91. Can or Can't?

The IEP meeting for Sean moving into Ms. Tuck's second grade class was held on May 14, 2002  before school dismissed for the summer. The most obvious task was to get Sean to express his needs and desires through language or other civil means. His fits were a huge problem.

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   "Sean is a six year old student in Sandra Lee's first grade class. Sean and his family moved to Mountain Brook in April 2001. While in school in Texas, Sean was diagnosed with autism.

    Sean had great difficulty making the transition to Mountain Brook Elementary School last year. His inability to communicate his needs and desires led to frequent tantrums. His behavior had improved greatly this year until December. He had many school days that were filled with frustration until just recently. A couple of weeks ago, around the end of April, 2002, Sean has seemed much happier and more compliant.

    The characteristics of Sean's autism cause many problems in he school environment. His language skills are severely impaired. Sean's vocabulary is developing, and he is learning to use many words appropriately. He combines words, gestures, and pointing to convey meaning. Most of his communication is requesting, commenting, and rote greetings. His imitative skills are good which aid his development of vocabulary. His behavior problems seem to be due to his lack of language skills and from his need for attention.

      Sean has shown the greatest improvement in the area of language development. At times he is able to communicate his needs quite effectively. However, at other times, this continues to be a major cause of frustration. He is using "yes" and "no" fairly consistently. This helps the teachers question him until they can determine what he is trying to say. Also, he is putting together 2 and 3 words. His vocabulary has increased greatly with the addition of body parts to his vast knowledge of animals! His use of opposites, prepositions and adjectives has contributed to his ability to string words together.

     Sean has a difficult time staying on task until it is completed. He is easily distracted, and often abandons the required activity in order to do something else. It is sometimes hard to tell if Sean is unable, or unwilling, to do an activity.

     Sean was able to spend most of the day in the class during the fall. However, as his behavior became more unmanageable and disruptive to the class, he began spending more time in the resource room. He seeks the teacher's undivided attention, and the requirements of the classroom may have been too much for him at that time.

     Sean is a precious child! He has a wonderful smile, and he is very loving. He enjoys laughing and playing games. His motor skills are excellent and he loves to play outside on the playground."

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I was really glad that Sean's teachers agreed that it was hard to tell if Sean was unable or unwilling at times. Not knowing which, it was hard for me to parent him appropriately. -inmyopinion- I had to guess at which one it was and oftentimes, something would later indicate that I was wrong.

When I read about him putting 2 and 3 words together I remembered that he had already learned to do that when he was a little bitty guy. He would say, "want juice" or "watch Pooh" and then the thief in the night came and took his speech away and replaced it with nothing but a blank stare. It wasn't so abrupt as that, but it may as well have been. It would have been easier to see when it all began. I still want to know. When your child reaches a milestone you don't expect it to be taken away from him. Aside from all that, I was grateful for the dedicated teachers who were determined to teach him how to speak again - to calm down enough and use his words to get what he wanted and needed. Luckily Sean's smile had to ability to erase the memory of the severity his meltdowns.