The Development of Empathy

I visited Caleb's new class yesterday. I am very impressed with the teacher, as I get to know her better and watch her in action. She has infinite patience! However, I'm a bit disappointed that the classroom is so much set up like his pre-primary impaired classroom. I was hoping for a similar set-up to his last class...that is more like a school classroom, but with a few centers too. Because of this, we've decided to up his days at regular education (the special ed. classroom) to 3. Thus he'll go to this new ASD classroom only 2 days out of the week.

The class itself has only 4 students. The boy similar in ability to Caleb was absent that day, but the 2 other children were very clearly lower ability and high needs were there. That day, I got to witness something that truly brought tears to my eyes and a sweet smile to my heart :) One of the high needs students, I'll label "B." was having a day full of meltdowns. He spent most of the morning in his tent with earmuffs to keep out the noise, and a vibrating pillow to help calm him. After lunch, Caleb, the teacher, and I came back to the classroom and found B. sitting at the beanbag area. As I talked to the teacher, Caleb went over and laid next to B. on the beanbags. He gently took B.'s hand, and rubbed it as he smiled at B (and B. smiled back). They stayed in that position for several minutes. It was as if Caleb was saying, "I've been there..I feel for you!" We all marveled at the empathy and care shown between the 2 boys. No one "gets it" like they do! No matter what others may diagnose as lacking in social ability, they both proved otherwise in one small moment! After a bit, a staff member tried to get B's attention for something else, and he once again broke into a large tantrum. Caleb calmly got up and went to the lego table to free play. He wasn't phased by the tantrums one bit! It helped me really internalize that education is more than academics. No one could have reproduced this social experience of empathy by mere teaching techniques. It came from feeling a connection to another child who deals with what you deal with. It made me very glad that I have tried to do both worlds for Caleb...the autistic world, and the neurotypical world. Hopefully, he gets the best of both! Everyone needs to be able to relate to another person when it comes to struggles that we go through. Caleb and B. are no different!

**The pics are from Caleb's 8th birthday that he just celebrated last week. He loved his new Lego Toy Story & Lego Star Wars sets! **

IEP and Ice Skating

We had Caleb's IEP yesterday, and to be honest...it was the BEST one we've ever had! They are definitely on -the-ball with the transition to his new classroom. The new teacher is observing him several times, meeting with his therapists/teachers/aides, and having the old staff set up the new classroom with all of the visuals and supports he's used to. They are providing him with a social story about the new class and going over it daily. Also, they planned a "going away" bowling party for him! I'm feeling much assured that this could work, so now it's time to see it in action! The new teacher seems very kind and knowledgeable.

On a lighter note, we took the whole family (Caleb included) ice skating the other day at my sister's house. It was fun to see Caleb get the hang of it a bit, and to enjoy a new event. He did wonderful! See the picture!

Switching Classrooms again...booo!!!

Well, it's official...Caleb will be required to switch to the new autism classroom forming nearer to our home town. The state is requiring Caleb's AI classroom (which is 1 hour away) to break into another class due to overload of kids. Since Caleb is the most northern & farthest away, he will be going to the new classroom (which is 20 minutes away). I'm glad about the location, but not about another switch for him. To top it all off, the director of the AI classes resigned after Christmas, so there will be no one consistent through the process. Caleb really loves the other boys in his current classroom, coming home talking about them everyday like a little "tape recorder". He gets great therapy and has a great teaching staff there, and I can only pray that things will be similar in the new classroom.

I plan on giving the new classroom 2 weeks to transition, and then I'll observe it's set-up and running. If need be, I can increase Caleb's number of regular special-education from 2 days to 3 days. Right now, Caleb goes Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday to the AI classroom, along with Wednesday, and Friday to regular school special education. Oh the decisions and headaches we parents must go through for our autistic children! I can see already that this coming IEP on Monday is going to be a long one!