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Hi everyone and thanks for visiting our blog. My wife and I created this blog to chronicle our experience while raising a son with Asperger's syndrome. Since our son was diagnosed with an ASD at age 5, we've had a lot of questions. Lucky for us we have a great support network in place. And our blog gives us an opportunity to share what we've learned with our readers. We hope you find our blog informative and interesting. Thanks again for visiting.


"It seems that for success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential." Dr Hans Asperger 1906-1980



Tuesday 11 September 2012

2ND WEEK OF SCHOOL, 1ST TRIP TO THE OFFICE

Way to go!

I'd like to first make note of the historical significance of this day.  It was 11 years ago today that we all, in a way, lost our innocence.  And the only positive is that we are now smarter as a society, which makes the next generation even safer.  With that being said, we'd like to wish everyone well today.

Jacob had a pretty good first week of school, especially when you consider the huge transition that a student goes through in the first week back.  There's a new classroom, new teacher, new students and new routines.  So we expect Jacob to have some serious bumps in the road for the first month.  Last week, Jacob earned 6 out of 8 stickers for his reward calendar.

But then yesterday, which was his first Monday of the school year, Jacob had a major meltdown and had to go to the Principal's office.  Along with the 11 or so new teachers at my son's school, there is also a new principal.  The last principal was great with Jacob, and she had great understanding of what Jacob would go through on a day to day basis.  So when we heard at the end of last year, that we were going to get a new principal, we were a little uneasy about the whole change.  But we also heard that the new principal was a man, so we were also cautiously optimistic.

Then this year we met the new principal, and he's great.  He's also a little more strict than the old principal, especially with Jacob.  Jacob has been traditionally more behaved with men than with women, which may reflect on both Shannie and I.  Mom is much more lenient than dad, and Jacob knows exactly how far he can push with each of us individually.

So yesterday, when Jacob went to the office, his new principal wasn't very pleased at how mean Jacob was to his new teacher.  Jacob was mad because she corrected his spelling, which apparently set Jacob off.  And the new principal said that Jacob couldn't go back to class unless he was going to apologise to his teacher.  We thought that this approach was great, because it helps Jacob speed through the process of getting angry to showing remorse for his actions.

The old principal was much more relaxed when dealing with Jacob during an issue.  She would have let Jacob cool down, then speak to him about his behaviour, then allow him to go back to class when he was ready.  This is a good approach, but it allows Jacob to retain control, by giving him the decision to decide what to do.  So the new Principal's decision to make Jacob apologise first, helped the teacher regain control before Jacob even got back to class.  And this helps Jacob control himself, which means that he's less likely to have another outburst or meltdown.

Needless to say, mom and I are happy with Jacob's recent behaviour at school in spite of yesterday's episode.  The new Principal's actions even helped Jacob focus on his homework.  It's almost as if Jacob knows that the time for games at school is over.  Because now he has a male EA in the afternoon, and a male principal to answer to if he acts up too much.  So hopefully he continues to do as well as he did in his first week, which could lead to a successful year.







6 comments:

  1. I'm glad things are going well for Jacob. I remember when my son got mad at teachers at school and was sent to the office. Luckily this didn't happen very often!

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    1. It happens pretty often for us, but the principal's office is across the hall from the SERT room. And Jacob seems pretty comfortable in the office. Sometimes he goes there on his own.

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  2. Ugh...this is such a tough time of year for our kids. Sorry Jacob had to go to the principal's office. But hopefully, this will kind of help the principal better understand Jacob and get to know you both.

    Hope you all have a better rest of the week!

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    1. September is really the toughest month, even for non ASD kids. There's so many transitions and kids like our don't handle change too well.

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  3. I'm so glad you are happy with the principal's decision! It sounds like this may be a good year for jacob! *fingers crossed* for you :)

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    1. We can only hope Mac. Jacob improves every year, so we have our fingers crossed too.

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