Review and Transitioning

We had our annual statement of special ed needs review last week and the school and local authority are making plans for my son's transition to high school in 2011. Yes 2011!! It certainly seems early to me, but his current teacher and the school senco who knows him very well, both agree that he will need plenty of time to make the transition. For a child with Asperger's which includes some sensory issues, high school is going to be one clamorous and murky storm cloud that will take some serious adjusting to. My son's opinion on it; he doesn't want to go. Home education is not ruled out as we started on that path when he was younger, but that is not an easy option either.

The review was very positive with a continuation and possible addition of his statement hours per week, that's how many hours he has an assistant working with him in the classroom. The best news was (which we haven't yet told him as the anxious waiting might kill us all!) that the authority would like him to have his own notepad computer which would go with him to high school. Because he is so technically oriented and handwriting is such a laborious process, its hoped that being able to type most assignments will encourage him to do more. It seems that just last year we were hearing the arguement that he 'needed' to work on his handwriting despite the inconvenience to him. But the fact is he knows how to write, and his handwriting has improved, so that is a skill that he has learned and is unlikely to improve very much more, but more likely to put him off writing completely if he was to be forced to do hours of it. So the notebook is very good news indeed, but because its coming from the LEA it will most likely take months before he sees it. 

*photo Sony vaio mini notebook computer, something along the lines of what he may be getting for use at school.