Are your kids excited? Any plans for the summer? Are you already prepping for next year?
My son is finishing 3rd grade today, wow! For us this means next year he will be in a different school with a totally different team of support. 4-6 grades are actually in the same building as 7-12th. (they do keep them mostly separated) While pre-k-3rd are in a totally different one.
He has had the same Special Ed teacher for the past 4 years and this is going to be so hard on him, us and I'm sure even her. Its going to be a big change! We did a transition meeting yesterday, we took him to the new school and met with the new team and his current/past Spec Ed teacher all at once. With his anxiety we didn't want him stressing out over the next school year, this will give him time to prepare. We went over his current IEP and made any changes that will help for next year. (we do his IEP a couple times a year, his teachers have been great about adjusting it every time even a tiny thing is changed vs once a year) We all talked about his quirks and things that will help him in the classroom. He got to see the spec ed room, the teachers, where the regular classroom will be and we went down to the nurse's office for a visit too. He is sooooo social that ever since kindergarten he's made regular visits to the nurse's office just to chat. At one point his para brought him down for a scheduled 5 minutes everyday, lol. (like I said, really awesome team) So, of course, we had to meet the new nurse and give her a heads up. She gave him a tour and played along wonderfully.
We, as parents, are probably going to have the hardest time adjusting to new staff. I don't like changes. As we were walking around the new school the current Spec Ed teacher was leading the tour and you could just tell how proud she was of our son and she really took ownership of him, showing him off to the staff. It was really nice to see a teacher who is so involved and has been such a big part of our lives. I tear up thinking about how she wont be there to be his go to person anymore.
Even though classes, teachers and such are usually not assigned until closer to the new school year she already made a request that our son and his best friend (who both shared a para this year) are in the same class next year because they work so well together (and they will share a para again) and also requested a teacher and got him assigned already. He'll have the teacher my DD had in kindergarten (its common for teachers here to swap grades year to year, a lot have kids in the school too and they commonly swap to other grades for that reason too), she is a super patient teacher and he knows her already so I think it will be an awesome fit. Heck, if she can deal with my daughter who is miss chatty cathy, non-stop-distractions... then she can handle Andrew, lmao.
Big bonus! His ADAPT (social therapy group) will be held over the summer 2x a week at the new school so he'll get time to adjust and he'll work with the person there that will be his in-school social support. The school is only 5 blocks from our house on the same street so we'll be walking there a lot this summer too. (has to take a bus during school year because of a busy street crossing though)
Summer plans? Oh boy, besides the ADAPT we are still trying to figure it out. So unsure yet.
How about you? What are your plans, how are you handling the end of the school year, thinking about next year yet?
My son is finishing 3rd grade today, wow! For us this means next year he will be in a different school with a totally different team of support. 4-6 grades are actually in the same building as 7-12th. (they do keep them mostly separated) While pre-k-3rd are in a totally different one.
He has had the same Special Ed teacher for the past 4 years and this is going to be so hard on him, us and I'm sure even her. Its going to be a big change! We did a transition meeting yesterday, we took him to the new school and met with the new team and his current/past Spec Ed teacher all at once. With his anxiety we didn't want him stressing out over the next school year, this will give him time to prepare. We went over his current IEP and made any changes that will help for next year. (we do his IEP a couple times a year, his teachers have been great about adjusting it every time even a tiny thing is changed vs once a year) We all talked about his quirks and things that will help him in the classroom. He got to see the spec ed room, the teachers, where the regular classroom will be and we went down to the nurse's office for a visit too. He is sooooo social that ever since kindergarten he's made regular visits to the nurse's office just to chat. At one point his para brought him down for a scheduled 5 minutes everyday, lol. (like I said, really awesome team) So, of course, we had to meet the new nurse and give her a heads up. She gave him a tour and played along wonderfully.
We, as parents, are probably going to have the hardest time adjusting to new staff. I don't like changes. As we were walking around the new school the current Spec Ed teacher was leading the tour and you could just tell how proud she was of our son and she really took ownership of him, showing him off to the staff. It was really nice to see a teacher who is so involved and has been such a big part of our lives. I tear up thinking about how she wont be there to be his go to person anymore.
Even though classes, teachers and such are usually not assigned until closer to the new school year she already made a request that our son and his best friend (who both shared a para this year) are in the same class next year because they work so well together (and they will share a para again) and also requested a teacher and got him assigned already. He'll have the teacher my DD had in kindergarten (its common for teachers here to swap grades year to year, a lot have kids in the school too and they commonly swap to other grades for that reason too), she is a super patient teacher and he knows her already so I think it will be an awesome fit. Heck, if she can deal with my daughter who is miss chatty cathy, non-stop-distractions... then she can handle Andrew, lmao.
Big bonus! His ADAPT (social therapy group) will be held over the summer 2x a week at the new school so he'll get time to adjust and he'll work with the person there that will be his in-school social support. The school is only 5 blocks from our house on the same street so we'll be walking there a lot this summer too. (has to take a bus during school year because of a busy street crossing though)
Summer plans? Oh boy, besides the ADAPT we are still trying to figure it out. So unsure yet.
How about you? What are your plans, how are you handling the end of the school year, thinking about next year yet?
