and practice in order for the Aid to be cut back and eventually weaned out completely.

This week, I have received not one but TWO emails as well as write ups on his behavior paper about his attitude towards the Aid.  I have told him in the past that this behavior is UNACCEPTABLE and we discussed and practiced ways that he can do better with her.  It seems to me that there is something about her that just irritates Son and makes him snap.  He can never seem to tell me what goes on and why he is mean to her.

So this week, when I got the first email from the teacher about his mouth, we talked.  I explained to him what I see as my role in his education plan.  I am his advocate to make sure he gets all that he needs to get through school as best he can.  I asked him if he wanted the Aid.  He said he didn't want her to go to 6th grade with him.  I told him that there are things that HE needs to do in order to be without an aid and that I would work with the teachers and the Aid to figure out what everything is and how we can help him to learn those things.

I was SO proud when Son said he didn't want the Aid to go to 6th grade!  This is the first goal he has set for himself during all this.  And now that he has a goal, I want to do everything necessary to ensure that he gets to meet that goal.

For now, I have a meeting with the Aid on Monday to find out what she does to help him through the day as well as to find out details of WHEN Son is mean to her.  I want to see if there is a pattern to his attitude.

I also have a meeting with the behavioral specialist at the Autism Center (which keeps getting postponed due to snow!) where I will discuss ways to help Son with his attitude.