Color me impressed

I think any parent of an autistic child who's exploring the possibility of mainstream school for the first time, can relate to what I've been feeling. After a decade of charter school, Elliott has been mainstreamed. This really should have happened long ago but it's happening now and I wanted to share part of that journey. His first full day was going well and honestly, did go well. The new school is a huge change from what he's used to. The volume of students alone has increased from 60 to what I learned last night was actually over 2,000 students. That's a big adjustment. I'll be completely upfront and say that I have been a nervous wreck about these changes. I imagine that some of you out there can relate.…

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What is now is not necessarily what will be later

For a number of reasons, the last few weeks have been physically and emotionally exhausting. There are a million reasons for this but I'm not going to talk about everything. I just want to focus on the ones that may be the most helpful to parents out there living in the trenches on a daily. I have so many positive things in my life and I appreciate every single one of them. There are other things going on that weigh heavy on me, cause me to feel overwhelmed, unsure, and even alone. I've been talking about some of the school-related difficulties and how as a parent, I'm just trying to do the right thing. The school issues have been going on since returning from Christmas break. I've been incredibly overwhelmed…

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Guess who didn’t have school again today?

Guess who didn't have school again? That's right, Emmett. Why didn't he have school again? COVID. More specifically, so many staff members are sick with COVID, they had to close the building for the second day in a row. Hopefully, they will be back on Wednesday. My thoughts and prayers are with the staff members. I hope everyone recovers quickly and safely. I love everyone at the school and I wish them nothing but the best. I do find myself frustrated and a little angry because I'm not sure what we expect to happen when we're trying to force school, in the middle of a pandemic, with no statewide mask or vaccine mandates. There are still unvaccinated people in the building and that puts everyone at risk, especially with Omicron…

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Read more about the article I need to build a new routine for the school year
ENHAN

I need to build a new routine for the school year

We begin a new week that will hopefully include Emmett returning to school. He was not thrilled to have school closed for a week, when he was only two days into the new school year. My day began with a wonderful early morning walk, and some great conversation. It's really weird not going to the gym right now but I'm thrilled be at least be able to take these walks. I'm planning a hike for this weekend and I'm very much looking forward to that. I'm healing well from surgery and my stitches get removed on or around the September 8th. I can't wait to put all of this behind me and continue moving forward. I'll be starting the week with a day full of meetings and I'm looking forward…

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The first week of school is behind us and a few other updates

The first full week of school has come and gone. It didn't go as planned but we adapted. Elliott had a great week and he really seems to like high school. Emmett on the other hand ended up having almost the entire week off due to the excessive heat. The grade school doesn't have AC and the heat index inside the school was over 100F. That's obviously a problem, so they called things of with hopes of returning on Monday. Elliott has AC in his building but it's still hot. Both boys have informed me about the mask policies in their respective buildings and I'm not feeling super comfortable with it. While they are sitting at their desk, they don't have to wear a mask. This tweet from today is…

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How to Help Students Re-Focus after Spring Break

Vacations at schools of all kinds and colleges are usually very waited for. No wonder. Experienced teachers claim that by the end of a semester students get tired. They start to get sick more often and they work less productive. So, vacations are really necessary. At the same time, scientists claim that breaks in studying make students forget what they have learned. And it usually takes some time to get them involved in studying again. Luckily, educators know several tricks that help students return quicker to the usual studying routine. Ways to Help Students Re-Focus after Spring Break. Spring break differs from other vacations. The end of the school year is close and so it is necessary to prepare for the end of the year testing.  That is especially important…

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I had to pick Emmett up from school early because he was uncomfortable

It's totally been one of those days here in The Autism Dad househhold. We're knee-deep into the last week of school and it's a little more chaotic than I had anticipated, but we're good. I dropped Emmett off at school and within an hour, I received a string of text messages from him asking me to come pick him up. He explained that there was a kid in his class not wearing a mask. He was very uncomfortable with this and wanted to leave. It's still required that everyone wear a mask at his school. As I said, this made Emmett very uncomfortable and I can understand that. I always told him that if he was uncomfortable or he felt something wasn't safe, I would come get him and he…

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