When Caelan was first 'diagnosed' as being autistic/having developmental delays and having a Sensory Processing Disorder, we enrolled him in the public school Special Ed program. I know I have said before that it was NOT part of my grand plans in life to have my child in school at the age of three and even more so, not in public school. The plan has always been- even prior to having a child- to home school. Christian Education follows a close second to that choice. But God had other plans besides mine at that time.
So at the direction of the school system (who had evaluated him, etc) we put him in the special ed preschool class last year- and as you all know he did really well and we were glad we did it. But even by the end of the year we were still getting reports about Caelan being pretty close to non verbal (OUR child who talks ALL the time?) and that he still didn't interact with other children. (again I say... OUR child?) They said that he still didn't "initiate interaction with others or engage with others" and that he "plays near other children but not with them" and "often times doesn't even seem to notice the other kids" around.
Now it was not the first time we had been told something different about him than what we see at home. And we understand that how kids are at home and around family is different from school. BUT we were also seeing completely opposite behavior from him at church than what they were reporting from special ed services. And it's not like he grew up in that church and was simply familiar with things. He had only been there for four months. And at church he would go up to other kids and say, "Hey friends/girls!! Do you want to come play cars?" We would see him play WITH kids. So I was very frustrated. I talked to the team at the IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting about my options for this year. His social needs were NOT being met in special ed. Don't get me wrong- he had GREAT teachers. I adored them and Mrs. S in particular, loved loved loved Caelan (kinda spoiled him!). That was not the problem. But he was in a class with other kids who were non-verbal, autistic, non-communicative, non-interacting, etc. HOW is he supposed to develop socially around kids who are behind socially? I realllly wanted to main stream him. But when I saw the 4 year old class that he would have been in.... I knew that was NOT for him either. Those kids were off the wall and he would have been completely lost and overwhelmed and we would have regressed.
I struggled ALL summer about this. I knew in my heart that main streaming him was the right thing. But I also knew that he did not need to be in the 4 year class room. I also had to bear in mind that he receives support services through the school system (OT, Speech and Language Therapy, Autistic consultant) and wanted to make sure we didn't lose that.
Our church is HUGE on Christian Education. 25% of all tithes and offering goes into funding for Christian Ed. I kept thinking about it. I knew I wanted not just to main stream him, but to mainstream him in Christian School. I talked to Matt. His response was, "So you want to take him OUT of a 5 day a week program that we don't pay for who also provide services to him, so that we can enroll him in a TWO day program, that we have to pay for, that does NOT offer support services to him?" Well, ok.... if you put it like that I guess it doesn't sound in the best interest of our son!! Haha! I still knew this was the right choice though. I just had to figure out some things.
Bear in mind, this is in AUGUST. A couple of weeks before school started. He was enrolled in Special Ed again at the public school.
So then as I talked to another parent I realized that the school system is REQUIRED to continue providing Caelan with those services REGARDLESS of WHERE we choose to go to school. Yep! I did NOT know that. It was never mentioned to us. At this point, things all fell into place in my head. Mainstreaming, Christian school, special services- YES!
And there is a much longer story about how God led me to one Christian school over the other- the short of it is this.... he started the 4 year old class at TC Christian in September. He gets the same amount of Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy as he did in public school. And the boy is THRIVING beyond words!! He has grown soooo much and it has been an amazing 8 months watching him change! So of course, as always, God's plan is much better than mine. I just gotta wait it out sometimes.
And another bonus- the assistant teacher in his classroom has a son who is autistic (he is 13 or so) so she is very in tune to Caelan and any needs he has. His lead teacher is also great- and although she has never worked with any special needs kids she was more than willing to take it on and has also really enjoyed watching him grow this year! It has been so nice to hear all the great things that Caelan is doing. I told his teachers that one day- "It's nice to hear what my son IS doing instead of constantly hearing what he is NOT doing."
So that's where we are now with school. Christian Ed, still receiving services, main streamed, and plan to stay there!
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