Monday, March 22, 2010

Trying to Organize my Thoughts.......

I know I've talked about this before, but I feel I need to get it off my chest again.

I see all the improvements in Simon. He's doing so well in school. He's becoming such a happy little boy (except for when he's miserable). He's become a lot more affectionate. He enjoys participating in "circle time" at school. But I also see how Rachel is doing. She's FLOURISHING!!!!! She has been having fewer and fewer negative behaviors. It's easy to forget at times that she has the same diagnosis as her brother.

These two are twins. They are twins with the same diagnosis. Yet there is almost NOTHING about them that are the same. What works for one doesn't work for the other. And right now, Simon constantly seems to be in a state of flux.

He started at school on January 12. At that point, the teacher in the classroom to which he was assigned had recently resigned due to poor health. He had a (semi)permanent substitute teacher so the consistency was there, and since he hadn't been there before, this didn't cause him any unusual disturbance. Then, in mid-February, a new teacher was hired and she begun working in Simon's class. He immediately seemed to bond with her. Her notes home in his notebook were written by someone who really seemed to care about him. And when I went to observe the class last week, he really enjoyed working with her. Well, I received a phone call today from the school's administrator. Today, this teacher was "let go". The substitute that was there when Simon began will be there again when he arrives at school tomorrow and will be there until a new teacher is, once again, found.

I'm terrified of what this is going to do to him. Simon needs stability. Will he regress when his favorite teacher is no longer there? How will he react when he shows up tomorrow to see a former teacher waiting for him? Will it confuse him or will he take this in stride? He's not capable of asking where his favorite teacher is. Will this be a thought in his mind, or is he not yet capable of forming such a question?

I guess we'll see what happens. When I was talking to the administrator, she did tell me that if I had any questions or issues, I should feel free to contact her. I did mention at the time that I did feel that Simon and his teacher had bonded and I was concerned about how her absence would affect him. If I'm seeing negative consequences, I will let her know. But will that be too late?

1 comment:

  1. I have no words of wisdom. I hope he transitions well. At least the "new" teacher is someone he is familiar with.

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