A MEETING WITH THE SCHOOL ASD TEAM

Yesterday, we had a meeting at Jacob's school, with their ASD team.  We've spoken with almost all of the members individually, but we'd never had a meeting with all of them together at the same time.  A couple of the team members had been observing Jacob since grade 2, and yesterday's meeting was to share the findings with us.

Throughout Jacobs time in school, we've had plenty of meetings with many professionals, but this one was different because of the specialists that were there.  The main ASD specialist gave us a 10 page report on what they observed while working with Jacob.  They discussed his many strengths and weaknesses, many of which we were already aware of.   Despite the fact that we'd heard it all before, it's still hard to hear people talk about our sons issues.  The group was very supportive and we all seem to get along we'll.

The best news is that Jacob has been approved by the board to receive his iPad for school very soon.  The iPad will have all of his textbooks on it in app form, it will have it's own keyboard and it will even have the dragon app, which allows you to speak into a microphone, and the words you say will appear on the screen.  We're so excited about Jacob being able to use an iPad in class.  Hopefully this will reduce the transition issues when he switches from subject to subject.

The ASD team also gave us a couple of websites to check out, that are specifically geared to helping Jacob in social situations.  Here's an excerpt from the report; "children like Jacob have great issues during social settings, and these issues are often lifelong."  So we have our work cut out for us, but Jacob is high functioning so hopefully with extra work, he'll be able to work through his issues as he matures.

We also have to make an appointment to see his ASD doctor because Jacob needs help in limiting his ritualistic behaviour.  His desire to repeat phrases and actions often interferes with his ability to do work.  We also talked about how if things become too hectic in class, that he and his EA could go to a quiet area to do his school work.

We hope that once we implement these changes that Jacob will become a better student and a better member of society.  But with things like these, they often take time to become routine.  Lucky for us, we have ample time, for now.  And with all the dedication from all members of his ASD team, we are confident that Jacob will eventually learn all the tools necessary to succeed.