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Support Within the Schools

© Juli B

Before Andy was diagnosed with Asperger's at the end of 2nd grade, I had spent years being on call with the schools and daycares. I never knew when I was going to get that call to come and pick him up or just that exasperated plea from a teacher or principal searching for answers as to why my child continued to make the same mistakes over and over again.

My, how life would have been so much easier if I only had all the answers back then. That's not saying I have all the answers now. Far from it actually. But at least I know more what to expect and I can help prepare others for those same pitfalls that will undoubtedly surface many more times over the course of his childhood.

So together with my newly discovered AS diagnosis and a 2 inch thick binder on the most pertinent articles I could find, I called a meeting at the school. I really wasn't sure what to expect from them. My husband, Ron and I were hesitant at first because we had heard horror stories about schools labeling kids and the kids having to go through the rest of their schooling with said labels permanently affixed to their school records. But I suppose we figured at that point the kid had so many incident reports, etc permanently affixed to those same records, we might as well provide a few answers to back at least some of them up.

It was the best decision we ever made.

As relieved as Ron and I were at finally getting answers for ourselves, the school was even more relieved to learn that there really was something going on with Andy. Something that could provide much desired answers to their never-ending questions. Something that could provide just a little relief with the sheer knowledge on those trying days. Something that everybody could work together on as a team.

Something like Asperger's Syndrome.

Like us, the school wasn't very familiar with said diagnosis. But that didn't deter them in the least. If anything, it fueled their quest for knowledge on it even more. It wasn't long before Andy's third grade teacher and his speech teacher were leaving for an all day conference on Asperger's. When I learned that, I knew without a doubt that we had made the right decision in sticking our child with the proverbial label in the schools eyes. It was a gamble in my opinion but we definitely came out ahead.