For those who follow me and Ashley on social media, you are probably familiar with how Will has been attending an autism therapy center for the last few years in lieu of public school. He ended up there during the 2018-2019 school year after his transition from kindergarten to first grade was, to put it lightly, a disaster.
During the previous school year, Will attended kindergarten for only half a day. He also had an aide with him at all times to help him stay on task. You can read a little more about that in my previous blog post: Being Flexible. This arrangement was effective and we considered his kindergarten year to be a success.
As Will began his first week of first grade, we discovered that the school district would not be able to provide a full-time aide for Will but rather an aide would check in on him from time to time and help as needed. It soon became obvious that this arrangement wasn't going to work; Will regularly tried to escape the school and would not remain seated in his classroom. Not only was his ability to learn impacted, but it was a distraction to the teacher and his classmates.
The staff at the school were committed to making things work, but with staffing limitations, they really did not have the numbers they needed to provide adequate help to Will and the other special needs students at the school. Ashley put forth a lot of effort to find a therapy setting that would be effective in helping Will develop the skills he would need to eventually thrive back in public school. That search led Ashley to Adventures with Autism, an ABA therapy center that provides help to children with autism, some in an academic-like setting.
In the three and a half years that Will has been receiving therapy at AWA, we have witnessed tremendous improvements in his behavior and self-regulating ability. Will no longer tries to escape places like home, school, or church. He also follows directions and knows how to regulate his emotions. Alongside these improvements in his behavior, Will has also become more articulate, and social, and expanded his academic capabilities.
This summer, one of the therapists at AWA suggested we start to consider transitioning Will back to public school. We always knew Will would eventually need to return to public school, but we had concerns about how such a transition would go. The failure of his time in first grade was still fresh in our memories.
When Ashley floated the idea to Will, he was very excited and encouraged us to have him make the transition sooner rather than later. Lots of prayer, fasting, e-mails, and a meeting with Will's "team" (including public school and AWA staff) led to Will making the transition back to public school a couple of weeks ago. On his last day at Adventures with Autism, Will had a graduation ceremony.
To say that Will is thriving at school would be an understatement. He LOVES his teacher and his new classroom. We live so close to the school that Ashley walks Will and Felicity to and from school every day. Next week Will starts taking lessons to learn how to place the double bass. He hopes to join the orchestra this year.
