A La Aspie

My son goes to a school in North County San Diego that has been fabulous. We transferred here at the beginning of the 07-08 school year. At first glance, the school looked run down, old, gang infested and just gross. I was about 2 hours from pulling every string possible to not send him there when I found that it was a California Distinguished School. I gave it a shot.

Come to find out, the special ed coordinator is totally well versed with Asperger’s Syndrome. No having to spell it out for her. And this IEP/504 plan process was like second nature to all of them. They had a process and they all came to the meeting knowing what needed to be done and there was no double talk or finagling. The 504 plan team has been wonderful. Compared to the two schools before, heavenly. We have our regular meetings and they give me everything we need. He needed daily notes home - I got em. He needed to be pulled out at recess - I got it. Of course, those aren’t the only two things he’s needed but he’s gotten the other 2,000 things too.

They even CALL sometimes to ask if I would like him to participate in a new thing the school has going on. He’s in a thing called ‘peace club’ which is a group of hard-to-manage kids that meets once a week to talk about handling social situations. Ethan knows that these are all the ‘bad kids’, as he calls them. But in his overly mature 9 year old brain, he also knows that he’s learning a lot and that it’s good for him and so he likes it.

This year, he’s really doing REALLY well. Even with everything that has happened recently, his behavior is staying above board. He’s loving violin. He’s top of his class, to hear him tell it. And I don’t doubt it. He’s memorized everything and does everything to a very perfect T. One of the strong points of Asperger’s Syndrome. He’s in chess club now. Even though he has to be at school 45 minutes early one day a week, he LOVES it. He is up before I am encouraging me to the door to get him there.

Yesterday, we talked about his improvement. I told him how proud and encouraged I am. I told him that I’d rather him participate in things he loves like violin and chess club than to make straight As. It’s growing, learning and loving learning that’s important to me… not grades. I told him how pleased I am that his behavior has held. And the conversation was conscious on his part. He really is groking this whole ‘improvement’ thing. I dig that.

Also may have been crossposted to my Asperger's Syndrome blog on Trusera.com, a site where people show health related stories. Check it out!